BARE
At the American Theatre of Actors, 314 W. 54th St.; (212) 239-6200.
‘BARE” may sound like a nude revue, but it’s actually about gay students in a Catholic high school. Souls – not bodies – are bared in “Bare,” and if you expected something racier, well, you’ve been forewarned.
What we have here is a musical, with music by Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Jon Hartmere Jr. and book by both. It’s a mainly mediocre rock pastiche, ranging from undistinguished ballads like “You & I” to the Supremes-style camp of “God Don’t Make No Trash.”
“Bare” is obsessed with the love affair between sensitive Peter (a sensitive Michael Arden) and hunky Jason (a hunky John Hill). Neither young man has told his parents or is out, so the romance must be carried on in secret.
The youths are cast in a school musical of “Romeo and Juliet” – with Jason as Romeo and Peter as Mercutio – and when Juliet is late one day for rehearsal, Peter subs for her. How romantic is that?
Among the many banal fantasy sequences, the African-American nun who directs the play (played with sass by Romelda T. Benjamin), appears as a Diana Ross-like Virgin Mary offering loving advice to gays.
As Peter’s pudgy sister Nadia, Natalie Joy Johnson shows wit and flair and performs two fairly funny songs, “A Quiet Night at Home” and “Spring.” She shows glimpses of what “Bare” might have been.