synopsis of BARE

[elphie bowles]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:00pm

I've listened to the cd sample of BARE but I am really curious to what the rest of the story is..does anybody have the synopsis or can someone sum it up for me?! Thanks.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:06pm

Do you want the uber-long spoilerific version, or the short teaser version?

The short teaser version is:
Peter and Jason are secret lovers in a co-ed Catholic high school. While Peter is ready to come out, Jason is still very much in the closet. The popular girl in school, Ivy, is trying to make her moves on Jason, while her secret admirer Matt watches from afar. Then there's Nadia, the witty but lonely outcast. Together this group of friends battle the trials and tribulations of Catholic adolescence, as their lives spin faster and faster towards destruction.

Updated On: 8/24/04 at 11:06 PM

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:07pm

I like your user name...Wicked and Cabaret fan?

[elphie bowles]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:09pm

Thank you..yes!! They're my two favourite musicals..Just came back from NYC :) Thank you bluewizard it sounds really good..have you seen it?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:12pm

Yes, twice! It's a really moving show -- especially the phenomenal cast! The stage of the ATA felt like it was going to explode from the cast's energy, enthusiasm, and talent! The show has made me a huge fan of Michael Arden, who had such wonderful stage presence and an angelic voice. His performance brought tears to my eyes.

Do you want the ultra-long (and complete) synopsis I wrote?

Updated On: 8/24/04 at 11:12 PM

[elphie bowles]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:16pm

Sure thanks :)

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:20pm

OK, be warned: it's long and contains EVERYTHING!

(Song titles are CAPITALIZED.)

Written by me (BlueWizard), distribute only with permission.

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BARE

Setting: St. Cecilia’s, a Catholic co-ed boarding school. Time: the present.

ACT I
Peter is a sensitive gay senior who is closeted and trying to reconcile his faith with his sexuality. During mass, he is outed and condemned by his friends and the Church, but wakes up and realizes it was all a dream (EPIPHANY). Later in the school hallways, he bumps into Jason, his roommate and secret boyfriend. Jason is the most popular guy in school but is also closeted, and the two lovers find it hard to keep their relationship secret from the rest of the school (YOU & I). Peter convinces Jason to audition for the school play, Romeo & Juliet. After Jason leaves, Peter sings about his inner turmoil, having to keep their love secret and wondering about their future together (ROLE OF A LIFETIME).

At the AUDITIONS for the play, directed by the flamboyant Sister Chantelle, Jason wins the role of Romeo. Peter is cast as Mercutio, their friend Matt is Tibalt, and Ivy, the most popular girl in school, gets the role of Juliet. After receiving a package from their father, Nadia – Jason’s chubby sister and Ivy’s roommate – laughs with her brother over their distant and incompetent parents (LOVE, DAD).

Later that night, the group of friends – Jason, Peter, Ivy, Matt and their classmate and drug dealer, Lucas – decide to go to WONDERLAND, a rave. Lucas supplies them with G and K, powerful new drugs that could be lethal if taken in large doses. Uninterested in the rave, Nadia decides to stay home (A QUIET NIGHT AT HOME).

At the rave, Peter and Jason dance together (ROLLING). Peter tries to kiss him, but Jason backs away, and the two run out and quarrel over their relationship. Peter wants to come out and tell the world about them, but Jason wants to keep their love secret (BEST KEPT SECRET). Peter tells Jason he loves him. The two kiss, not knowing that Matt sees them. Meanwhile, Ivy suffers a drug overdose in the club and is taken away.

The next day, the students of St. Cecilia’s begrudgingly go to CONFESSION, calling it a “poor man’s therapy session.” Peter and Matt go into their confession booths and they each ask the Priest what they should do. Ivy, having returned shaken but not harmed by her drug incident, receives sketches of her Juliet costume and reminisces over her image (PORTRAIT OF A GIRL). Matt, in love with Ivy, watches her from afar.

On her birthday, Ivy is brought drunk to her surprise birthday party and everyone serenades her with a crass tribute (BIRTHDAY, BITCH!). Peter accidentally eats some pot brownies and, after Jason intentionally ignores him, leaves the party. In a drunken stupor, Ivy rejects a lovelorn Matt and tries to seduce Jason (ONE KISS). Having left the party, Peter and Matt express their frustration over the insensitivity of their beloveds (ARE YOU THERE?). Drunk and high, Peter tells Matt his secret and Matt leaves. Peter then has a vision of the Virgin Mary who, looking remarkably like a disco-dancing Sister Chapelle, urges Peter to call his mother and tell her he’s gay (911! EMERGENCY).

