Source
r/Broadway•
Challahween

Some thoughts on Be More Chill after seeing it tonight

So, I saw BMC tonight. The tumblr audience members absolutely ruined it for me. If you have tickets to this show, expect LOUD screaming/cheering from the audience throughout. Expect individuals to verbally (and loudly) respond to the events happening on stage. Expect the stage door to be like a circus. Some of the things that these individuals were saying to the performers were just so strange and cringe-worthy. I genuinely enjoyed the show itself (especially “More Than Survive” and “The Smartphone Hour”), but the constant screams/commentary from certain young audience members were incredibly disrespectful and distracting.

Now that that’s out of the way, I will say that the show is VERY campy and therefore will definitely not be everyone’s cup of tea. That said, I think it has a lot of heart. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all, which I found super refreshing! I was only familiar with a few songs prior to seeing the show, but I had a lot of fun watching the bizarre plot unfold. Joe Iconis’s lyrics are simple, but overall quite nice and fun to listen to.

I will say that it was kind of distracting to see some of the main actors double as ensemble members (for example, there is a scene in which George Salazar is “shopping” while dressed in drag for no apparent reason — it kind of took me out of it).

I’m not sure if Will Roland is a great fit for the role of Jeremy. His singing is truly gorgeous, but some of his acting (especially during his big song at the end of Act 1) was pretty lacking. If this DOES end up going to Broadway (I don’t think it will, although I would love for it to), it’ll be interesting to see what changes. I think the show was about ~25 minutes longer than it could have been. Some songs are just lovely, but don’t really add anything of value to the plot. I think Jeremy’s relationship with his dad should have been fleshed out a bit more in the 1st act. There were also some plot holes that bothered me.

All this to say, I think anyone who knows what they’re getting into will really enjoy the show.

EDIT: I just want to mention how awesome the guy who plays the Squip is! He gave my favorite performance of the whole thing!

Posted Aug 18, 2018, 3:58 AM UTC · edited

7534
DoingTheDumbThing•

Things ruined by their fan base:

Star Wars

Rick and Morty

Be More Chill

43
mythologue•

Heathers

Hamilton is getting there

30
DougIsMyVibrator•

I saw Heathers in London and I had to leave after the first act. The 14 yo girls screaming bloody murder during every scene was too much.

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mythologue•

I'm sort of morbidly interested in Heathers UK not only because the creatives finally found out how to put a decent set together but also because it's getting a West End run. The first major outing for the show.

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DougIsMyVibrator•

A West End run? They better find a new Christian Slater actor because the kid that was playing him in June was terrible. The show is such a hot mess.

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SisterPrice•

Heathers

I never really felt too inspired by anything I heard from the show, but two of my friends are OBSESSED with it and will always play it when they can... and now I just full on hate it.

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Thingymcjig•

watch the movie instead, it's great

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wasteplease•

Not saying that I am a R&M fan, but is there something I should be aware of?

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DoingTheDumbThing•

I mean aside from the whole “you have to have a high IQ...” thing, look up the Szechuan sauce debacle

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wasteplease•

Oh crap. I totally went to McDonalds to try the sauce :-(

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sethepstein1•

I felt the same way about the Tumblr audience. The two people next to me were squealing the whole time and doing the hand motions for a few of the songs and it made me enjoy it less than I would have otherwise, but I still enjoyed it very much!

If you liked Jason Tam (Squip), you should watch the documentary Every Little Step. It's about the audition and casting process for the 2006 Revival of A Chorus Line, where he played Paul. They show his audition, and it's remarkable. He was also Peter in Jesus Christ Superstar Live! He's great

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ChallahweenOP•

Thank you!! I'll definitely give that a watch! He was awesome

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ConfisKate•

I really hope it at least transfers to somewhere Off-Broadway where it can stick around for a while. I don't really think it has the traction to sustain a run on Broadway, and I think the charm would get lost in a larger house. Glad you liked it! I really wished I got tickets since I'm now becoming a fan after being totally against it because of the crazy fans

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ChallahweenOP•

It was definitely money well spent! I liked it a lot more than Pretty Woman and Straight White Men, at least. I definitely recommend trying to get tickets if they extend again!

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musicalfan202•

They can't extend again at signature because something is already booked in that theatre but I can totally see them going to New World Stages

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wjarrettc•

I’m taking my daughter (she of the Tumblr crowd) on Tuesday and I’m both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time

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rls1395•

Boyfriend and I are seeing it this weekend. A few months ago we saw a local production in Jersey and felt exactly the same way about the audience, kinda bummed to hear its gonna be the same for this one 😭 still super excited!

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paperjenna•

Yeah, that's what I was worried about going into BMC. The fanbase is rabid. I'm a bit afraid if it transfers to Broadway that it'll get worse. I've been entering lotto every day so fingers crossed I may get to see it.

Edit: also, your username is gold. Bravo.

