Be More Chill (Off-Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
This New York premiere musical is an edgy, comic look at coming of age in the digital age. Get tickets to the Broadway transfer here!.
Read more Show lessShow-Score Member Reviews (312)
See it if You enjoy a high-energy rock musical about a "magic pill" but things aren't what they seem. Fast paced, great songs, want the soundtrack!
Don't see it if You prefer a talky drama instead, or if you don't have earplugs (music super loud)
See it if you love a truly great new musical.
Don't see it if You only like serious, traditional musicals. Some older attendees don’t seem to connect with the plot. Read more
See it if You want to see new, outstanding material, open to creative musical theater
Don't see it if You are accustomed to standard broadway musical format, not open to new music/writing
See it if You want to see something refreshing, funny and original, with some memorable numbers, and a real human story at the center of it.
Don't see it if You don’t like modern stories or musical styles, or if you’re not willing to give over to a musical’s central idea, no matter how absurd.
See it if you're a human. Seriously, it's that good.
Don't see it if you hate modern musicals? I really can't think of much of a reason not to see it. Read more
See it if Great message for high schoolers and up. Very modern.
Don't see it if Not for elders. If you don’t like musicals
See it if You like shows that relate to the awkwardness and cliquishness of youth and the desire to belong or be unnoticed
Don't see it if You aren’t interested in youth culture or sci fi stories
See it if you want to see a really fun and unique shows and you don't mind shows that are completely rooted in the current related of today.
Don't see it if you don't like shows that have science fiction related themes.
Critic Reviews (35)
"Since 'Be More Chill' struck me from start to finish as woefully derivative, I was far from having the huge-arena-like fun so many ticket buyers around me were having. More than that, I was recoiling from the Iconis score...Salazar delivers a tour de force 'Michael in the Bathroom.' But for virtuosity, it’s not matched elsewhere by songs that require little more than belting, not to say bellowing."
Read more
"'Be More Chill' is an impressive musical version of Ned Vizzini's cult novel. Not only does it reproduce the plot on stage, it also gives it a high tech look that dramatizes the story where the novel left it to the imagination. Joe Iconis, long thought to be one of the most promising new theater composers, makes good on that promise, and Joe Tracz demonstrates for a second time that he can put difficult material on the stage."
Read more
"Collectively the performers respond with zest and exuberance to director Stephen Brackett and to the modest demands of choreographer Chase Brock. A lengthy and labored Halloween bash, however, gets tiresome pretty quickly...For an audience that can make peace or at least a truce with the predictability of the plot and its resolve, the post rock score and lyrics that may be painful to some adult ears, this musical is smartly awash with teen-speak."
Read more
"One of the most striking things about 'Be More Chill' is for all the hype, it feels immediately familiar. No matter how you remember high school, it still stands as a relatable playing field...Watching it I felt pure, uncomplicated joy, an emotion that theatre so often complicates. But at the same time a nagging voice was telling me that this musical isn’t exactly ground-breaking...But that's ok, because 'Be More Chill' is pure comfort food...Unassuming and fun; here, that’s enough."
Read more
"Joe Tracz’s witty adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s novel provides characters that are types and unique creations, who sing tunes by the wunderkind Joe Iconis that evoke multiple musical traditions and focus on smart, clear lyrics...Witness the rise and fall of adolescent yelps and screams of pleasure at their musical heroes and she-roes in a new musical written just for them. Thrill to the spark of originality in a universal growing-up story."
Read more
"As it turns out, the show is a blast...The work is catnip for theater kids and a dynamic dose of escapism for their parents. The storyline delivers a message of self-esteem without being preachy, primarily by barely knowing what it is talking about, and doing so with extreme confidence...Though these kids are archetypes, they have surprising depth...In a production boasting many strengths, the greatest is Iconis’s music...The music grabs you and does not let you go."
Read more
“It deserves every bit of the hyper hype it has accumulated...It’s a young and feisty ‘Mean Girls’ musical, mixed with the Sci-Fi out of this world ‘Little Shop of Horrors’, with a light outsider touch of a humorous ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ layered on top of its catchy soundtrack. With super strong and festive music and lyrics...and a compelling and comical book...This amazingly funny and charming show delivers the goods.”
Read more
"Few of the songs are memorable. However, 'Michael in the Bathroom' is perhaps the most carefully written and the most sensitively delivered by George Salazar. The cast is uniformly outstanding...The playwright does not give us enough exposition about the protagonist Jeremy or his best friend Michael...Tracz’s book and Iconis’s lyrics fail to address the depth of teenage angst and the tragic events that often erupt from deep despair and depression."
Read more