Peter tells Jason that they should come out to their parents, but Jason resists because his reputation is on the line (REPUTATION STAIN’D). As their argument builds, Jason pushes Peter down. Peter, hurt and in disbelief, wonders if this is the boy he thought he’d “always follow,” and how they ever lost their future together (EVER AFTER). He leaves, but Jason tells him not to tell anyone about them. As SPRING approaches, the students get ready to go home for the break. After Peter leaves, Ivy visits Jason and tells him about her feelings for him. Confused between what he wants in life, he gives in to her sexual advances as a last attempt to be “fit in” (ONE).


ACT II
In another dream, an ecstatic Peter and Jason are getting married…in Massachusetts, with go-go boys dancing and Sister Chappelle presiding (WEDDING BELLS). But the wedding is interrupted by a bride, Ivy, and Peter is barred from the ceremony. He wakes up from the nightmare scared and alone. Spring break is now over, and IN THE HALLWAY of St. Cecilia’s, Peter runs into Jason. The two try to talk but are interrupted by Ivy. After Peter leaves, Ivy confesses to Jason her love (TOUCH MY SOUL), but Jason rejects her, saying their night together was a mistake, and that he’s not interested.

Peter, no longer able to live in the closet, calls home and desperately tries to come out to his mother, who is unwilling to listen (SEE ME). After the phonecall, she wonders when she ever went wrong, and if she ever knew her son at all (WARNING). At the play rehearsals, Ivy is missing. They try to continue with her inept understudy, but instead Peter steps forward and eloquently acts as Juliet to Jason’s Romeo, and the two have noticeable chemistry together (PILGRIM’S HANDS). After rehearsals, Sister Chantelle makes Peter stay behind. Saying that “it ain’t a rainbow without the pink,” she tells him that GOD DON’T MAKE NO TRASH – which is exactly what Peter needs to hear.

Ivy discovers she is pregnant (ALL GROWN UP) and tries to find Jason. She meets him before the next rehearsals, and he is taken aback by the news. Matt walks in, and as the cast members arrive – Peter, Nadia, and the other students – Matt angrily reveals everything (PROMISE). Sickened and appalled, Peter storms out. Ivy slaps Matt and also leaves. Left alone, afraid and aware of the mess he has caused, Jason goes to confession to seek help (ONCE UPON A TIME); however, while Jason grows in desperation, the Priest just tells him to suppress his feelings and focus on other things (CROSS).

On the night of the performance, the cast does final preparations (TWO HOUSEHOLDS). Jason arrives and asks Peter if they could run away together and forget everything, but Peter tells him that he’s tired of hiding. The performance begins, and Jason takes a fatal dose of the drug that Lucas gives him. As the night progresses, Peter notices that Jason is getting more and more disoriented (QUEEN MAB), and takes him backstage. There, Jason finally confesses to Peter that he is sorry, and that he has always loved him (BARE). As they are hurried back out into the spotlight, Jason stumbles and falls onstage. He is carried away and dies.

Peter, in mourning (A GLOOMING PEACE), goes to the confession booth to speak with the Priest. Peter tells him that Jason had looked to the Priest and the Church for guidance in a time of need, but they had failed him. Peter tells the Priest that he and Jason were in love, and that when Jason loved him, he never felt so close to God (ABSOLUTION). “I’m sorry, Peter,” says the Priest, to which Peter replies, “And I forgive you, Father.”

At graduation, each individual – Nadia, Ivy, Matt – tries to cope with their loss. Peter, reconciled with his mother, finally says good-bye to Jason. As he and the others graduate from St. Cecilia’s, Peter tosses up his hat in one final release (NO VOICE).


[Synopsis is copywright 2004 by BlueWizard]

[elphie bowles]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:31pm

Thank you so much!! BARE sounds really amazing..I really appreciate you writting that for me:)

A.

[BroadwayBaby21]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:53pm

Oh wow... I also just have the sampler and was wondering the synopsis. Thanks so much. I really don't care that the ending is spoiled for me, since I probably will never be allowed to see this show, as I am only 16 and have very overprotected parents. (They won't even allow me to see Rent with my sister.. so go figure.) But I love the sampler songs and can't wait till the entire show becomes available.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 11:56pm

No problem!

Hope you still get to see it, it's a fantastic and really heartwrenching show.