BARE THE MUSICAL Previews- Page 2

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/20/12 at 2:29pm

It's because a certain director lacks a few absolutely basic abilities a director must possess, chief among these is interpreting a script and understanding it's style and themes.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 11/20/12 at 10:35pm

"Pilgrim's Hand" is sung (which is a bit awkward considering it's the only bit of Romeo and Juliet that's sung) and the end of the scene is different with Jason pulling a "Get Real" and pushing Peter to the ground in front of everyone following Peter's attempt to kiss him.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 11/20/12 at 11:22pm

I saw it tonight and thought it was pretty bad. I will start off with something good though: The cast tries their hardest and for the most part are giving nice performances given the material they are asked to perform.

Taylor Trensch, who plays Peter, had a nice characterization, but he hit way too many sour notes. Like so many that I was cringing. Sometimes he would be fine for a phrase or two, and then would just lose his pitch. When he wasn't singing I actually enjoyed his performance more than the others so I feel really mixed about him.

Jason Hite (Jason) was a much better singer, but his acting was sort of bland. He doesn't have much of a character to work with- more like a cliche that never develops.

The two female leads fair better. Alex Wyse and Alice Lee have supporting roles that are minorly developed in act one, but then don't utter a line in act two. If you're not going to keep their characters going just cut their material in act one. The show is too long as it is.

The show/production sort of sucks. It's so derivative of Rent, Spring Awakening and the Carrie revival. The opening number is staged JUST like "In." The actor playing Ivy looks like Molly Ranson too, so I kept expecting her to belt out, "That's not my naaaaaaaame!" Everyone is angsty and edgy. Yawn.

The score stops the show dead in its tracks at nearly every turn. The first act was 80 minutes and NOTHING happened!!! So this gay couple is in "love" but can't tell the world about their feelings. Maybe if they sing a song about (or two or three or four or five) it will get better. The songs for the two males just repeat themselves over and over. It's so boring.

Ivy's big solo at the top of act two was boring and obvious. The actress tried her damnedest to sell it, but it barely got applause. The teacher sings a song to Peter in act two about how she is always there for him, but we already knew that. She has been established scene after scene as the teacher who cares, so by the time she tells us that in song it's beyond redundant.

SPOILER**************
When Jason dies he falls into Peter's arms and I so wanted Peter to yell out "Don't you touch him! How many bullets are left in this gun?!"
END SPOILER***************

By the time the plot actually kicks into gear in the middle of the second act I had completely stopped caring about any of the characters.

The worst character was Matt, who basically stalks this girl who's not into him and we're supposed to feel some kind of pity for him? He had this lingering subplot that received no resolution and just and to the pointless nature of the show.

I guess you're supposed to get choked up at the end, but after you see a gay-themed play like the brilliant Normal Heart revival, it's hard to find something so trite and cliched moving. The Normal Heart is much older than Bare, but it felt like it was written yesterday. Bare feels very dated.

Lastly special notice must be paid to the song "Easy Girls." All the mean jocks, who get to say faggot (gasp!) a lot, are streaming cam4 type videos and singing about internet porn. Talk about making "We've Got Girls By the Balls" look good! It was painful and embarrassing.

Overall I feel for the cast because they are doing their best and many of them show promise as actors, but asking them to rise above this material is more than anyone should be expected to do.

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 12:36am

The first act was acceptably entertaining, except for two egregiously awful numbers. The second was just a doleful slog. Many lapses in credibility and inattention to details in the course of the evening.

I do commend though, a bright and buoyant song in the first act, "Best Friend," which was like an echo of the cheerful, captivating musicals of once upon a time. All of a sudden, it was like hearing "Vive la Virtue," "I've Got a Rainbow Working for Me," or "Make It Happen Now," and for one brief, shining moment, I was utterly charmed.

If only the rest of the show had been like that.

