Dan Myers
There’s something so compelling about teen angst. It is painfully relatable to audience members of any generation, and the emotional, hormone-filled stakes could not be higher as the characters navigate a maze of self-discovery, doubt, fear, sexual awakening, lust and rebellion. It’s why coming-of-age stories are irresistible, from Romeo and Juliet and Catcher in the Rye to The Hunger Games and Glee.
Adding to that genre, Mercury Players and OUT!Cast Theatre have collaborated on an energetic and musically satisfying production of the pop musical Bare, a collage of teen troubles set against the backdrop of Catholic condemnation and homophobia.
The overly complicated plot of Bare revolves around recognizable high school types, including the fat girl struggling with body image issues (Katie Cass); the sensitive, closeted gay theater geek (Aaron Insko); the badass drug dealer (Annemae Collins); the pretty prom queen with a reputation for promiscuity (Sami Sobaski); and the popular jock who is still trying to figure out who he is (Kurtis Hopp).
Add in disappointing adults — a priest who wants to help the students but is restricted by dogma (Dave Durbin), the overbearing father with too-high expectations (unseen, but oppressive nonetheless) and the mother (Jessica Jane Witham) who doesn’t want to hear that her son might be gay, even though she had her suspicious, given his affection for Easy Bake Ovens and make-up from a young age. And finally, insert the one adult who understands and cares: Sister Chantelle (a wonderfully understated Janine Gardner). As the sassy African American nun straight from a Sister Act movie, she provides clear-eyed reassurance in between one-liners about how “God Don’t Make No Trash,” and white people have no rhythm.
The teenagers bounce from parties and drugs, to drinking and sex, giving the audience glimpses of each character’s inner struggles through pleasant but forgettable anthems that sound like a cross between ’90s pop songs and the score of Rent.
Although the script tries too hard to cover too much ground, the musical has wonderful moments, and this production is filled with beautiful, compelling performances. As Peter, the lovesick young man who wants to come out to his mother, be accepted by his church and have the freedom to kiss his boyfriend in public, Aaron Insko is heartbreaking. His fresh face and clear, strong voice draw the audience in immediately. As his charismatic but confused beau, Kurtis Hopp brings equal parts swagger and insecurity to the “big man on campus” role of Jason. His duets with Peter are some of the most touching and musically interesting parts of the show. As Jason’s other love interest, Ivy, Sami Sobaski starts the show in the background, but builds steadily, both vocally and emotionally, to her stunning solo “All Grown Up” in the second act.
In roles outside the doomed love triangle, Katie Cass brings brassy snark and a great voice to Nadia, Jason’s self deprecating sister; Annemae Collins gives a fabulous spoken word/rap lesson on the effects of the drugs she peddles to her classmates; and Isabella Virrueta and Alyson Barrett unleash vocal pyrotechnics as outstanding back-up singers in Janine Gardner’s comic numbers.
Steve Noll’s direction is bit heavy-handed at times, particularly in reinforcing the indictment of Catholicism that is already present in the script. But with the help of Lyn Pilch’s bouncy choreography and Meghan Rose’s music direction, Bare is an emotional — and definitely angst filled — look at young people coming of age at the beginning of the new millennium.
