Musical Monday: Be More Chill

Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers for Be More Chill, which is currently running on Broadway.

I knew very little about Be More Chill before seeing it. I knew a lot of people loved it Off-Broadway, and there was some excitement about it moving to Broadway. All I knew about the show was that it had something to do with high school kids and had colorful key art that I enjoyed walking past on my way home from work. Since I’ve seen the other three musicals about high schoolers currently running on Broadway (Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, and The Prom,) I wasn’t terribly excited to see another. I’m glad this didn’t stop me from seeing the show. Though Be More Chill does feel similar in some ways to the other shows currently running, it is definitely a fun time in its own right and worth seeing.

The beauty of the art outside carried over into the show. Technology features heavily into the entire plot, and the bright neon lighting and set design was complimentary of the theme without feeling forced or overdoing it. The show was fun for the most part, and I laughed freely throughout both acts. Even stronger than the book is the music. Joe Iconis has written a score that is equal parts heartwarming, funny, and catchy. Perhaps no song encompasses all three more than “Michael in the Bathroom,” which is a relatable song about being alone, left out, and yearning to belong. George Salazar brings the house down with the song, and frankly steals just about every scene he is in as the lead’s best friend—Michael. The musical has a lot going for it; it really does.

Will Roland, the lead, does a really awesome job. The only downside to this is that he also played the best friend in Dear Evan Hansen, so despite his solid acting it took me at least through the opening number and subsequent scene to stop from inherently comparing the shows directly. Similarly, the second act starts with a Halloween high school party. Perhaps it shows how few parties I was invited to in high school, but I didn’t know these were so rampant so my mind went directly to Mean Girls, which also features a high school Halloween party, and it took me some time to not compare the shows at that point. The only other qualm I had was that the story was wrapped up very neatly and cleanly, which was fine for the story, but there was a line towards the end where a character asks the lead what’s on his mind. It was such an absolutely perfect ending line, and it not ending with a blackout there bothered me. The ending wasn’t bad; they just missed a homerun.

This review is light on plot, and that’s intentional. I don’t think it’s a story that will get better or worse if you know things going in, but I think there was something really fun about not knowing what to expect and riding the twists and turns of the plot—perhaps more so than some other plays. Yes, there are a lot of plays about high school on Broadway right now, but that isn’t a knock against any individual show. Be More Chill tells a fun story, worth hearing, and if there are high schoolers who need to hear it, then who is anyone else to say that they shouldn’t just because other shows about people their age exist.