BARE Announces Off Broadway Engagement at New World Stages; Arima, Wall and Werle on Creative Team- Page 4

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 8:51am

CPD -- I totally hear you, and can understand FEARING the changes will be too much. (and I hate that Claire is gone!) But the poster I referred to stated that he hated this version -- none of us KNOW this version yet. His assumptions that is has killed Bare is preposterous.

He might NOT be wrong, but why not stay hopefull -- even if it is a skeptical hope?

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 9:08am

Jumping on the "How can they cut Claire?!" train. No "See Me" or "Warning"? Those are two of the most genuine and poignant songs for me in the whole show. That relationship and viewpoint in the show will be sorely missed (at least by me).

[newintown]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 9:15am

"I quite enjoy Shankel's work, so I will wait with baited breath."

Unless you're hanging worms from your mouth, you wait with "bated" breath. If you are hanging worms from your mouth, who am I to judge?

But regarding another comment about "preconceived" notions - I can say my notions about Bare were conceived before this moment, based upon the ATA production, which I found to be glitter lipstick on a pig - a lot of wonderful talent being used to tart up a string of Dawson's Creek-style clichés.

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 12:03pm

And I think the song "Warning" is a great moment for the older adults to relate to the piece which is mostly aimed at youth. It's also a look at the other side of the coming-out process that is usually disregarded.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 12:30pm

Bwaydide: Perfect point, the "coming-out to a parent/having a child come out" rite of passage is here to stay. If you want the show to cater only to kids, that's fine. But the Parent/child relationship allowed older people a thread to feel this show.
If the new songs are "better" than the originals than write a new show! Why tamper with a score that is generally considered decent?
I don't really have to give the new show a chance, that's not up to me, it's being produced (so far) and people can judge for themselves, but it won't stop me from discussing it.
As for the new team being "smart" and know what they are doing, that has yet to be decided. People said that about CARRIE too.

[cordialcherry]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 1:15pm

See Me was one of my favorite songs in the show, and certainly one of the most moving. I'm extremely disappointed about Claire being written out.

[WesternSky2]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 2:14pm

Not to repeat many of you... but.... THEY CUT CLAIRE? I never found Bare to be perfect, it was always filled with cliches and some tacky lyrics, but it never failed to move me on a very deep level - mostly during "See Me" and "Warning". I'm interested to see how the show has developed and changed, but I'm worried this is going to be a musicalized after-school special.

I'm equally annoyed by the changes to Nadia's character. I really, really hope this doesn't adversely affect "Quiet Night at Home", one of my favorite songs in the show. (I don't know if this has already been re-written? I don't know much about the changes the show has already gone through).

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 2:20pm

With the ages changed and the impending graduation removed from the plot, I'm wondering if "No Voice" is still in the show. "See Me" and "Warning" are certainly stirring songs, but I've always found that to be the most haunting piece in the entire score.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 2:50pm

Does anyone know how much Damon is involved in this?

After I read the press release I said, "Wow", Shankel wrote COMPANY?
I did not know that.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 4:35pm

As I said earlier, I imagine Damon isn't involved at all. If he was, why would Shankel be the one writing the new songs with Jon Hartmere?

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 8:08pm

While I embraced the show and the characters the first time I saw it, I can't pretend that it rang true from my personal experience. I grew up during a time when boys with certain inclinations kept them hidden; I can't even imagine a high school conversation where I was offered a baseball bat "there's one in my pants."

So, for me, "See Me" is the one truly relatable moment in the show. I don't correlate it to any one conversation with either of my parents; instead it's a composite of hundreds of conversations over the course of many years. While I love the show despite its many missteps, it's only during "See Me" that I see myself on the stage.

I can only hope that if they cut the character of Claire in an effort to focus on the main characters, that they keep the song with an unnamed mom character in silhouette, perhaps to allow some percentage of the audience to paint their own pictures from memory of how she looks.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 8:13pm

I agree that it doesn't seem if Damon is involved. IF I remember correctly, it was he that fought changes when they were approached about making the film Bare. Rosie O wanted to move on the project, but Damon didn't want to accommodate the changes she had in mind (or the way I heard it, ANY changes).

