By Jia Johnson
On November 3-4 and 10-11, the theater department put on their annual fall musical, which this year was “Bare.” Before I get into the content of the performance itself, this show is very historical for our school. This is the first time “Bare” has been adapted to perform in a school, despite the age of the characters all being seniors in high school. The cast, led by David Ryan, rewrote the script to be more appropriate for high schoolers to perform. This script is recognized as “Bare” - A Pop Opera, School Edition.
The musical itself was remarkable. The main plot was a closeted queer romance between two boys at a catholic school, Jason and Peter. The musical set out to tackle how religion, fear of disappointing parents, and your peers can affect your ability to express who you are and who you love. In addition to the main storyline, it confronted many other difficult themes, like Nadia disliking her body, Ivy being slut shamed, and eventually teen pregnancy.
In addition to the script being adapted to be more appropriate, the cast incorporated cell phones and their impact on the story. It was seamlessly done, and you never would’ve known it wasn't in the original script if you hadn’t been told. They play a part in Matt outing Peter and Jason with a picture, as well as Ivy asking Jason why he didn’t call her over break.
This musical was overall heart-wrenching. From Ivy and Nadia’s reconciliation with her announcement that she was pregnant, to Jason begging for empathy in confessional, to Jason eventually dying in Peter’s arms due to suicide. There were so many tear-jerking moments which are very difficult to portray realistically.
Everyone involved in this production was amazing and there were so many outstanding vocal performances. So many of the emotional moments hit so perfectly and the lines were delivered so well. It was truly one of my favorite performances I’ve seen from the theater department.
The entire performance was so remarkable and just a heartfelt story that I felt accurately represented what being a teenager was really like. Huge congratulations to everyone involved!
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