Review: BE MORE CHILL at Bristol

This is the first musical I have seen after all the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, and the title, Be More Chill, feels very appropriate. At last we can relax and start enjoying life and performing arts again. The team behind this set has worked for 1.5 years to be able to invite the audience to the show's Nordic premiere. The theatre flowed with energy and joy from the young ensemble and orchestra.

Be More Chill is a fairly new musical from 2015 by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz, and the first time I have seen it. The plot is a wonderful feel-good high school film, in which the quirky main character, Jeremy (Benjamin Sundström),with an equally quirky sidekick, Michael (Gabriel Johansson), falls in love with Christine (Josefine Kuniholm), one of the school's prettiest girls. From there, Jeremey undergoes a transformation, gets accepted by the cool gang, gets the girl, and in the end, realizes that the important thing is to be yourself. Here, the transformation takes place when Jeremy swallows a small supercomputer, a Squip (Samuel Niklasson), who tells him what to say and controls his actions. Throughout the musical, there is an undertone of criticism concerning how we are increasingly governed by high technology.

This is a production characterized by youthful energy both on and behind the stage. In both music and dance, the tight ensemble captured the audience and performed with bravura. I was especially impressed by Josefine Kuniholm (Christine) and Samuel Niklasson (Squip). It will be interesting to follow them and the rest of the ensemble in the future, as I am absolutely sure that they will continue to rise in the musical scene.

Since I have not seen the English original version, I can not say if it is a good translation (by Adam Gardelin), but I can for sure say that I am very impressed by the language, how natural and smooth it was musically and which quirky and unexpected rhymes he created.

West End Stockholm, which is behind this set, has once again highlighted a new musical and offered the audience joy in its production. It will be exciting to see what musical they choose next.

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