'BARE' STORMS IN POP OPERA A FORCE AT HUDSON THEATRE.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

A few years ago, when the country was first going bananas over a musical called ``Rent,'' producers and critics found themselves raving as much about who was in the audience as what was on stage.

The crowds were younger. Kids. Young couples, straight and gay, people who weren't supposed to be interested in something as high-falutin' as live drama, saw something in Jonathan Larson's New York adaptation of ``La Boheme'' so they packed the house and then came back for more. They saw themselves on stage.

The same could happen when ``bare'' climbs out of the tiny Santa Monica Boulevard theater it currently occupies and starts getting national attention. It speaks to an even younger, less theater-interested audience. And here's the exciting part: ``bare,'' a pop opera by Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere Jr. about seniors at a Catholic boarding school, is better than ``Rent'' both musically and dramatically.

Kristin Hanggi's production at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre positively bursts with the amped-up pain of teen angst set free. The setting is St. Cecilia's Boarding School, a smoky, vaguely blasted-out-looking institution where the stained-glass saints peer down on the proceedings and occasionally come to life. Matters of love, sex, self-worth, identity have fired up the students, and they're bursting their uniforms to tell someone - anyone - about what they're experiencing. Life can suck when you're young, hormonal, alone, and your authority figures pass judgment rather than listen.

So these kids sing. To themselves, to each other, to their priests and sometimes directly to God. The seven-member live band, conducted by Intrabartolo, fills the Hudson with some very challenging music (it will be a great soundtrack). ``bare'' is a throbbing, pulse-pounding, light- flashing kind of experience.

We meet Peter (played by John Torres) - kind, artistic, desperate to talk to someone about his homosexuality and his love for Jason (John Griffin), who's in even more of a pickle. As the school's golden boy - star athlete, scholar, actor, heartthrob - Jason can't afford to be outed.

``bare'' puts 21 people on stage, many of whom don't have much to do. The only adult figures are a priest (Mark Edgar Stephens), Peter's head-in-the-sand mother (Robin Karfo) and Sister Chantelle (Stephanie Andersen), St. Cecilia's feisty drama and choral teacher.

She's is directing the kids in ``Romeo and Juliet,'' and the play within a play is easily ``bare's'' most electric element. Intrabartolo's sung- through score has plenty of gems, but his musicalization of Shakespeare's verse, and its placement within the context of the story, is masterful.

Griffin and Lefkovitz are both excellent, bringing depth and layers to a couple of characters who, as written, might easily have been stereotypes. Green demonstrates that there is both longing and pain underneath Ivy's perfect face. The ensemble is strong as well.

But the real gift here is the entire package, both technically and musically. The Catholic church may not thank Intrabartolo and Hartmere for ``bare,'' but the musical theater-going public should be very grateful indeed.

``BARE''

Where: Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; through Feb. 11.

Tickets: $20 to $32.50. Call [phone].

Our rating: Four stars

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John Torres stars as Peter in ``bare,'' the Catholic boarding school opera by Damon Intrabartolo and Jon Hartmere Jr. at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre.