#wow ok I made it through skfjsdjf

[elle-smells]

I watched Bare The musical for the first time...

ok Honestly, as a musical and as a separate thing, it's not bad. Before anyone says anything, I think I get what it was trying to achieve with bullying (and social media) playing a big role in the development of the characters, I saw it and I am very aware. Anyways yeah as a musical, It's got a coherent plot, the songs are catchy and good, it flows well, I guess it works for what it is, so it is by no means a horrible show. However, as Bare? that's where I have more thoughts:

What I liked --

once again, songs were not bad, I would listen to them again.

Jason's little phone call with his Father, we get to have more moments alone with just him.

I appreciate that they tried to fix some of the stereotype-y things in the og. For example, Sister Chantelle was rewritten and not made into a typical sassy black woman. There is no "there is a black woman inside of every gay man". (she could've still been POC tho. there are ways to write a black woman that doesn't make her fall into that trope)

Nadia's duet with Ivy was cool. It added to layers to them.

I didn't exactly mind that Role of a Lifetime was given to Jason instead of Peter. It works for where they put it in the timeline of the show and actually, I think it would've been interesting if the Pop Opera had Jason sing a reprise of this song.

Overall, some of these little changes worked for the way they wrote the show.

Now, things I didn't like --

THE LACK OF RELIGION. One of the things Bapo does well is showing how the characters' faith plays a role in how they see themselves and the world. All the references to god, to praying, literally all of Epiphany, are almost entirely gone in the musical apart from a few exceptions. I felt like it was really lacking in this element that gave the original some of its heart and soul

Peter's coming out to his mom. See Me is such a good moment in the show. I missed it here

Idk, the length of Peter and Jason's relationship still matters so much to me. I wrote about this in another post but the fact that it's all built up frustration over years of hiding and telling each other that they would finish the journey how they started it, together, adds a whole other layer to each of their motivations and desires.

They butchered Portrait of a girl and I am SAD. They just took away Ivy's moment with that song and kept making her someone who is "not satisfied" bcs "oh I wish (Matt) being nice was enough for me"...why just why. Because that's not the point of Ivy's character at all or the point of this song in the original I-

They took away Nadia and Jason's moment in Plain Jane fatass (a song they didn't have at all but ok I get it). Their little sibling bickering and bonding showing how they had each other's backs, how much they cared, how much their parent's affected them. Also, they made Nadia Lucas and I still don't know how I feel about her being the one to give Jason the- yeah

The little plot with the sister and priest felt a little unnecessary, their purpose is to serve as parallels to one another in my mind but...ok

Not to say the Pop Opera is in any way perfect, because it's not and we all have to admit that it needs some change. But I wouldn't do it to the extreme of Bare the musical. I definitely prefer the Pop Opera jsut bcs I think it hits a lot more things better, and at its core, it really is a beautifully crafted show. So yeah, I wouldn't say I absolutely hate the musical but yeah it was just not it for me overall in terms of wanting to see a production of Bare.