Harvey Keitel will play the title character in a concert version of Jerry Springer - The Opera at Carnegie Hall. The award-winning musical, based on the American talk show host's outlandish program, will make its New York debut at the legendary concert hall on January 29 and 30.
Keitel, an Oscar-nominated actor that first rose to prominence in the early films of director Martin Scorsese, is best known for his performances in movies such as Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Bugsy Academy Award nomination, Reservoir Dogs, The Piano, Bad Lieutenant and Pulp Fiction. His Broadway credits include Death of a Salesman in 1975 and Hurlyburly in 1984. He also appeared off-Broadway in A Lie of the Mind in 1985.
Jerry Springer - The Opera, which features music by Richard Thomas and book and lyrics by Stewart Lee and Thomas, was originally a hit at the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was then chosen by National Theatre Artistic Director Nicholas Hytner to be part of his first season at the helm of the company. Headlined by Michael Brandon as Springer, the musical opened to rave reviews at the National's Lyttelton Theatre on April 29, 2003 prior to transferring to the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. It won the 2003 Olivier, Critic's Circle Award and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical and closed in London in February 2005.
If all goes well, producers of the Carnegie Hall concert are eyeing a transfer to Broadway, according to The New York Times.
