‘Jerry Springer — The Opera’ Is to Open Off Broadway at the New Group

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“Jerry Springer — The Opera” was supposed to come to Broadway more than 10 years ago after its award-winning premiere in London. That didn’t happen for a variety of reasons, but that brazen musical will finally have a proper run in New York as part of the Off Broadway troupe New Group’s 2017-18 season, the company announced on Wednesday.

The musical is among four productions the New Group has planned for its coming season, which runs from November through next spring.

“Jerry Springer,” written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, is a vulgar romp with elements of high- and low-brow culture — soaring, Handel-like arias juxtaposed with the violent and vulgarity-filled scenes the talk show is known for. The satirical musical had a critically lauded run at the National Theater in London in 2003, and won the Olivier Award (the British equivalent of a Tony) for best new musical that season.

In 2008, a concert staging ran at Carnegie Hall for two performances. The show, which the New Group described as being “deeply in tune with the chaos and unrestrained id of our times,” will arrive in January, directed by John Rando and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, who worked together on the Broadway revival of “On the Town” in 2014.

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