BEING A LOSER HAS NEVER BEEN SO COOL.
Broadway's new musical sensation is BE MORE CHILL. It's already "one of the most popular new musicals in America," raves The New York Times. And The Wall Street Journal cheers, "It's going to hit big - and deservedly so!" Discover this hilariously honest show for yourself, featuring an electric, ear-worm filled score by "one of Broadway's next great songwriters" (Billboard).
What if popularity came in a pill? Would you take it, no questions asked? In BE MORE CHILL, achieving the "perfect life" is now possible thanks to some mysterious new technology - but it comes at a cost that's not as easy to swallow. What could possibly go wrong? Blending the contemporary with retro sci-fi, this thrillingly exciting, comically subversive, and deeply felt new musical takes on the competing voices in all of our heads. And ultimately proves, there's never been a better time in history to be yourself - especially if you're a loser... geek... or whatever.
But however much you root for it, Be More Chill ultimately seems like a talented, likable team that is playing in the wrong league, and the Lyceum looms around it like a judgment. Directed in broad strokes by Stephen Brackett, the show doesn't take itself seriously enough; many of the jokes are underbaked, and by the time it reaches its wacky, hectic finale, it has thrown internal logic out the window. And the production's embrace of cartoonishness works against the sentimental effects it sometimes reaches for, especially since we have little reason to care about Jeremy one way or the other; Roland, who was terrific as the needling sidekick in Dear Evan Hansen, sings well but doesn't project the sensitivity that might help fill out his role. Be More Chill takes it for granted that we'll like Jeremy just because most of the kids at his school do not. But unpopularity, like popularity, only goes so far.
Despite that perma-frenzied tone and the musical's underwhelming book, it's not surprising that Be More Chill has taken the journey it has. Iconis' pop-rock songs are catchy and the show channels the angst and insecurities many young people experience, particularly in this social-media-driven age. I just wish there was more beneath all that neon, high-intensity surface. But then again, if you're already one of the many, many fans of Be More Chill, my opinion probably isn't going to matter anyway.
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