The new opera based on the life and career of talk show host Jerry Springer may be getting critical raves, but West End theatergoers don’t seem to be convinced. “Critics on both continents raved about it. It broke box-office records at the National. New York theater owners offered their best houses for the inevitable Broadway production, and producers, managers and press agents scrambled to get a piece of the action. Then, on July 1, when tickets for a much-ballyhooed transfer to a West End commercial theater went on sale, this white hot show suddenly turned cold.”