BARE Announces Off Broadway Engagement at New World Stages; Arima, Wall and

[dramamama611]

I've heard that the role of Nadia is very different than she use to be as well. (Katrina Didrickson was let go before the last reading.)

I'm curious about the changes. While I've emotionally been drawn to Bare, I do think it was overwrought and always felt more like a talented HS kid wrote it -- someone with no perspective on life. I mean really -- could there BE another teen angst issue or stereotype that they didn't include??


Drugs
Rule Breaking
Sexuality
Bullying
Unprotected sex
Promiscuity
Overweight issues
Catty girls
Teen Pregnancy
Suicide
Single Teen Parent
Parents that don't understand
Overachievers
Underachievers
Pushy parents
Stupid Adults
Sheep tendancies


I hear what you are all saying about Sister Chantrelle but lets face it: she was the most UN-nun Nun ever written.

[broadwayguy2]

As far as Sister CHANTELLE goes, we should remember that right now there is a bus tour of nuns traveling around to raise awareness that they are being investigated by the Vatican and being threatened with church action because they are not taking the political positions of the church and have spent more time offering charity and aid instead of political posturing and preaching about who should be condemned... so I don;t find Chantelle to be that far off base in character arc, though actual dialogue was un-nun like.

[dramamama611]

I didn't mean in her acceptance of homosexuality - but in her attitude and personality.

[bwaymizfit2]

Does this mean that Claire is gone as a character as well? There isn't one listed in the cast list from the workshop. On the one hand, her actual appearance in the show is a little random (like with Peter's nightmare sequences), but on the other hand, I can't see the show working at all without "See Me."

[dramamama611]

For a reading it wouldn't suprise me if the didn't have all roles cast.

[somethingwicked]

Claire is no longer in the show. The only older female character is now Sister Joan (formally Sister Chantelle.) The character of Nadia is also no longer characterized as overweight.

The roles as they appear now are as follows:

[JASON]
Seeking actor 18+ to play a high-school-age male. Jason is the handsome golden child of St. Cecilia’s sophomore class. He has an easy charisma, Bill Clinton at 16. Jason has everything going for him on paper, but there’s a paragraph on that paper that no one can ever know about. He’s recently begun dating Peter, and neither of them has any idea how this is going to work. Pop/rock high baritone: solid G#'s.

[PETER]
Seeking actor 18+ to play a high-school-age male. Peter is introspective, Jason’s clandestine boyfriend. He absolutely adores Jason, and feels like he’s hit the jackpot. He's willing to do anything to keep the relationship going, and is the more practical of the two. Pop tenor: C below middle C to A above middle C.

[IVY]
Seeking actress 18+ to play a high-school-age female. Ivy is beautiful, but needs to find someone to see deeper. Her beauty isn’t something she had any hand in. The play, ROMEO AND JULIET...working opposite Jason...the language, and the depth of the words he’s saying -- to her -- casts a kind of spell that suggest he might be the one to be that for her. Pop/rock belter: G below middle C to high F.

[NADIA]
Seeking actress 18+ to play a high-school-age female. Nadia is Jason's sister, a junior. She spends much of her time brooding in Jason's long shadow and wields her tongue like a scythe when crossed. Prone to mood swings, she is the school's purveyor of prescription drugs, having been on all of them herself at one time or another. Sharp comic timing. Rock belter a la Pink: G below middle C to Eb (an octave and a third above middle C).

[MATT]
Seeking actor 18+ to play a high-school-age male. Matt is studious, pious, Jason’s academic rival. Driven to succeed, he works harder than anyone else, the nice guy who refuses to finish last. It frustrates him that Jason gets everything handed to him so effortlessly. He’s good-looking, no-nonsense, and has a sense of humor about him. Pop/rock tenor: E below middle C to high B.

[SISTER JOAN]
40s. A nun with ideas that often change before she's reached the period of her sentence. She's prone to speaking before she thinks and has an openness that the students appreciate, but this quality has come close to costing her her job on several occasions. Mezzo: Pop belt to D and a mix on the lighter side to C (octave above middle C).

[FATHER MIKE]
40s. St. Cecilia’s headmaster. His mission, as he sees it, is to provide a strong Catholic foundation for his charges. He and Sister Joan often don’t see eye to eye. Baritone/baritenor to G.

[dramamama611]

WAIT -- The MOM isn't in it anymore? (It just dawned on me that that is Claire!) Maybe it's because of MY age, but I always thought hers was one of the most well developed characters -- even though she was in so little!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Without Claire,
I'm not there.

[DEClarke]

To quote SIster Chantelle, "I think I’ve seen all I can stand to see !"

So basically, they're retooling SPRING AWAKENING (one of my favorite shows) to bring the homosexual relationship to the forefront and calling it BARE. I've lost a lot of faith in the possibility of this show being able to move forward. Seriously, no Claire? What's next, cutting "Absolution?"

[somethingwicked]

The redefining of the characters' ages is also interesting, since the leads all being high school seniors on the cusp of graduation was such a big part of the plot in the original.

Now, Jason has been re-written to be a sophomore, with Nadia no longer his twin but a junior who's a year older than him. I'm assuming the ages of Ivy and Peter will follow suit in being younger than they were before, which eliminates all the elements of the story about where everyone will end up the subsequent year.

