Be More Chill (NYC) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (821)
See it if you ever felt like you didn't fit in or if you want to see a fun musical with catchy songs.
Don't see it if you dislike sci-fi or stories about teenagers or if you prefer classic musicals.
See it if You are looking for something different but smart and entertaining! Great music, great story and amazing talent!
Don't see it if You like classical musicals or don’t like anything “young”.
See it if You can live with a slightly silly plot line but appreciate great singing and acting.
Don't see it if You are expecting a big brassy musical with costumes and dancers this may not be for you...but try it anyway, the cast is magnetic!
See it if You enjoy theatre relevant to teens. Great music, great staging and so funny.
Don't see it if You don't like modern musicals.
See it if you ever went to high school.
Don't see it if you are too old to appreciate a very clever musical. Read more
See it if you are a high school teacher or parent a teenager....what kids will do to be popular.
Don't see it if you do not want to learn about teens.
See it if Great voices and talent, appealing characters, very entertaining.
Don't see it if you want a traditional musical, Read more
See it if You like progressive new plays with a great cast. Excellent singing and dancing. It’s a great family musical.
Don't see it if You want more serious material. This lends itself to the junior high school through college audience. Read more
Critic Reviews (50)
"An exuberant new musical...The show is a bright and boisterous entertainment populated by a delightful ensemble and driven by propulsive music and some frequently frenzied dancing...Breezy and broad as ‘Be More Chill’ gets, it occasionally underscores the angst that adolescents feel...This production is well worth seeing. Stephen Brackett, the director, has put together an extremely energetic, extremely flashy attraction that visually embodies its youthful viewpoint."
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"The latest orgy of adolescent angst...The show is simply so-so. It’s loud, lively, and mostly lacking in surprises...The question at the musical’s core is provocative. If a pill could change your life, would you take it? The answer the show offers is, alas, pedestrian...Songs by Iconis get points for quirky subjects and self-aware wordplay. But they’re also long-winded and repetitive...Through it all, the actors are game and winning as they channel inner teens...It’s easy enough to swallow."
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"I find the implicit messages the material sends to young people repellent enough that I would advocate for impressionable minds to take in this musical with caution...I found its tone increasingly off-putting...The diverse and talented cast often seem pushed to the edge of caricature by cheap jokes and manic performances...The characterization of Jeremy’s peers, particularly the young women, also left me cold."
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"'Be More Chill,' the dazzling and inventive musical based on the cult Young Adult novel by Ned Vizzini, has made a successful transfer to Broadway Lyceum Theater with the same cast and an expanded production team after a tryout production at Two Rivers Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey in 2014, and a YouTube soundtrack that has had over 150,000,000 hits which led to an Off Broadway production at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre Center during the summer of 2018."
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"An account, both touching and upbeat, of that universal downer — adolescence...Tracz and Iconis have modified Vizzini's plot judiciously, simplifying it for dramatic purposes...The musical captures the sadness and agitation of Vizzini's characters; and Iconis makes the characters sing in ways reminiscent of Broadway's golden age yet appropriate to the source material...Director Stephen Brackett kept his 10 actors moving with the precision and velocity of a computer program."
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“Edgy, raucous, rockin’, can’t keep a good thing down musical...Fast moving, fast talking, with exceptional projection design...The out of the box costumes are a wild fantastical fantasia...With genius Brackett at the helm directing, the cast is kept on its toes and more so with Brock’s robotic, quick moving choreography...The comedy and fun fly brilliantly. This is a show that speaks directly to the young generation and makes parents happy that their kids now want to attend theater."
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“Although the music is relentlessly upbeat and the lyrics witty, ‘Be More Chill’ is really a strung-together collection of the usual teen-angst tropes...Perhaps if the main character of Jeremy was a little more interesting than a whiny kid who can’t see beyond his own misery, the show might attract more sophisticated viewers...But as long as its target audience is willing to travel...and their parents are willing to pay, I’m sure ‘Be More Chill’ is going to be around for a good long while.”
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“It’s a young and feisty High School musical, something akin to 'Mean Girls' mixed with the Sci-Fi out of this world 'Little Shop of Horrors', with a dash of outsider angst 'Dear Evan Hansen' layered on top of its catchy fun soundtrack...It hasn't slipped a bit since transferring to the Lyceum Theatre..And as guided with ADD enthusiastic energy by both the formidable Stephen Brackett, and choreographed by the talented Chase Brock, it deserves every bit of the hyper hype it has accumulated."
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