Bare: Opear?
Bare: Opear?
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
Bare: Opear?#0
Posted: 3/3/05 at 7:44pmOkay. So I dunno if you know, but I love Bare, So anyways, I know it's called a Pop Opear, but is it really an Opera? Is it all sung through like Rent? When I ready the synopsis, it didnt sound all sung through. Just wondering.
re: Bare: Opear?#1
Posted: 3/3/05 at 7:46pmI think it is. Why would they call it something it's not?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
re: Bare: Opear?#2
Posted: 3/3/05 at 7:47pmIt's not completely sung through. But neither is RENT.
re: Bare: Opera#3
Posted: 3/3/05 at 7:48pmIt is almost sung-through. There are some dialogue scenes tho.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/17/03
re: Bare: Opera#4
Posted: 3/3/05 at 8:55pm
In the traditional sense of the word, "opera" refers to a work that is completely through-sung. That means no dialogue, no asides, and no verbal expression that hasn't been written to correspond to music. This is why Gilbert and Sullivan's works were "operettas" and why Les Mis can't be classified as a true opera.
The coining of the phrase "Rock Opera" played a big role in the distortion of the word's meaning. I think there are a number of works that legitimately exist as rock operas- shows like TOMMY and JCS fit well enough into the traditional meaning of "opera" (no spoken word, continuous orchestration) and actually do so through the rock genre.
At one point, someone must have taken a look at the rock operas of the time and decided that "opera" could also just be tacked on to a contemporary music piece as a way to proclaim/insist that the piece is profound and important. And wouldn't you rather be changing the world in a "Rock Opera" than in a "Rock Cabaret" full of "Rock Showtunes"?
So jump ahead to the days of RENT and now BARE. Both have been associated with some hip mutation of the word opera, and I agree that both are impressive creations with very unique, often groundbreaking relationships to the modern society. But IMHO, using the subtitle "A Pop Opera" was inappopriate for BARE and just beneath the level of the work itself. And RENT can't be a rock opera because it is not an opera nor is it rock music. It's mostly sung-through, so it is a musical theatre piece. The music is solid contemporary broadway material, dressed up as rock music through the orchestrations and voice styles used.
Both shows are substantial and want to be seen as substantial. Maybe instead of branding itself a Pop Opera, BARE should have just dropped the "Pop" thing altogether. Much the same way RENT should have downplayed the rock opera claim, splurged on a new sound design, and closed down for a season or two- put itself on "time out" until the producers learn why no other Pulitzer Prize-winning shows rely on their Teen People subscription for casting advice. But I digress.
So to answer the original question, sure BARE is an opera, and so is RENT and so is NAKED BOYS SINGING and the MARIJUANA-LOGUES and really anything else that considers itself too important to be a "musical".
"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/15/05
Broadway Star Joined: 3/28/04
re: Bare: Opera#6
Posted: 3/4/05 at 12:46amThis is always one thing about "Bare: a Pop Opera" that has bothered me. Not so much the "opera" part as the "pop" part. Most of its score is as "pop" as the music in "Rent". It's a very inaccurate subtitle.
re: Bare: Opera#7
Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:26amBut the music in RENT is pop. Certainly more pop than rock.
re: Bare: Opera#8
Posted: 3/4/05 at 1:59pmRent has a sorta diverse sorta music in it ...not just pop...i mean hello, theres a tango in there! thats not rock or pop hahaha and today for you is sorta techno-ish
Broadway Star Joined: 3/27/04
re: Bare: Opera#9
Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:33pm"Pop" is an all-encompassing term that refers to any music that is "popular" and heard regularly in the mainstream. Techno is pop, a tango can be pop, even rap and country is pop. A Mozart waltz and big band is not pop now, though they were in their day (although the term obviously didn’t exist in Mozart’s time) because it was the popular music of it's time. Any contemporary musical style is pop. Not everything in Rent is rock, but everything in it (with possibly the exception of the different refrains of Christmas Bells) is pop. Bare's score is similar in that it uses a variety of popular contemporary musical styles.
re: Bare: Opera#10
Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:54pmi know pop referes to popularity in songs...but over the years there has become like a distinct pop sound and its that bubbly boy band girl band i love you i wanna be with you forever sound. i dunno thats just what i refer to as pop, probably cuz thats the music i grew up with and it was called pop then and i pretty much only listen to broadway stuff now, so i put things with how i know them
re: Bare: Opera#11
Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:54pmi know pop referes to popularity in songs...but over the years there has become like a distinct pop sound and its that bubbly boy band girl band i love you i wanna be with you forever sound. i dunno thats just what i refer to as pop, probably cuz thats the music i grew up with and it was called pop then and i pretty much only listen to broadway stuff now, so i put things with how i know them
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