bare: Viva la Vie Upper Middle Class!

Let's just recognize that enormous elephant in the room right from the top, shall we?

Rent.

Rent, Rent, Rent.

Rent, Rent, Rent, Rent, R-E-N-T, Rent.

Because as soon as the flood of praise for bare, Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere Jr.'s new pop opera, began to trickle its way to New York from Los Angeles, where its scheduled 32 performance run received such raves that it was extended to four months, the comparisons to Rent came pouring out as quickly as the comparisons to Hair saturated the word-of-mouth at Rent's Off-Off Broadway opening. Yes, bare is a through-composed, issue-oriented work with contemporary musical influences and a youthful ensemble cast. Yes, bare is played on a sparse set, the music is loud and the actors wear those funny little headset microphones that salesclerks at Old Navy and The Gap love so much. But despite these superficial similarities, there is a huge difference between bare and just about every other Broadway or Off-Broadway musical directed at younger audiences, and that uniqueness is already creating such a stir among theatre-goers that by the time you've finished reading this column there might very well be serious plans to move bare from its current modest little home above a 54th Street police station (the same space where Urinetown began its post-Fringe life) into one of those houses that annually become available when productions hoping for a box office surge after winning a Tony Awards or two find out they ain't gettin' any.

Michael Arden and John Hill (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Broadway has developed a culture of teenage theatre-goers who, rather than sampling a variety of plays and musicals, will latch on to one or two shows that are geared more towards a youthful audience and attend multiple, sometimes hundreds of, performances, buying up souvenirs and sometimes singing along in their seats. But although shows like Wicked and Jane Eyre may provide strong positive role models and Rent and Taboo may give them a voyeuristic look at a romanticized bohemia, it's doubtful that the average teenage musical theatre lover has ever seen a realistic stage portrayal of themselves and the world they live in. Until now.

bare is a serious look at the melodrama that is adolescence, played by a cast that looks, acts and sings like the high school seniors they're playing through a musical and lyrical language that goes no further than the sophistication level of your average upper middle class 17-year-old. Its universal issues are of sexual discovery, fear of social rejection and the need to somehow "fit in" without abandoning what is in your heart. Sure, it's the type of show that parents will want to see with their children and talk about at the dinner table, but its story is told with a theatrical savvy and inventiveness that will appeal even to those who shudder at the thought of sharing a thousand seat theatre with anyone under the age of 21.

Peter, played with a sweet wide-eyed honesty by Michael Arden, is a closeted gay senior in a co-ed Catholic boarding school who is given to have elaborate fantasies (nicely choreographed with various degrees of winking by Sergio Trujillo) fueled by both fear of discovery and daydreams of acceptance. He wrestles with what his faith deems unacceptable and what his heart feels is right, while his boyfriend Jason (an understated, yet sexually charged John Hill) is determined to stay closeted and somehow lead the most normal, or acceptable, life possible. Their heterosexual classmates, including Jason's "plain jane" twin sister Nadia (Natalie Joy Johnson) and Ivy (Jenna Leigh Green), the "pretty girl" who has a crush on Jason, much to the macho chagrin of Matt (Aaron Lohr), have their own adolescent dramas to contend with, all intersecting via a school production of Romeo and Juliet.

The cast (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Yes, the story and characters may sound a bit like the cliched situations you'd see in an old episode of The Facts of Life or Saved by the Bell, but although using a Shakespeare play to parallel the lives of high school students has certainly been done before, it's rarely done so well. Hartmere's lyrics avoid precociousness -- these are not teens who go around quoting Emily Dickenson and Stephen Sondheim as part of everyday conversation. Instead, the text has an heart-on-its-sleeve directness with appropriately simple rhyming, Although there is humor, there are very few jokes, with traditional comic relief being replaced by moments of musical exuberance, diminishing in frequency during the tragic second act. Intrabartolo says his music is influenced by alternative artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails and Fiona Apple. I'll have to take his word on that. But even a middle aged Rodgers and Hart fan can recognize the advanced mix of contemporary pop styles. Coupled with Hartmere's lyrics, his music often suggests emotions far more complex than the words these young minds have to describe them, effectively simulating the indescribable effects of adolescence. On the rare occasions where a grown-up takes center stage, Romelda T. Benjamin, as the school drama teacher, makes the most of two show-stoppers -- a MoTown fantasy and a gospel hymn to everyone's civil rights.

Director Kristin Hanggi's fast-paced staging has the exuberance of the most slickly maneuvered high school production you've ever seen, making bare seem like a class project put together by kids about themselves. Scenes end with David Gallo's set pieces raced back and forth, never pausing for applause, beneath an imposing stained glass window. Quieter moments are highlighted with actors in visual pictures, emphasizing a school environment where your secrets are never completely hidden.

For Michael Dale's "mad adventures of a straight boy living in a gay world" visit dry2olives.com