Jerry Springer the Opera Cambridge Theatre, London
Jerry Springer the Opera, the salacious pastiche, has a new host. Playing the talk show titan ('the man who confidently occupies the moral low ground') is David Soul, who spent four years in the Seventies steeped in shoot-outs, hookers, drug barons and the scum of San Francisco in the TV cop series Starsky and Hutch.
Offscreen, Soul's booze, women and money crises have inspired tabloid vitriol. Soul has wryly observed that he'd make a pretty good guest on the Jerry Springer Show himself. But how does he rate as the new compere on stage?
Soul is no discredit to a production that has picked up a record number of awards. He lacks the oleaginous engagement of his predecessor, Michael Brandon, in the first half when foul-mouthed lap dancers, transvestites and nappy fetishists go on their 'fess-fest'. But he's most alive when dead. Murdered by a shot fired at Klu Klux Klanners, he becomes Satan's house guest and turns up the heat. Ultimately the show itself is the real star. You could say it's the songs not the Springer that make this show great.