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Taylor62902•

Would be pleasantly surprised if the show went to broadway. I didn’t get tickets and I enter the lottery. Won’t be bummed if I miss it but I think it would be a cool experience. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

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SaferATD•

Woah, so disrespectful of them. Sorry to hear your experience with the show. I saw it this week myself and heard nothing from the crowd (which was just chock full of tumblr theater kids), but I bought a front row seat to tune out as much as possible, admittedly. I will agree that the kids there were a little disrespectful to the actors at the stagedoor- I saw someone reach out and grab an actor, I literally gasped at that, but I've never gone to a stagedoor after a show, so I wasn't sure if that's normal. I do love the campiness of the show, but I agree it's for a certain audience (I counted 3 people besides me actually drinking, to give a funny mental picture). I love Joe Iconis and George Salazar, so the show was a must watch for me, but if I had to choose between BMC and something like the lightning thief, it wouldn't even be a contest. Something I did like seeing though was the kids explaining things during intermission to their parents. I would have loved it if my parents showed that kind of interest in my hobbies when I was like 15!

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Mez561•

I saw them perform at Broadway in Bryant Park. I stopped entering the lottery after that. Just didn't seem like my kind of show. I know want to see Once on this Island, so it wasn't all bad.

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givewiththeheart•

I’ve listened to it on Spotify a few times and thought it was pretty okay. This production is getting a lot of publicity so I am excited to see what becomes of this run.

Could someone please tell me why the fans have such a bad rep? Forgive me, I’m very much out of theatre fandom community but I really want to know what makes the fans deter others from the show. Saying strange things to actors at the stagedoor? Hamilton when Lin was in level strange? Or is this whole new ball game?

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tumamaesmuycaliente•

I’d also like to know, and further, how has the show developed such a following?

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anone8•

The fandom is stereotyped, in a not completely wrong way, as a bunch of Tumblr theatre kids. The stereotype goes that they are loud, obnoxious, and really only know four shows. (Hamilton, Heathers, Be More Chill, and Dear Evan Hansen) They are pretty toxic apparently, and completely new to theatre.

I don’t have much experience with them, but what I have seen is that yeah, the stereotypes aren’t completely wrong.

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jsksksksks•

This also extends to Instagram theatre kids - some of them know a lot more than just these four (+ Mean Girls = 5), but a huge amount know just five and make drama about shipping. It’s fine to be new to theatre. All these high school angst musicals introduce some people to musicals and they go on to love the genre and bring more money into it. They also bring the rabid teen fans who call themselves musical theatre fans/kids, even though they only ever intend on seeing a couple and aren’t fans of musical theatre itself, just specific #idratherbeme #youwillbefound musicals.

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ChallahweenOP•

They developed a following after DEH started to get big. It seems that these young adults were looking for “similar” musicals and stumbled upon BMC. Bootlegs of the original run were spread on Tumblr like wildfire and producers pandered to the growing fanbase by releasing various clips/songs, until they finally put this run into production.

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LordKranepool•

I saw the show at Two River when it first ran and loved it so when I heard it was coming to broadway I got tickets right away. I saw online things about what happened at that community theater that put on the show and how insane its fans were which made me super scared about how this audience was going to be. I will say I was pleasantly surprised that, at least on the night I went, the audience was super respectful and the only time you could really tell how crazy they were about the show was how heavy the applause were (which isn’t a bad thing.)

I’m sorry you had a bad experience but I do think it’s hit or miss with the night you go

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SaferATD•

I had a very similar experience to yours- Absolutely no outbursts from the crowd, even though it was full of kids!

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ventag•

What were some of the things you’ve heard fans say?

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ChallahweenOP•

During “Two-Player Game” when Jeremy says “High school is shit,” someone screamed “YEAH IT IS!” and lots of people laughed and cheered, blocking out the following lyrics.

During “The Pants Song” when Michael comes on stage in his underwear (lol), someone screamed “HELL YES!” — once again prompting laughter and cheers in response.

These are just the two bigger instances that stood out, although there were a handful more.

At the stagedoor, I saw fans grabbing for some of the performers (as another commenter did, as well). One person behind me gave George Salazar a drawing based on a (supposedly well known?) fanfiction. One girl asked Will Roland his shoe size??? One girl was practically crying at the woman who plays Brooke because she owns a shirt that Brooke wears in the show. People weren’t really complementing the actors’ performances, but rather shouting at them about irrelevant and strange things.

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ventag•

Damn...now I’m a bit worried for when I see the show in September lol. I hope the audience isn’t too annoying.

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cherry-seltzer•

when I went to it, the screaming wasn't bad at all, and the stagedoor was really chill (no pun intended), they just cheered when a certain actor or actress entered the scene

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MichaelMellisgay•

Yea.. That's one thing that sucks about these fans. They need to realize this is an actual professional show. It's horrid to cheer and interrupt.

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DougIsMyVibrator•

Quick correction here. No one uses Tumblr anymore. It's the Snapchat audience now.

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