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musicalreader17 · 4 years

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An essay on forever

A while ago I posted saying I wanted to write an essay on the use of ‘forever’ in bare: a pop opera and I finally wrote it for @bapofanzine which was released yesterday! There is so much talent in this fanzine and I would definitely recommend checking it out as so much hard work went into it and it is bapo content which the internet is sorely lacking right now.

Here is my essay on forever (I hope people like it I’m sorry it is so long):

Although it is only said 20 times in the duration of bare: a pop opera (11 of these are in Wedding Bells) the word ‘forever’ plays a surprisingly interesting role in the show. The definition of forever is ‘for all future time’ or ‘continually’ and the two main uses are drastically different. Peter associates forever with damnation whereas Jason initially believes it is a promise for the future.

Peter’s mind links ‘forever’ with his own doom. It is first heard in Epiphany in the ensemble as ‘hell is forever’ which is a direct quote taken from the bible as well as being the first mention of this word that is ordinarily associated with love and trust alongside the fact his religion is telling him he will be going to hell. Due to Peter’s religious upbringing the bible is probably the only time he has ever heard ‘forever’. He doesn’t associate it with love because he fears being unable to be himself while practicing his religion. Another reason Peter only really understands the negative connotations of ‘forever’ could be that his parents split up when he was young so any mention of love being forever may feel foreign to him.

The next time Peter says ‘forever’ is when he unsurely echoes Jason’s ‘forever you and I’ at the end of You and I. Jason telling him that they will be together forever links a word that contains so much fear with the person he is in love with causing it to have conflicting meanings in his brain. Peter doesn’t know how to respond to Jason’s insistence that they will always be together as the only ‘forever’ he has previously seen is the one that ended with them both going to hell. This is then followed by Role of a Lifetime which is Peter questioning how something that feels so good can be forever.

Jason serves as the counter to Peter’s forever means damnation. He believes saying forever is reassuring during You and I, which is ironic because in Best Kept Secret Jason says ‘all this forever can’t we live for today’ in response to Peter’s ‘we can’t go on forever this way’ when he was actually the one who introduced the use of ‘forever’ in You and I when he says ‘forever you and I’.

During One, when Ivy says ‘one forever can you feel it’ she’s saying that Jason is her forever and you can only have one. When they repeat it later together Jason is associating forever with Ivy. He can only have one forever and he’d rather it was with Ivy despite the fact it is a word that is already linked with Peter. There is foreshadowing in ‘one forever, can you feel it’ as it implies can you feel that the actions of Jason and Ivy are going to change everything and then later in the show Ivy gets pregnant. The’ one forever’ that they feel could be Jason sealing his fate with this choice.

Wedding Bells is one of the most interesting uses of forever in the show. The repetition of ‘forever’ towards the end of the song in the ensemble gives it a haunting and ominous feel, almost like Peter is being taunted by the threat of damnation. He doesn’t know what ‘forever’ means anymore because his religion has taught him to associate it with hell, which is what he believed his whole life, but then Jason told him ‘forever’ was to do with love only to change his mind and leave him because he was scared. It is as if he is being mocked, both the definitions of ‘forever’ he thought were true turned out to be lies. ‘Forever and ever’ is a phrase most commonly used in children’s stories or by children for emphasis. It is repeated several times towards the end of Wedding Bells to emphasise the dread that it brings to Peter whereas when children use the phrase it is normally to emphasise a happily ever after. This links to fairy tales which is a common theme in the musical. Biblically, ‘forever’ means if the factors which set the conditions exist. So, by this definition, a relationship ‘forever’ means as long as both people are alive, which implies Jason cut their ‘forever’ short.

The final ‘forever’ is in Bare where it occurs in the original form. Jason says ‘forever you and I’ echoing himself from You and I but this time he knows that he will love Peter for his ‘forever’ as he has already taken the drugs to cut it short. He knows he’s going to die, and only then does he understand the power of ‘forever’ as it can no longer be a promise for a future. This time Jason is promising Peter their love is ‘forever’ but Peter mistakes it as their relationship is forever like Jason said the first time. As Jason sings this ultimate ‘forever you and I’ the key changes from C# minor to the relative major (E major) which shows that the word ‘forever’ isn’t shrouded in darkness anymore and this ‘forever’ as a way of Jason genuinely saying I love you to Peter.

#bare a pop opera #Bare: A Pop Opera #bapo #bapofanzine #bare a pop opera fanzine #I really hope this is good because i worked really hard on it #please check out the fanzine #all this bapo content makes me happy #please let me know if this made you cry because i cried when i wrote it #forever #I actually have more to say but there was a word limit

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