[dramamama611]

Not really: I'm going to venture a guess that MANY catholic HS schools would kick you out for

Premarital sex
GAY premarital sex
being gay
out of wedlock pregnancy


However, I wonder why they decided to change their ages. Hmmm.

[DEClarke]

That's true... I guess gone are the lines about getting into Notre Dame, showing how awesome on paper Jason was, making his death even more of a tragic waste.

And obviously with Claire gone, we will have no notion of Peter getting into prestigious and good schools.

[Anthony Fremont]

The age boost could just be a legalistic thing, particularly where onstage sex is concerned, a la Lea Michele in Spring Awakening.

[somethingwicked]

It's not an age "boost." They're making the characters younger than they were before.

[Bwaydide92]

I can understand Nadia becoming younger than Jason. The whole twin thing is unnecessary, but Peter needs to be the same age as Jason. They're roommates. The mostly likely wouldn't put a younger student with an older student at a high school. And they also need to be Seniors. It gives Peter a clear motivation as to why he wants him and Jason to become public, since they'll be leaving home a relationship can become strained, especially if it's secret, so Peter wants people to know. He wants reaffirmation that Jason loves him.

AND HOW CAN YOU TAKE OUT CLAIRE!!!! Her part in Epiphany is great and See Me is such a good song, especially since a large part of the audience base will be LGBTQ youth that are going through or have gone through this kind of situation. It's a very relateable song. It's demeaning the point of the show if she's not in it.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Sounds like Arima is on his own wacky track again.
Bullying?

[dramamama611]

Well -- maybe Homophobia should have been a better choice, but it rears its ugly head as bullying behaviors.

[DEClarke]

So, let me guess... at the end of this one Jason lives! LAME! I hate this version. It shouldn't even be called BARE. It's not BARE.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

It's Barely Bare!

[CukorLover]

Honestly, his choreography on that show has been brilliant. Wall's participation is about the only thing that would interest me in seeing this show. I hope the revisions are to make it sound less like Rent. I love Rent, but every time I listen to Bare, it sounds like a copycat score.

I'd like to know what you find brilliant about a 60 second dance piece on a reality show.

[broadwayguy2]

1. Wall comes from a theatre background, so we shouldn't assume that he doesn't know how to choreograph for a theatre piece. feel free to pull up the Tony performance from the Stroman revival of Music Man, in which Wall appeared.

2. Bare has gone through drastic, DRASTIC revision in it's various incarnations from concept to concert, to album, to LA production, NYC WORKSHOP production, revised NYC production (the one that did not open) and to studio cast recording. Yes, there have been many revisions since and some very notable changes seem to have been made, but that doesn't mean the bones are different.. but perhaps there has been a healthy streamlining to make it WORK as a theatre piece with some better writing. I have long thought that show needs a set of fresh eyes. I am hesitant about Arrima, but I quite enjoy Shankel's work, so I will wait with baited breath. Sad to see that Dideriksen is not continuing.

[dramamama611]

DEClark -- so you have already judged this production based on RUMORED changes? The show was indeed flawed and immature (although had excellent themes and aspirations) It is possible that it is better OR worse than what was previously in existence.

I'm hopeful.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Unlike CARRIE, BARE was not a big flop but quite the opposite.
The LA production was a big success, Hanggi's NYC production was moving, packed with great performers, sleek and very satisfying. At the time it was THE show to see and had great buzz. The original move to N W Stages was cancelled at the 23rd hour (literally) due to the Dodgers mismanagement, not because the show was not good.
Everyone likes to say, it needs major re-writing, I don't think it did, it was a compelling work with touching performance from Arden, Green, Joy Johnson, Hopkins and all involved. There would have been some changes but we would have gotten that production that had NY a twitter before there was TWITTER.
Did anyone think" "oh that mother character has to go? Hopkins was riveting in her big solo, what fool would cut that?
Without the relationship between Peter and his mom, the show has to be very different.
I'm all for tightening and shaping the piece but why completely re-write a show that obviously worked for audiences?
It's obviously a work by young writers and that was also part of it's charm. As a huge fan of the NYC production, I am alarmed that the original energy and excitement are looked on as a failure which it was not.
When Arima attempted to fix CARRIE, the results were very dissappointing, I have a bad ((sad) feeling about this.
May they prove me wrong.

[CukorLover]

1. Wall comes from a theatre background, so we shouldn't assume that he doesn't know how to choreograph for a theatre piece. feel free to pull up the Tony performance from the Stroman revival of Music Man, in which Wall appeared.

I know of Walls "theatrical background" which begins and ends at appearing in The Music Man at 14 years old. Hardly theatre pedigree.

But Arima is smart. He tries to go for the "it" person no matter the genre or inexperience. Whether it pays off or not should be telling. Let's face it, you know what you're going to get.

[Broadwayboo2]

I think everyone needs to drop all the preconceived notions they have about the show and have an open mind! The show is still as powerful as it was, even more so with the changes. These people are professionals-they would never destroy a show that was so lovingly accepted. I assure you the changes that have been made are for the better. I'm sure the music is as great as it was, and that the new songs are better than the old ones!

[dramamama611]

CPD -- I totally hear you, and can understand FEARING the changes will be too much. (and I hate that Claire is gone!) But the poster I referred to stated that he hated this version -- none of us KNOW this version yet. His assumptions that is has killed Bare is preposterous.

He might NOT be wrong, but why not stay hopefull -- even if it is a skeptical hope?