This week’s Geek Out is a bit odd because it’s extremely rare to for me to Geek Out over a show I’ve never seen. This week, which keeps with our Pride Month theme, is about Bare, a pop opera, a musical set at St. Cecilia’s, a Catholic boarding school and focuses on a group of students there including Jason, Peter, Matt and Ivy who are preparing to stage Romeo and Juliet. Jason and Peter are struggling to deal with their relationship with Peter wanting to be out and Jason wanting to stay far back in the closet, while Matt and Ivy are also trying to start being something more than friends.
The main thrust though is on Jason and Peter and their push and pull with each other. Even though Jason tries out for the play so he can be closer to Peter, every time the boys have any sort of intimacy, Jason pulls away leaving Peter wondering how long their love can really last. Ultimately, Jason looses the argument with himself and ends up overdosing in the middle of the Romeo and Juliet performance. To me, the show is a different a take of Dead Poet’s Society, which is one of my favorite movies (and will be a Geek Out later this summer).
The music in this show is great pop stuff, and like show music should helps drive the story… which is important in case like mine where all I have is the music to go on along with the plot synposis available online.
The show had a successful run in LA and NYC back in 2003/2004. It caught my attention with the good buzz of it’s initial run and it was scheduled to return to NYC but the financing fell part, thus robbing me of the chance to see it.
Thanks to YouTube though I’ve actually seen a good bit of the show now and I’ve posted three clips for you’re enjoyment (from the NYC staging…the video is a little rough at times, but the audio is clear and you get the idea of the show).
“You & I” is the first look in Act I at Peter and Jason
“911 Emergency!” is also from Act I, and one of the funniest songs in any show ever. Here Peter has a vision of the Virgin Mary, who urges Peter to come out.
Finally, the first act wraps up with “One,” which leaves Jason in the arms of a woman and Peter wondering where his hero has gone.
I hope one day Bare returns to the stage so I can see the whole thing. Elements of the relationship between Peter and Jason planted some of the ideas for Neutral Zone, the novel I did the first draft of back in November, and that I’m still working on now.
