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bare
Book by Jon Hartmere & Damon Intrabartolo
Music by Damon Intrabartolo
Lyrics by Jon Hartmere
Directed by David Zak
At Bailiwick Repertory
1229 W. Belmont
Chicago, IL
Call 773-883-1090, tickets $25 - $30
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 7:30 pm
Sundays at 6:30 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission
Through January 27, 2008
"It's the story of a group of high school seniors, boys and girls, on the verge of graduation from Saint Cecilia's Catholic boarding school. In struggling with coming of age and leaving adolescence, they explore different ways of dealing with what comes next; they look to the church, their parents, rave culture, the media."-- Damon Intrabartolo, composer of bare
''I said to myself, 'Claire, you wanted grandchildren and instead you're going to get ambiguous Christmas cards from South Beach.' '' –Claire from bare
Coming of age pop operetta is ambitious, well sung and engaging
bare is a pop operetta set in a co-ed Catholic Boarding high school that utilizes 34 songs to tell its tragic coming of age story about two gay boys struggling with their sexual identity and the consequences in the social order in their high school. This ambitious, exuberant show has a lot of heart with a contemporary edgy tone. The show grew on me as it unfolded.
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Since it is almost completely sung through, it is really a pop/rock operetta with some terrific, story-specific lyrics (by Jon Hartmere). Damon Intrabartolo’s score has its moments despite relying too much on contemporary and pop rock musical styles. I found many of the pop songs lacking in melodies that forced the singers to sound so much alike that some terrific lyrics got lost. The pop/rock style of singing that forces the singer to hold a note in a predictable time on each line (think Rent and William Finn’s songs) grew tedious. The score and singing battled to over come the style with tunes that reflect R& B, new age tones, rap and hip-hop elements together with several soaring anthems and stirring ballads.
Jon Hartmere’s lyrics carried the story nicely. Bailiwick’s body mikes helped and music director James Moreland’s orchestra delivered sounded terrific. Peter (Jay Reynolds, Jr.) is the nerdy gay boy who is madly in love with the popular jock, Jason (Don Denton) who privately loves Peter but doesn’t want to come out and jeopardize his social standing at school, at home and with his upcoming sports scholarship to Notre Dame University. Both boys struggle with their Catholic faith and their sexuality. Peter and Jason sing about their love in the romantic ballads “You & I,” “Best Keep Secret,” “Ever After” and “bare.” Reynolds has a golden wide-ranging voice and Denton has strongly earthy voice—both land their romantic duets with stirring emotions. We quickly like and care about them.
Ivy (Kristin Johnson) is the cute popular girl who pines for Jason while Matt (Courtney Crouse) loves Ivy who ignores him. Nadia (Kathleen Gibson) is Jason’s sister and the fat girl who offers comic relief to the show. Gibson also offers two outstanding tunes, “A Quiet Night at Home,” her lament to her loneliness and “Spring,” a haunting tune. Act one has an up-tempo R & B song “911 Emergency” that has a jive-talking, hip Blessed Virgin Mary (Michele Cason) and her Cherubs offering Peter some heavenly advise in a fun-filled song.
Act two contains some surprise plot twists as Peter and Jason fight over coming out and Jason has a fling with Ivy in an attempt to test his sexuality. Jay Reynolds, Jr. (Peter) is marvelous as he sings the emotionally wrenching coming out song to his mother in “See Me.” Mother, Claire (Nancy Kolton) lets out her emotions in the powerful song “Warning” as she finally realizes that Peter is gay. Kristin Johnson’s Ivy is marvelous in her “All Grown Up” and Don Denton’s Jason’s “Once Upon a Time” was effective. Ryan Lanning, as the priest added his fine voice to his duet “Cross” with Denton’s Jason. The intertwining of a play-within-a play, Romeo and Juliet, (the senior play) worked to underscore the tragic twist.
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This fine production, under David Zak’s smart direction, effectively presents the teens as confused kids struggling with their faith, social pressures and growing up. The show deals with pertinent topics such as teenage drug abuse, teen pregnancy, confused sexuality, family pressure and self awareness. This overly ambitious work could use a slight trim but basically it delivers a fine evening of musical theatre. Once I got over the pop/rock singing style (which I hate), I began to appreciate bare as an energetic, truthful songfest with loads of heart.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: December 17, 2007
Jeff Recommended
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