Springer singer harrassed by Christian Right

Just a quick one I'm afraid but I just saw this in the Independent about Wills Morgan the opera singer who played Jesus in Jerry Springer the Opera (my 2005 review).

It seems he's had a nervous breakdown and ended up living on the streets partly due to the nightly confrontations with the Christian Right who neither understood the play nor had any inclination towards tolerating those they despised in society.

Mr Morgan, who is himself a committed Christian, felt compelled to confront the protestors which became an exhausting nightly process.

“As a man of faith I had to challenge them because they were claiming an ownership of God that was inappropriate,” he said. “The fundamentalists just couldn't understand that members of the cast were also active members of churches.”

What upset him the most, he said was that the protestors had seemed to miss the opera’s real message. “Most of the protestors never bothered coming to see the production and had decided from the word go that it was somehow blasphemous,” he said. “Yet whenever people asked me what Jerry Springer: The Opera was about I said it was very simple. It is an opera about how awful television could be, not an assault on faith.”

Ultimately it's a good news story as Morgan is back on his feet and back in work. As he says “I guess my story shows how anyone, from any walk of life, can end up homeless – particularly during the recession which has forced so many people out of work,” he said. “But the flip side is that there is help out there if you’re willing to ask for it.”

I'm glad Morgan is back on track and working again. His story shows that whilst the unkindness of strangers can hit you hard if they catch you at the wrong time it also says that that as human beings we can be good to each other and when we are it can make a difference.