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 3:19am

I'll be really honest, I didn't even see the preview (I wish I did, but I live on the other side of the country :'( ), but I'm already disappointed with it! I think that cutting "A Quiet Night at Home", despite being one of my favorite songs, would have been forgivable, but making Nadia a drug dealer? The entire things about that character (who I happen to relate to a lot), is that her sarcasm and rude remarks are a way of deflecting pain. She's just not the kind of girl who would be selling drugs at all, let alone drugs her brother (who she loved) would use to kill himself.
Alright, now that that rant is done, Epiphany/Million Miles from Heaven. From what I've heard of the new song, it seemed a bit redundant (if that makes sense, since it opens the show). But the point is, we'll know these characters, and know that they are sort of rebelling against what they've been taught. As a Catholic myself, I feel like I'm sitting in mass just listening to the cast album. Which I think sets a great atmosphere for the rest of the show.
And don't even get me started on the cutting of Claire's character, not to mention "God Don't Make No Trash" (which is a tad cheesy, but it's still fantastic).
Like I said, I haven't actually seen it (I hope I get to, though!), but just hearing about these changes makes me flinch:/ I really hope either some things are changed, or I'm jumping to conclusions, because I adore this show:)
Oh yeah, and divacb- WHERE, OH WHERE DID YOU GET THAT??? Seriously, if you could please tell me, I'd love you forever!

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 11:51am

I'm sure most people know already, but the entire 2004 off-Broadway production starring Michael Arden, John Hill, and Jenna Leigh Green is online. The sound isn't as consistent as it is in the video of the final performance, but it's absolutely worth watching.


Act 1

[kadu335]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:25pm

This may be a stupid question but I'll ask it anyway...

I just downloaded a couple of songs on iTunes and I could only find the 2007 album on iTunes (I guess that's the only official recording that exists). In "Role of a Lifetime", is it Peter who is singing or is it Jason (like in the new production) but singing in 3rd person?

[boggess]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:29pm

Peter has sung Role of a Lifetime in every version of the show up to this new one. I was disappointed that they gave another song to Jason, especially since Role of a Lifetime had always been Peter's big solo.

[kadu335]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:35pm

I actually liked this song and the way the actor playing Jason sang it when I saw the show... I'm not sure I would've liked it as much if Peter was singing it (mostly because I hated the actor's voice)

[Dave516]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 1:36pm

Kadu - it is Peter who sings the song in the original. I don't really understand how they could change it in the new version - half of the song is about how Peter can see that Jason wants this "white picket fence" dream with children and a wife and with him wondering how he might fit in...

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 2:14pm

I'm not really sure I want to see this. I love the 2007 album, but this just sounds awful. It sounds like old white guys trying to make something "edgy" for teenagers, so they just throw everything they can at it.

And why were there new songs by a new composer for this production?

[eperkins]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 4:26pm

Just saw that tickets to BARE for next Monday and Wednesday nights are on TDF.

[tmbyru]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 6:39pm

Can someone post a pic of the playbill?

[kadu335]

Posted: 11/21/12 at 6:51pm

Here it is, tmbyru...

[tmbyru]

Posted: 11/22/12 at 8:44pm

thanks Kadu

[Here I Am]

Posted: 11/24/12 at 5:51am

This is actually all pretty upsetting. 'Bare' has (or had, I should say) one of the most beautiful scores in recent memory. I can listen to the studio cast recording from start to finish, never miss a track and cry every time.

I hate hearing that so much has been cut, especially 'Queen Mab', 'A Quiet Night At Home', and 'Plain Jane Fat Ass'... frustrating!

And I'm sorry, there are a million amazing male singers and actors in NYC, why would they cast a Peter who can't really sing? Now, I can't judge because I haven't seen the performance yet, but these early reviews are making me really nervous to see it.

I guess those of us (which is most people) who were unlucky enough to miss 'Bare' the first time around will have to deal with this new version. It wasn't broken. Why fix it?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/24/12 at 7:02am

Well, it WASN'T perfect, and, indeed, had many flaws. It had everey teenage angst issue making it too full of hubris/sentiment. However, those fixes could have been done without a hatchet. (That being said, I adore the score) I'm seeing this next weekend, but, sadly, my expectations are low.

