Dodgers Continue to Advertise Bare Six Months After Pop Opera’s Indefinite Postponement

To the confusion of some theatergoers, Dodgers Theatricals is continuing to advertise Bare at its new Dodger Stages complex on West 50th Street, even though the production of the pop opera that was supposed to open in one of the five theaters there last fall remains indefinitely postponed.

Following a Los Angeles run in 2000, Bare had its New York premiere in a limited-engagement production at the American Theatre of Actors in the spring of 2004. The Dodgers (as the production company is informally known) subsequently announced that the show would begin an open-ended Off-Broadway run at Dodger Stages that fall. After two delays, Bare was scheduled to start performances in Theater 1 of the complex in October, but the production was aborted just before rehearsals were set to begin. According to a press release issued at the time, “Some financial backing has fallen out and replacement capital could not be confirmed in time to keep to the current schedule. Theater 1 at Dodger Stages is being held for the show to allow production to resume as soon as possible. A revised schedule will be announced soon.”

Though no such schedule was ever announced, Bare is still being advertised at Dodger Stages via a poster near the box office and a sign in the lobby just outside of Theater 1. A press representative for the Dodgers told TheaterMania that this is because “there’s still a chance” that Bare will eventually open at Dodger Stages. The rep said that the Dodgers would have no further comment as to why the poster and the sign remain in place even though there are no definite plans to resuscitate the production.

With music by Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Jon Hartmere, Jr., and a libretto by Intrabartolo and Hartmere, Bare concerns the coming of age of a group of Catholic high school seniors. The outdated Bare poster on display at Dodger Stages features the show’s logo (see image above) and the phrase “begins October 13,” which some theatergoers are naturally taking to mean October 13, 2005. In addition to an image of Jesus, the logo incorporates photos of Michael Arden, John Hill, and Jenna Leigh Green, who had the pop opera’s leading roles; but these performers have gone on to other projects, and it is highly unlikely that all three of them would be available should Bare ever be resuscitated.