bare in New Jersey!

[longshadowsfalling]

Posted: 10/20/07 at 9:02pm

I’ll admit that I went into this production expecting it to not live up to my expectations but to walk away happy that I had at least seen this amazing show live. However, after seeing it not only were my expectations met, they were surpassed. I was worried about no one ever being able to come close to the New York cast but ended up liking most of this cast better than their New York counterparts. Andrea Brooks (Nadia), Chris Cantalupo (Matt), and Donna Missal (Ivy) were all definite standouts in the cast. They all brought much more depth to their characters than I’d ever seen/heard before. The rest of the cast were all just as amazing, making me look at the show and these people in a different way. They were less like characters and more like real people, I could look up at them and think “I know that person”, something that I was never able to say about the show before.

The production also had outstanding direction by Anthony J Cantalupo, who corrected a lot of the flaws that were in the New York production, some of which I never even really considered until seeing the show done in a different way. You and I, Portrait of a Girl, Absolution, and No Voice (now One Voice) all stick out in my head as scenes that have benefited immensely with new direction.

The whole show is simply more realistic now. It’s approached from an angle less worried about how things traditionally work in theatre and more about making the show as realistic and true to the core of the material as possible. This in turn made it much easier to connect to the show on multiple levels, you fall in love with each and every character, not just Peter and Jason, and weeks after seeing it you’re still always realizing new aspects of scenes.

I was blown away by this production (so much so that I hopped the train for another 10 hour ride down to see it again a couple weeks later), it’s something that will always stay with me.

So, what were your reactions to it? What moments would you say were standouts? What changes did you fall in love with? What cast members gave magical performances in your opinion? What did you think of how the creative team approached it?

And if you weren't lucky enough to see this amazing production... PM me and I might be able to help you out.

Updated On: 10/20/07 at 09:02 PM

[zorabet]

Posted: 10/20/07 at 9:23pm

I have to completely agree on the front of expecting something mediocre, and getting something above and beyond anything I could have ever expected.

As for standout moments, I have to say that Are You There?, One, and the finale, One Voice, definitely stuc with me. Are You There? has always been my favorite song,so was obviously the one I was mos nervous about, but Chris and Jared pulled it off amazingy. One, the first act finale, and One Voice both just stick with you in everyway possible. I was there on closing night, so the finale was full of every level of emotion possble, an it was evident just how much the cast loved this show and everything it stands for.

As an avid fan of the New York production, I was wary of any changes made. Meaning no espect to the New York production, for it will forever be the way I fell in love with bare, some of these scenes blew it out of the water. Portrait of a Girl was done so perfectly, with the choreography so right, that I actually want to listen to it -something I never did before. The move of the title song, Bare, to befor Queen Mab adds an extra dimension (along with a much more realistic timeline).

I have no doubt in my mind that a good number of these people will become well known in the future (if you can beleive it, most of them are under 21). Donna Missal sticks out as one of the hghlights of the cast, bringing every new angle possible to a character who always seemed untouchable, and made her the girl we all know. Andrea Brooks was another one who just blew me away, taking songs that never worked and making them heartbreaking and funny and all around relatable. And the ensemble as a whole really played off of eachother, and all had a certain dynamic that made you believe they were truly a group of friends.

The creative team was given a tiny space to work with, and did more than the best they could with it. The theatre was an old, converted church, with stained glass windows and two rows of pews that really brought out the atmosphere. You could be literally inches from the actors at any given moment, just adding to how realistic the whole show felt.

What I'm tying to say among all the gushing, is that just when I thought I couldn't possibly love this show any more, Anthony Cantalupo and his amazing cast and crew proved me entirely wrong.

[longshadowsfalling]

Posted: 10/20/07 at 9:29pm

I completely agree about One Voice, it's still a scene that I'm always thinking about even though I last saw the production almost a month ago. They pulled it off so perfectly, and really addressed something that the New York production never did- Jason's funeral. By combining that with the graduation I think we got a more real look at how each of the characters reacted to Jason's death, since in the New York production time had passed and aside from Peter we never really get to see how it impacted them directly after it happened.

The same thing goes for Portrait of a Girl. The staging of that scene was beatiful and matched the metaphor of the song perfectly.

[armageddoni]

Posted: 10/20/07 at 10:05pm

I was not lucky enough to be able to actually see the show, however; from what I did hear, the cast was amazing. Really, more than amazing. Like any other person who loves bare, at first I wasn't sure what to expect, but from what I've heard, the production was beautiful and remained true to the material. The casting itself was brilliant- each performance breath-taking, painful and truly touching. If there's anything I will probably regret in my life, it's that I never got the chance to see this ingenius production of a brilliant musical I love a lot.