Be More Chill Review

As I enjoy doing, I came to Be More Chill utterly in the dark; other than having read the brief synopsis on the ticket website, I knew nothing of the musical beforehand. In stark contrast to Anything Goes, which I had watched the night before, I was one of the older members of the audience and clearly one of the few who had no idea what I was about to watch. It felt like being on the outside of a cult phenomenon.

The premise of the musical is both interesting and original, if yet another iteration of the well-worn story of discovery that being yourself is what you need. I have to say, something about the musical brought out the crotchety old lady I’m sure I will end up becoming, and I found myself wondering why I should be interested in yet another retelling of teenage angst trying to be popular in school. Be More Chill felt like it was trying to do what Heathers the Musical does but missed the memo on what makes the latter great. Heathers works because of its catchy music paired with devilishly witty lyrics; Be More Chill, on the other hand, sounds like a first attempt at musical writing by a high school senior. The music is simplistic and predictable, putting me in mind of that experiment a few years ago where a computer wrote a show. And the lyrics are borderline painful, with unnecessary repetitions everywhere, clearly trying to make up for the fact that the authors are lacking in the knowledge of synonyms.

In stark contrast to all this, the cast was earnest and keen, making their faith in the show obvious even before the emotional speeches after the bows (it was, I discovered afterwards, closing night). The singing was not bad across the board, though there were a number of tuning issues. However, I put these down to poor sound balance as the band was blasting at a volume more at home in a club and completely drowned out the singers; I can imagine it was often difficult for the them to hear their own voices. One interesting note regarding the band is that this is the first time I have ever heard theramin and recorder in a West End production. I was so chuffed with the latter that I confess to not paying attention to a couple of solos, so focused was I on what the recorder was doing! But returning to the cast, the exceptions to the lukewarm singing were Blake Patrick Anderson as Michael and Miles Paloma as Jake who both had lovely, warm, full voices, and confident runs. Scott Folan as Jeremy was a very convincing “dweeb” though didn’t quite offer a big enough contrast when the character supposedly achieves coolness. Stewart Clarke as the Squip did his best to bring the creepy gravitas of the role to life and mostly succeeded, with only a moment or two where his voice lacked the necessary fullness in the lower region. Unfortunately, the choreography throughout made it harder to take him seriously (along with the rest of the cast), being more akin to a student production than a West End show. Finally, Miracle Chance as Christine brought a breath of fresh air to the stage. She dived head first into the quirkiness of the character and led the improvisation moments (of which there were many) with humour and confidence, at times even cracking up her cast mates.

Actually, the improvisational aspect was to me the strongest part of the whole show. It takes a brave creative team and cast to incorporate that level of vulnerability night after night, never quite knowing what will come out. The result was a freshness and energy that is a little lacking in the more typical West End fare. Paired with this, the use of screens and digital projections was both clever and pertinent, a rare thing to behold. If only the music had the same originality, I would have been a happier punter.

Conclusion: Eh, take it or leave it [what's this?]

Be More Chill ran at the Shaftsbury Theatre from June to September 2021.