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 8:50pm

I don't know anything about Damon's issues with a proposed film version, but I do know he felt like his work on the show was very much done once they completed the studio cast recording and subsequently released the performance rights to the show a few years ago. He'd been notoriously adamant about not wanting it licensed for years prior to that, and the point of doing that recording was to get a "complete" version of the show out there that could help its performance profitability, which it very much did.

Since he hasn't returned to theater since BARE, I could see him having a very "been there, done that" attitude about this incarnation of the show, especially if he's resistant toward major changes to the material. He's certainly a problematic (if incredibly talented) guy, but he'll obviously profit from the show having a life regardless of whether or not he's actively involved wit it.

Updated On: 6/22/12 at 08:50 PM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 9:29pm

I was just wondering if Damon's legal problems or the length of time have influenced his involement. It's one thing to release the show as written but to mount a OffBWay version with so many changes and a second composer is a real departure.
Damon and Hangii were the original creative spirit behind this and as I heard it the bookwriter was in the shadows.
Who seems to be behind these current questionable (IMO) revisions?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/22/12 at 10:07pm

CurtainPullDowner, people won't be happy to hear this, but I've heard the major revisions have come from ideas that Stafford Arima has had in collaboration with Jon Hartmere and Lynne Shankel.

That being said, while Arima has been directing readings of the show for the past five years, these major changes didn't begin to be implemented until the reading before this most recent one in October of last year. Up until then, they'd been working with the existing version of the show.

Updated On: 6/22/12 at 10:07 PM

[That Groovy Guy]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 10:09am

Claire is gone and Nadia's no longer fat?! So that cancels out three of the best songs in the show (by far!), Warning, See Me and A Quiet Night at Home.

If they're making such drastic changes AFTER they've already built an audience, they may as well have just written a whole new show and called it something else.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 10:29am

Did I miss that someone said Nadia isn't fat anymore? I've been told her character has changed quite a bit, but I never heard there was a change to her physical size.

[That Groovy Guy]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 10:49am

[NADIA]
Seeking actress 18+ to play a high-school-age female. Nadia is Jason's sister, a junior. She spends much of her time brooding in Jason's long shadow and wields her tongue like a scythe when crossed. Prone to mood swings, she is the school's purveyor of prescription drugs, having been on all of them herself at one time or another. Sharp comic timing.

There's no longer a reference to her being overweight, which had a lot to do with her character/songs previously.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 11:26am

I didn't think about the omission of that description. Hmmm....

Well, I'll reiterate -- the show has way too many stereotypes for me, so maybe this is one they decided to do away with. (of course, changing it to another drug issue isn't much better.)

Well, we will see, I suppose. But all these details coming out are taking a bit of the wind out of my sails.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 11:47am

I spoke with someone yesterday who said that they are auditioning for the part of Claire.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 11:57am

Yippee!!! Good to know. This is why rumors and assumptions suck.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 12:29pm

They can't be auditioning for the role of Claire. Equity rules would have required them to include the character in the EPA breakdown, so your source is inaccurate, uncageg.

I can confirm that Claire hasn't been in the show anymore for the last two readings, as the breakdown alludes to. The only adult woman in the show now is Sister Joan, who was played by Missi Pyle in the reading last year and Leah Hocking in the most recent one. Coincidentally, Hocking was the last person to play Claire before she was cut during the 2010 reading, back when Capathia Jenkins was playing Sister Chantelle prior to her re-conceptualization.

Updated On: 6/23/12 at 12:29 PM

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 1:12pm

I'm trying to keep an open mind about these changes, but Bare isn't Bare without "See Me" and "Warning"

Similarly, if the characters are not al the same age and therefore not graduating, how does "No Voice" fit into this new plot? Again, Bare isn't Bare without this song...

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 1:21pm

Something wicked, you are correct. I just asked him again and he thought Sister Joan was Claire. So no Claire.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/23/12 at 2:02pm

A daggar in my heart.


Pooh.