Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...If you are a fan of "Bare: A Pop Opera" (which later morphed into "Bare: The Musical," but director Matt Dominguez is staging the original version by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo), you'll know that the piece anticipated, and maybe influenced, the much more successful Duncan Sheik musical "Spring Awakening." "Bare" shares many of its themes of adult authority figures failing adolescents in the throes of sexual confusion - with many of the same consequences as you can see in the Frank Wedekind play that inspired the only one of these two musicals ever to make it to Broadway."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Refuge Theatre Project revives the original version (a second began circulating in 2012) in Edgewater's Epworth United Methodist church sanctuary, an act of site specificity that offers an uncomplicated thematic backdrop at the expense of audio and microphone/speaker inconsistencies. There's no question that Matt Dominguez's expansive cast is vocally adept; whether or not everyone is well cast for the angsty, raw-sounding musical theater pop-rock score of the era is more iffy. As Sister Chantelle, A. Nikki Greenlee is a highlight who offers doses of adrenaline throughout."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...The story reads like a checklist of teen-angst tropes: Peter is gay. Jason, his boarding school roommate and best friend since childhood, is also gay, but fears parental disapproval should his proclivities become public. The girls at their school, especially the flirtatious Ivy, adore Jason, and the drama club is doing-what else?-Romeo and Juliet. One night the friends sneak off to a Rave, where under the influence of party drugs, Peter and Jason are seen kissing. Later, Jason succumbs to Ivy's advances, things get hot and heavy, and Ivy discovers she is pregnant. Peter, reeling from this betrayal, rejects Jason. You can guess the rest."
Theatre By Numbers - Recommended
"...In the past, I have seen Refuge Theatre Project as a group that needed some time to mature into something better. They've always had enthusiasm and dedication to their product. I'd now have to say that they've made it through their artistic adolescence, and while they still produce shows about being young, they no longer seem hampered by their own early-career hurdles. This is a solid piece of work that will serve as a foundation for many great shows to come. I see it as their coming out party, in as many ways as you'd like to take that phrase."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Highly Recommended
"...Director Matt Dominguez has devised a production to remember. While style and symbolism are essential elements of his vision, Dominguez has put relationships first: the characters' relationships to one another and their relationships with themselves. The show is impressionistic in its introspection, and while one could call the production high concept or deconstructionist, its emotional earnestness is as down to earth and visceral as it gets"
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...I was blown away by Refuge Theatre Project's emotionally-charged and gorgeously sung presentation of "bare". I have seen "bare" a handful of times before, but never with such emotional energy, desperation, or stunning vocals as I witnessed on Friday night at the Epworth United Methodist Church in Edgewater. Staged entirely inside an actual church this production revealed many startling shades to "bare" that I've never seen or thought of previously. It's like this show finally found the voice it was missing."
BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended
"...Featuring some top-notch performances by some relative new-comers to the Chicago stage in a tale where spirituality, sexuality and identity clash, BARE still manages to deliver an emotional wallop despite these minor flaws."
