The Birmingham-born cocreator of the controversial Jerry Springer: The Opera has branded fundamentalist Christians who jeopardised a nationwide tour of the show as "idiots" who he has "zero respect" for.
Richard Thomas, the composer and co-writer of the award-winning opera, was speaking at the Birmingham Hippodrome, one of 21 venues that will stage the production.
The West End show, which won four Olivier awards, has already been seen by 425,000 people and was watched by 2.4 million viewers when it was shown on BBC2 last year.
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But its controversial content, including portrayals of Jesus and God, led to a record 63,000 complaints from viewers and protests were staged at regional BBC centres.
There were also death threats made against BBC executives.
Mr Thomas said: "To have my work called blasphemous by people who didn't even have the decency to watch the show drives me crazy.
"I have zero respect for them and I think they are idiots."
The nationwide tour looked to be in jeopardy when Arts Council England refused to fund it and pressure group Christian Voice threatened to picket theatres, leading almost a third of the proposed venues to pull out.
But now regional theatres, including the Hippodrome, have struck a deal with producers Avalon to ensure the tour goes ahead.
Stuart Griffiths, the Hippodrome's chief executive, said putting on the show was the most important thing he had done.
He said it was vital for the Hippodrome that new "genuinely original and genuinely challenging" musical theatre reached new audiences.
The producers also revealed the actor who will play Jerry Springer, following Michael Landon and David Soul, is Rolf Saxon, a stage and screen actor with films such as Saving Private Ryan, Tomorrow Never Dies and Mission Impossible to his credit.
The 22-week tour will open in Plymouth on January 27and is at the Hippodrome from February 6 to 18.
