BE MORE CHILL (Broadway) Reviews
SomethingPeculiar said: "CT2NYC said: "If Jesse Green reviews the show, I believe it'll be positive"
Unless the NYTsignificantlybreaks with tradition and accepted protocol, Ben Brantley will re-review the show since he reviewed it Off-Broadway.I can't imagine his opinion will change substantially."
And per Ben's review highlights:
On the contrary, the decibel level of their responsive shrieks matches, and sometimes overwhelms, that of the heavily amplified music. Eat your hearts out, Harry Styles and Katy Perry and all you other kiddie pop idols. This is the stuff of teen dreams with a vengeance.
Unfortunately, anyone for whom adolescence is a distant and unpleasant memory is unlikely to feel like screaming, not in ecstasy, anyway. Unlike the more nuanced “Dear Evan Hansen” and “Spring Awakening” — never mind “Hamilton” — “Be More Chill” seems like a members-only club for those caught in the hellish here-and-now of the middle teens.
The amplification level means that many of the lyrics are undecipherable to the previously uninitiated. Admittedly, this is sometimes a blessing (“Add some swagger to your gait or/You’ll look like a masturbator.&rdquo
Personally, I was happiest when the plot careened off the rails into sci-fi apocalypse territory, which happens during the school’s politically corrected version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” That was a hoot.
The rest of the show is more of a sustained holler, and being receptive to its charms surely requires a much younger set of ears than mine. It may be helpful to think of this bounding, exhaustingly enthusiastic puppy of a show as the theatrical equivalent of one of those high-pitched dog whistles that only those under 25 can hear.
Robbie2 said: "SomethingPeculiar said: "CT2NYC said: "If Jesse Green reviews the show, I believe it'll be positive"
Unless the NYTsignificantlybreaks with tradition and accepted protocol, Ben Brantley will re-review the show since he reviewed it Off-Broadway.I can't imagine his opinion will change substantially."
And per Ben's review highlights:
On the contrary, the decibel level of their responsive shrieks matches, and sometimes overwhelms, that of the heavily amplified music. Eat your hearts out,Harry StylesandKaty Perryand all you other kiddie pop idols. This is the stuff of teen dreams with a vengeance.
Unfortunately, anyone for whom adolescence is a distant and unpleasant memory is unlikely to feel like screaming, not in ecstasy, anyway. Unlike the more nuanced“Dear Evan Hansen”and “Spring Awakening” — never mind “Hamilton” — “Be More Chill” seems like a members-only club for those caught in the hellish here-and-now of the middle teens.
The amplification level means that many of the lyrics are undecipherable to the previously uninitiated. Admittedly, this is sometimes a blessing (“Add some swagger to your gait or/You’ll look like a masturbator.&rdquo
Personally, I was happiest when the plot careened off the rails into sci-fi apocalypse territory, which happens during the school’s politically corrected version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” That was a hoot.
The rest of the show is more of a sustained holler, and being receptive to its charms surely requires a much younger set of ears than mine. It may be helpful to think of this bounding, exhaustingly enthusiastic puppy of a show as the theatrical equivalent ofone of those high-pitched dog whistlesthat only those under 25 can hear."
Count me among those that never thought this review read like a flat-out pan. I didn't get the impression that he hated the show, but, rather, that he just didn't "get it." Considering that he assumes no one too far past adolescence (e.g., me) is likely to enjoy the show, it's clear to me that he didn't. He strikes me as the type of person who would call The Room a "terrible movie," and leave it at that.
DC THEATRE SCENE
Somebody wrote “NYC Loves BMC” in chalk on the sidewalk outside Broadway’s Lyceum Theater, the new home of Be More Chill, the high energy, high decibel pop-rock musical that stars Will Roland as a self-proclaimed high school “loser” who swallows a pill containing a supercomputer and becomes cool.
I tweeted a picture of the scrawled public love note; the tweet was retweeted nearly a hundred times. Be More Chill has some seriously devoted fans, most of whom seem to be 15 years old. It’s a thrill to see such teenaged enthusiasm for live theater. I wish I could share more fully in their ardor for this show.
https://dctheatrescene.com/2019/03/10/be-more-chill-on-broadway-review/
joined:4/17/17
Posted: 3/10/19 at 12:04pm