CONFESSION
CONFESSION
Content warnings: Sexual references, drug references.
Confession, the tenth song of Bare, features an ensemble band of students at confession and disparaging it. The song then moves to Matt and Peter at confession, both of whom consider telling the priest about their secrets (Peter, his sexuality/relationship with Jason, and Matt, about what he saw at the rave), but they both decide not to. The song then moves again to an ensemble band of students rehearsing Romeo & Juliet and doing a very poor job of it; Ivy shows Sister Chantelle her artwork for the play's advertising, and Nadia makes a crack at her sex life.
Trivia/Important Info:
None.
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Portrait of a Girl
Portrait of a Girl, the eleventh song of Bare, is one of Ivy's songs which focuses on how she puts up an act to make people like her and how there's a certain behavior expected of her/girls in general that she must adhere to to be liked. Matt, who listens in to her song, only reinforces this with the comments he makes.
Trivia/Important Info:
"Now the portrait has captured the girl" has a double meaning: both that it has captured her likeness and that it has captured Ivy herself in terms of what she should be.This is the song in which it's revealed that Matt has a crush on Ivy, but only on the "portrait" that she portrays.
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Birthday, Bitch!
Content warnings: Slut-shaming, sexual references, underage drug use.
Birthday, Bitch!, the twelfth song of Bare, focuses on Ivy's birthday party, planned by Matt and hijacked by Nadia, who writes a disparaging, slut-shaming song about Ivy to "celebrate." Ivy is brought in totally wasted, since Tanya had to "keep her busy." Peter also unknowingly eats pot brownies and flirts with Jason publicly, bringing Jason's fears of coming out to the forefront again.
Trivia/Important Info:
None.
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One kiss
Content warnings: sexual references, implied internalized homophobia.
One Kiss, the thirteenth song of Bare, is the song which reveals that Ivy has a crush on Jason. Although Jason tries to dance around the subject, Ivy, wasted, pushes him into a corner, and with that on top of Jason's internalized homophobia and fear of coming out (see trivia/important info), agrees to "one kiss."
Trivia/Important Info:
"Yeah, he's just fucked up" can be read as Peter's morals are "fucked up," not just that he's had too much."Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" is French for "Do you want to sleep with me?"Jason's fears of being outed are realized in this song: the reason he abandons Peter and the reason he kisses Ivy is because Ivy is seen as the most beautiful girl in the school--any guy would want her, so to reject her would be bringing unwanted attention upon him and may even lead to people suspecting him of being gay.
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are you there?
Content warnings: Underage drinking.
Are you There?, the fourteenth song of Bare, focuses on how Peter and Matt feel abandoned by G-d and don't feel G-d's presence in their lives, wishing that G-d showed some sort of sign to prove that He cares. The two of them vent to one another over and bond their respective relationship issues, Matt about Ivy, and Peter about Jason.
Trivia/Important Info:
At Matt asking "who's leading?", Peter and Matt begin to dance, and when Matt asks who "usually leads," Peter whispers to him that Jason does, revealing the romantic nature of their relationship.
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911! Emergency!
911! Emergency!, the fifteenth song of Bare, has a drunk and high Peter seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary telling him to come out, but most importantly to come out to his mother.
Trivia/Important Info:
Sister Chantelle's actor plays the Virgin Mary, which is lampshaded in the next song.
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Reputation stain'd
Content warnings: The "f" slur is used at 1:52 in the video; a passing line that implies unhealthy dependency.
Reputation Stain'd, the sixteenth song of Bare, focuses on a rehearsal of the Tybalt-Romeo fight scene in Romeo & Juliet in which Matt and Jason start genuinely fighting instead. After the fight, Peter stops Jason and asks him if he'll come with him over spring break so they can come out to Peter's mother together, something that Jason resolutely rejects. When Peter pushes the subject, Jason panics and breaks up with him.
Trivia/Important Info:
None.
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ever after
Content warnings: The "q" slur is dropped, not in homophobic aggression, at 1:26 in the video.
Ever After, the seventeenth song of Bare, focuses on Peter and Jason's breakup as well as what their relationship had been to Peter.
Trivia/Important Info:
Even after losing Peter, who is presumably one of the most important things to Jason, Jason is still concerned with being outed above all else, given the last lines of the song.In some productions, Jason pushes Peter to the ground, and when Jason tries to help him up, Peter refuses him.Some productions have Jason tell Peter that he didn't mean it after the "no such things as heroes who are q***r" line.
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spring
Spring, the eighteenth song of Bare, focuses on Nadia's hatred of spring and serves to let the listener know that it is now spring.
Trivia/Important Info:
None.
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one
Content warnings: Underage sex, compulsory heterosexuality/internalized homphobia.
One, the nineteenth song of Bare and the last song of Act 1, focuses on Jason and Ivy's relationship as well as the demons the other cast members are dealing with at the moment. After Ivy apologizes for her behavior at her party, and Jason encourages her by calling it "cute," Ivy confesses to Jason again and the two of them kiss and eventually have sex.
Trivia/Important Info:
The double meanings to "hide with me" and "lie with me" show that Jason is not bi, but gay, and that he is talking himself into doing this.Furthermore, Jason's belief that "this is right" and that he is "certain that [Ivy] can help [him] find [his] way" show how deeply ingrained his internalized homophobia is.Peter is attempting to call Jason during this song.This song has the same melody/tune as "One Kiss," calling back to it.