Springing into action

Montel has a guilty secret. He wants to dress up in diapers and have his bottom smacked by fiancee Andrea while he poops his pants. He confesses this to his beloved on national TV but Andrea is underwhelmed. So Montel reveals that he has found another scat-pal. Right on cue Baby Jane appears in the TV studio, while a gorgeous pastiche of MGM musicals is sung by the Audience Psycho-Choir. Welcome to the world of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Richard Thomas's riotous piece, starring Rick Bland as Springer, began as a series of operatic parodies in styles ranging from Handel to prog-rock, held together by the form of the US trailer-trash TV show. It has been at various venues over the last 16 months in various evolutionary stages, but is now complete, and premieres at the Assembly Rooms.

Seeing the piece in one of its early incarnations, it was apparent that the tribulations of working-class America (My Boyfriend Doesn't Know I'm A Man, for example, or I Want To Be A Poledancer But My Mother Won't Let Me) were perfect fodder for the high drama of opera. But the work - an intriguing mix of the serious and insane - has been taken to another plane. 'Jerry now gets shot at the end of Act One, and is visited by all his former guests,' says Thomas, the work's composer and librettist. 'Then he goes to Hell and meets Christ, and Mary and the Devil. Oh, and he resolves the metaphysical dilemma of good and evil.' The last time Jerry Springer: The Opera appeared in London, The New York Times flew over a critic who gave the piece a rave review. This led to the unlikely situation of Springer himself calling for a meeting. 'I told him that he came out of the piece well,' recalls Thomas. 'Dead, but well.'

The New York Times review and other raves now mean that the show has serious financial backing. It arrives in Scotland with 40 people on the payroll, including a six-piece band and a 21-strong choir. There's also been talk of recording it and the Royal National Theatre has expressed an interest in Thomas's future work. What's next? 'I just don't want the bubble to burst,' he says. 'But I'm not doing any more to Jerry Springer. My work here is done.'

Until Aug 26, Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, 2.35pm, £12.50.