See "BARE" Off-Broadway Benefit Performances 6/6/13 - 6/16/13

[Dalles]

Posted: 5/24/13 at 5:58pm

“BARE” RETURNS OFF-BROADWAY TO RAISE FUNDS FOR HOMELESS LGBTQ YOUTH

Sponge Theatricals is in partnership with The Midtown Arts Common and the Saint Peters Church to bring the pop opera “bare” back to NYC from June 6th – 16th. “bare” is a benefit performance for Trinity Place Shelter for LGBTQ Youth. All proceeds from the production are given to Trinity Place Shelter, a non-sectarian, 10-bed transitional shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth located in Trinity Lutheran Church. The show is playing at The York Theatre Company at St. Peters on 54th st and Lexington Avenue. This limited engagement Off-Broadway run of “bare” is a beautiful example of the community giving back. The entire cast and crew have volunteered their time and talent to this project. It is dividing the production between the Sanctuary at Saint Peters Church and the York Theatre at Saint Peters.

Director Devon James, who also works as a professional actor and producer in the city has just come off his successful production of Hairspray in Westchester, says “bare” has captured the hearts of so many. I'm honored to bring this story back to the NYC theater community and spread the message of love and self acceptance now in a historic time of change for equality for all.” This production features new Choreography by Christopher Nofkee and original Costume Designs by Angela Borst. Their goal with this production of “bare” is to bring a fresh edgy look to the popular story that fans have come to love.

While this show is hoping to give financial assistance to the shelter, it's also hoping to inspire the audience to be honest and comfortable with their own identity. BARE is set in a co-ed Roman Catholic boarding school where a storied love triangle with female classmate, Ivy, complicates Peter and Jason's closeted relationship. Jason spirals has he faces rejection from his parents, peers, priest, and lover. “It took a show like 'bare"'to give me that final push to accept myself and take the leap of faith that my family and peers may or may not accept me. "bare" moved me and I want to share this show with others in the hopes that they will feel the same way about it as I do. As the show says 'God don't make no trash' “ says Dalles Wilie, who plays Jason in this story of two boys struggling to hide their love from their peers.

Tickets are $25 at the door, $20 online before June 1st at www.spongenyc.com. Evening tickets (June 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th & 15th @8pm) are going fast so advanced reservations are strongly suggested. Added matinee tickets (June 6th @3 & 16th @2pm) are now available.




Go To Performance BoxOffice Updated On: 5/24/13 at 05:58 PM

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/24/13 at 6:34pm

Can you make that less HUGE? I can't read it without scrolling and I'm not really in the mood to do so.

[Dalles]

Posted: 5/24/13 at 8:28pm

$20 tickets online before June 1st
Box Office Updated On: 5/24/13 at 08:28 PM

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 5/24/13 at 10:02pm

Best of luck! I don't mind scrolling....it's good exercise. : )

Posted: 5/25/13 at 12:54pm

We just bought a pair. Couple of notes: tickets are sold through Eventbrite, there's a $1.49 service fee per ticket, we used PayPal to pay, and within 15 minutes we got an email with a PDF of our tickets attached. Very smooth.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 5/25/13 at 1:13pm

I hope this show goes on Broadway.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/25/13 at 3:12pm

And not one sign of a song by Lynn Shankel...this is good.

[Dalles]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 8:31pm

lol, this is the version featured on the 2007 album.

This cast is (not tooting my own horn) not to be missed. There is such an awesome chemistry between us all. This is also a VERY dance heavy version of the show. I think it's a fresh vision of this amazing show.

[Eglassman112]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 10:18pm

When I purchased tickets, no seats were assigned. Did anyone else have that problem?

[Dalles]

Posted: 5/26/13 at 11:33pm

It's open seating. I recommend getting there early or you can send them an e-mail to see if they will reserve your preferred seating for you. [e-mail]

So stoked that you will be coming!

[Dalles]

Posted: 5/29/13 at 3:44pm

This is a very dance heavy "bare" I'm loving it!

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 12:47am

So I saw the show tonight and thought it was very enjoyable. Clearly it wasn't without it's problems but the cast is clearly very excited about doing the show and that came across on stage.

It was great to see the original production done because it cleansed my mind of that Stafford Arima trash. There really isn't much that I can critique about the show itself because everyone who is interested in this is already fully aware. I still don't get why so many changes were made because the only thing that feels outdated to me is the "Wonderland" and "Rolling" portion.

Like I said, the cast was great but the one who really stood out to me was Matt Corr who played Peter. You could tell that he is a fan of the original because he nailed everything about Peter. Dalles Wilie (Jason) is good but there are portions where the riffing got a bit much. It was nice to see a big girl playing Nadia again and the welcome return of Sister Shantelle to bring the comedic relief.

There are a few quibbles that I had with the production. While I understand the need for the canned backing track it did sound pretty flat and when an actor wasn't totally matching the pace they would have to speed through the lyrics to catch back up with the music.

Another thing were the pauses between songs. This is supposed to be sung through so it loses some of the momentum when 20-30 seconds is spent each time changing sets or whatnot. It also gives the crowd the opportunity to applaud which then further delays the show. The most annoying instance of this was between "See Me" and "Warning" which could have easily gone straight through.

Obviously these things are to be understood based on the level of production but I'm just giving my thoughts. I would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of the show. One tip is to sit closer to the stage because no mics are used and it can sometimes be difficult to make out all the words.

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 8:43am

Thanks ClydeBarrow, looking forward to seeing it this weekend. What was the run time?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 11:14am

Well due to the fact that there is all that added time between songs I didn't get out of there until almost 11.

[gchris11]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 11:41am

Just curious if this is the same Edge of Seventeen meets Beautiful Thing meets Dead Poets Society thing I saw at NWS, or did they clean it up.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 11:51am

"Just curious if this is the same Edge of Seventeen meets Beautiful Thing meets Dead Poets Society thing I saw at NWS, or did they clean it up."

It is already been mentioned earlier that they are using the script/score from the 2007 album. And ClydeBarrow's review of the show makes it clear that there is no sign of the changes made by Stafford Arima.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 11:53am

I'm pretty sure gchris knew that before. He just wanted to throw that very astute comparison out there to show just how many movies he knows (none of which really have anything to do with that Stafford Arima production) but nice try.

[gchris11]

Posted: 6/14/13 at 11:53am

Sorry, I was not aware of who did the original stuff. or when things had changed in the performances through the years. Thanks for explaining.