BARE: a pop opera

[futurebroadwaystar1]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 11:15am

Hello everyone! I just downloaded the sampler cd for Bare and I LOVE it!!!!!! I want to know what the whole story is about and how it ends. I looked for a synopsis for the show on the website but I can't find one anywhere! If anyone knows where I can find one or if you would like to fill me in on the story, I'd love it! Thanks!

[aspiringguy715]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 11:17am

LOL!

If you can find the BARE Cast thread, it's a huge tribute to the cast and the show. There's a synopsis at around page 7, thanks to BlueWizard. If not, PM me and I'll find a synopsis for you!

[futurebroadwaystar1]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 11:22am

I found it! Thanks so much!

[magic8ball]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 5:50am

"Bare" is amazing.

I've posted some of the unreleased stuff on www.daretosing.com. Take a listen and leave a comment if you're interested. Trust me- all of the score is JUST as good as the songs on the sampler album.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 11:38am

Thank you so so so much for sharing "Once Upon a Time" and "Absolution"! Is that it, or did I miss any?
And I also love your quote because The House of Yes is one of my favorite movies!

[magic8ball]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:22pm

That's all. LOL. But I am planning to post more soon. Like I said on that board, this score is just to good to go unheard. :)

And I LOVE "The House of Yes". Have you seen the movie version? It really couldn't have been better-cast. Parker Posey is one of my all-time favorite actresses, and hell- even Tori Spelling was great in it.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 1:27pm

I couldn't agree with you more, on both counts!

"Jackie and Marty belong to each other. Jackie's hand was holding Marty's penis when they came out the womb." That movie cracks me UP!

I saw Bare, and I count myself blessed. I can't believe so many people aren't going to get the chance to see it! Damn that faulty funding! So, thank you so much again for sharing!

[magic8ball]

Posted: 1/30/05 at 6:18pm

My pleasure. :)

[magic8ball]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 5:38am

Which thread are you referring to?

[eslgr8]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 3:02am

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).

-- [e-mail]

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 3:22am

That's a perfect synopsis. I still regret only seeing this show 5 times, and that it will not have an (immediate) future in NYC. It is by far one of the greatest things I have ever seen on stage. It's music is the only music I can listen to, detatched from the show, and still literally sob. For everyone who hasn't taken the time to download the songs yet, please do. I will never forget this show, and I can only hope it will re-appear sooner than we all thought. It truly is the most moving and heart breaking show I have ever seen. Just thinking about it gives me chills.....

And does anyone else think this would make a PERFECT movie?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 3:50am

That's a perfect synopsis.

Thanks, I wrote it!

I think there are quite a few movies that have a similar storyline to BARE (one of the major criticisms of BARE was the familiarity of the plot). The film GET REAL, for example.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 3:58am

i really regret not seeing this as i love the music and from everything i've heard from you guys i know i would have loved it. however i had two friends who saw it and hated everything about it. thought it was one of the worst theatre experiences ever (and these are friends who are extremely well-versed in theatre). they were happy when it lost its funding. so i'll never really know who to agree with. you or them.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 4:00am

you won't agree with any of us, because you haven't seen it. I know several people who despised it as well. I think it really comes down to how well you can relate to the story. Several adults I know liked it, but certainly didn't love it on the level that most teenagers did. For me and all my friends, they basically put everything a teenager (especially a gay one) goes through in high school on stage. So much of it was strikingly similiar to my high school experience that my first time through, I had trouble really watching it because it brough back such harsh memories.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 4:11pm

"they basically put everything a teenager (especially a gay one) goes through in high school on stage. So much of it was strikingly similiar to my high school experience"

Thats so true

[centerstage]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:03pm

BlueWizard...You wrote the synopsis??? wow thats amazing! I got it from a friend in August and was sooo completely ready to hitch-hike to the city if I had to to see Bare...so much for that, I still havnt seen it

Am I just a MAJOR loser, or does anyone else jump when they see a thread dealing with Bare active, in the hopes that it contains news of a re-opening? yea...I figured I was probably the only one.

[stillwater]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 6:22pm

No, centrestage, you are certainly not the only one. I always wonder what the threads are going to be about because the titles always just say "bare: a pop opera". What I miss just as much as the show is the thriving "bare cast" thread. Good times.

[moranar]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 7:03pm

I can assure you many adults thoroughly enjoyed this production. As the parent of a gay teenager, I listen to the music every day to help me understand what some teenagers go through. It is hardbreaking to believe all parents cannot love their children for who they are.

[Jwaa]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 7:24pm

magic8ball i have soo much to thank you for, people loved the song and a few people were in tears so thank you so much!

These recordings on that site are amazing...i cant believe thats your voice, its amazingly beautiful...thank you for recording those, please update us when/if you post more!
x

[RumTumTugger22]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 7:55pm

God I love the BARE sampler so good!

[matthius202]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 9:09pm

yeah..i love BARE also. I've been listening to it for a long time. i 'brought' it to southeast texas. :) and a proud southeastern area thanks me :)haha....umm...yeah so i have a huge favor to ask of all of you...do ANY of you have the contact information for the writers of the show...OR sheet music...for Once Upon A Time...I want to sing it for an audition that I have coming up...soooo bad...but...yeah...so that's all.

[magic8ball]

Posted: 3/18/05 at 4:49pm

"These recordings on that site are amazing...i cant believe thats your voice, its amazingly beautiful...thank you for recording those, please update us when/if you post more!"

Well, I recently subbed "Best-Kept Secret" on DTS, if you're interested. Just go to the website (www.daretosing.com) and search my username. Enjoy.

[teth]

Posted: 3/18/05 at 5:04pm

magic - You sounded great in that!

[magic8ball]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 1:45am

Hey- thanks! Glad that you enjoyed it. :)

[matthius202]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 2:30am

munk, i agree...a perfect movie. :)