[broadwaypunk06]

Posted: 11/24/12 at 11:34am

I just saw the show last night and though there were some drastic changes to the original production I found that it worked. I related to it much more than the original to be honest. Yes I miss some of the original songs but I dont think the new ones are horrible. I do hate the lyric change to "All Grown Up." That was really the only thing I had a problem with. I think if anything they inproved the show by making a lot of the changes and even though they didn't tell the audience why Nadia was so angry it didn't bother me because I knoe a lot of friends that are like that and no one really knows why they are angry. They have some secret that they really don't wanna let people know. I mean her and her brother don't really have a relationship, she talks about her parents and how they are a little messed up and I feel that was enough.

I would like to go on with more but I'm on my way back to the city to see Drood. Last thing, both shows are very different but both shows hold theyre own but if I hadto choose which version I like better it was the revamped one. PLEASE JUST CHANGE THE LYRICS IN "ALL GROWN UP" BACK!

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 11/24/12 at 12:15pm

I do agree with you that many of the changes did work for the show: Jason singing "Role of a Lifetime," the addition of Sister Joan, the aspect of ever-changing technology, and much of Peter's new dialogue and characterization.

However, a good number of drastic changes were severely unnecessary, and I thought made the show more flawed than it originally was: the changing of the opening number, the omission of Claire, and the addition of many of the new songs ("Easy Girls" being the best example).

It's one thing to omit pieces of the score, but to outright replace a good third of it makes zero sense, especially when the majority of the new songs serve the SAME purpose as the old ones. It seems like such a slap in the face to the man who created the show and had the original idea.

I did enjoy the show very much and agree that some of the changes were wonderful and inspired, but I just can not get over what they did to the score.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/24/12 at 12:54pm

But who is the guy that made all the new songs?

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 11/25/12 at 3:47am

Oh my god, LYLS3637: somehow, I didn't know that existed- thank you so much for sharing (even if it did cause me to be up at 4:30 in the morning, my phone screen an inch away from my face sobbing my eyes out!)

And for those of you who saw the show: I just got the score for bare, and All Grown up has different lyrics that I've only heard before once (a questionably legal recording of the LA production), and I was wondering if maybe they were the lyrics in this new version. It goes:
big decisions
wait in anger,
what if he says it's my choice too?
should have thought before he banged her,
taking one and leaving two.
(just the biggest difference, there were more)
Also, my phone screen keeps freezing, so I can't actually really see what I'm typing, therefore I'm sorry in advance for typos:)

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/25/12 at 1:04pm

I see it tomorrow evening. Can't wait. I saw the original NYC production and a production in Denver 2 years ago. Own the demo cd and the studio recording. Not happy about "A Quiet Night at Home" being cut. Will I will be interested in is how well "Absolution" is done. Michael Arden's performance of that song when I saw it was devastating. We were jaw dropped. Going in with an open mind. Am very excited.

[LYLS3637]

Posted: 11/25/12 at 1:44pm

RippedMan-- The new music is written by the show's co-orchestrator and arranger Lynne Shankel. She's also credited with "music supervision." Jon Hartmere (who is the show's co-creator and original librettist/lyricist) is still attached and wrote the new book and lyrics.

FlowerChild-- these *new* lyrics to "All Grown Up" are unique to this production, since they reference parts of Ivy's new backstory. They make you yearn for the not so subtle LA lyrics though

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/26/12 at 10:59pm

Saw it tonight. My understanding is that changes are constantly being made and I am looking forward to seeing the end result.

The set is quite beautiful. The cast, as a whole is quite good. The voices they chose for the show are interesting but work. Meaning they are not al, the strongest but they work for this show. Taylor is acting the living daylights out of the part of Peter. I was quite impressed.

They are in previews so I am sure things will change. Wasn't crazy about some of the sound. Didn't have too much of a problem with the change in Nadia's character although she is now that bad Jewish girl in "Saved"! The actress plays herwell though.

All in all, at this point in previews, I say it is worth seeing. The story seems a bit more fleshed out, except why the preisst hates the nun. Didn't miss the mother at all and didn't miss the excluded songs from the original.

[ChanceEncounter]

Posted: 11/27/12 at 12:08am

Anyone heard anything about rush or what not? I'm trying to decide if I should just go ahead and get the TDF tickets or not.