"This is my Jerry Springer moment"

In case you hadn't heard, the most popular opera in London over the last 100 years just hit the stage at Carnegie Hall for a two-night run.

That's right, almost five years after it's debut on the South Bank in the National Theatre, "Jerry Springer: the Opera" has made it across the Pond.

I had originally written a sort of "what-is-art?" piece for the blog, but deleted it about 8 hours after posting, because, really, you need a lot more space than five paragraphs to make a decent argument about that.

Also, this show is extremely controversial in many circles... And it makes no claims to be anything but. Tap-dancing Klansmen, foul-mouthed transvestites, diaper fetishes, 200-pound pole dancers, golden showers and "three-nippled, cousin-lovers" dominate the show. Yeah, it's hilarious - I saw it twice (once in previews and once in the show's first run), but I don't know that I've fully recovered.

Say what you will and argue what you want. I think the discussion that the show is generating is a good thing. Theater nowadays has gotten pretty stale. No one goes, no one cares. And that's really unfortunate, because there aren't many better things in life that a terrific stage performance.

One of the things "Jerry" did during its five-year run in London's West End was reinvigorate the theater scene over there. It debuted, at great risk, on the country's national stage and discounted rates. The new artistic director of the National Theatre, at that time in his first year on the job, was taking a calculated risk to draw a new generation of theater buffs into his wings.

And it worked. The show's month-long run was extended to eight. The awards, the people and the money rolled in. Everyone was talking about it.

We're starting to see that happen in New York. Heck, even across the country, people are talking. That's a good thing. The theaters across the country need to fill their seats. Maybe this is a step in that direction.

Of course, it would help if this version of "Jerry" was able to book more than two shows. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out Ben Brantley's review in today's Times and enjoy 25 tap-dancing members of the KKK.