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Hey Hey! Opera Monkees with the Masses

Poet W.H. Auden once noted that "no good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible." Perhaps they throw chairs? "Jerry Springer: The Opera" is winning awards in Britain. Meanwhile, Micky Dolenz is singing Aida, and a London impresario is bringing legit opera to the masses.

Both the man and his operatic namesake have been called "loud-mouthed and profane," but the West End production inspired by Jerry Springer's TV show was also named best musical at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

In a recent Reuters article, TV veteran Michael Brandon, who portrays Springer, declared "It's got tragedy. It's got violence. There are people screaming at each other and you can't understand what they're saying. It's perfect for opera."

The opera, which first ran at the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, goes beyond the lurid array of Springer's TV guests – a diaper fetishist, a dance by the KKK, a Jesus vs. Satan swear-off.

Springer attended the London premiere in November 2003, and declared the production "unbelievable."

Visit the Jerry Springer opera web site, or read reviews and coverage of its recent awards

Also in London, impresario Raymond Gubbay has launched a new opera company whose objective is to find a new mass audience for the art form. Performing in English, with relatively low ticket prices, the new company will reach out for new audiences rather compete with mainstream Royal Opera House or English National Opera.

The venture will perform in the theatre of the Savoy Hotel, one of London's finest, and take the name the Savoy Opera. The debut season will open with "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Barber of Seville" in repertory.

Read a Guardian UK article about Gubbay's new Savoy Opera

Examine the schedule for the Savoy Opera's first season

Learn more about Raymond Gubbay's populist opera company and other productions

While not technically an opera, the Broadway musical update of Aida (scored by Elton John and Tim Rice) has added ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz to the cast as Zoser, the "villainous father of the show's young hero."

Dolenz, who has performed the role in the national touring company of the show, joins Destiny's Child vocalist Michelle Williams, who replaced pop-star Toni Braxton in the title role back in November.

Read a short news article about Dolenz's joining the Aida cast, or a profile in the New York Theatre Guide

Learn more about Aida from Disney, or visit the personal sites of Michelle Williams and Micky Dolenz

A final thought, from Lord Kenneth Clark:

"Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process."