Even if you're not a lover of the Jerry Springer television show, you may enjoy its musical adaptation, Jerry Springer: The Opera.

The expletives, prostitutes, Klu Klux Klan and plain absurdity are all there, yet it doesn't have the feel of daytime television fodder. Watching the musical at the Sydney Opera House is like eating a hamburger at a really fancy restaurant, where the atmosphere and use of prime beef mince make something that is normally undesirable ever so appetising. Escapist as they are, Jerry Spinger: The Opera and gourmet hamburgers are a once-a-year kind of treat.

The award-winning musical begins like any Jerry Springer episode, with the diplomatic host (played by David Wenham) attempting to resolve the problems of his guests, the poster children for American trailer trash.

There’s overweight Shawntel (Alison Jiear in a black pleather dress and red suede pumps) who wants nothing more than to be a pole dancer. There’s African-American Montel (Lawrence Clayton), who coos to his partner “I wanna be your baby” before ripping off his clothes to reveal a nappy and completely hair-free body. And there’s macho Dwight, who is cheating on his fiancee with a transexual.

Threaded throughout the first act are asides from disgruntled Warm Up Man (David Bedella), who feels unappreciated by Springer.

At the end of the first act, following a Klu Klux Klan singing and dancing sequence, Springer is accidentally shot by one of his guests and he awakes in purgatory where Warm Up Man has become Satan.

Satan is hellbent on getting an apology from Jesus for sending him to hell and thinks Springer, with his expert skills in conflict resolution, can help draw it out of him. Jesus doesn't oblige him but he does admit to being "just a little bit gay".

Despite the absurdity, the second act falls flat. One reason is that you become desensitized to the subject matter. Another is that the storyline becomes more about Springer and less about his guests.

Even when Wenham pumps barrels of energy into the character (to the point that he isn’t offering an exact portrayal of Springer) he fails to intrigue.

Like the television program, the audience members (the ones on stage, not the actual Opera House audience) are active members of the show, singing, dancing and sometimes fighting with the guests.

Marcus Graham is warm and likable as security guard Steve and classically trained pop performer Kate Miller-Heidke is a cutesy delight as Baby Jane (Montel's love interest).

The British musical was written by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas and has won a whole host of accolades, including four Laurence Olivier Awards in 2004.