Playbill.com, July 12, 2004

The new Jerry Springer will take up his mike at the Cambridge Theatre on July 12, following Michael Brandon’s departure from the title-role of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Like Brandon, who made it big in the U.K. as a policeman in “Dempsey and Makepeace,” David Soul is also best known for his TV cop role on Starsky & Hutch. About his new role, Soul said in a press statement, “I’m thrilled and excited to be joining the cast.”

Soul is no stranger to the London stage. He won good reviews for his 1999 turn as a cynical TV producer in Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential. Previously he’d appeared at the Whitehall Theatre in Nick Darke’s The Dead Monkey. Soul has also performed the Narrator in Willy Russell’s musical Blood Brothers in England, France, Australia and New Zealand.

Perhaps the Springer producers are hoping to cash in on the revival of interest in all things Starsky & Hutch, following the series’ recent successful movie makeover, which starred Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Soul contributed a cameo in the film.

Despite rumors of wholesale cast changes, the producers have held on to some other stars from the original cast, including Olivier Award winner David Bedella, Alison Jiear (as a would-be lap-dancer and Eve) and Benjamin Lake (as an adulterous fiance and God).