Dance Magazine: When Chase Brock signed on to choreograph a new musical at a theater in New Jersey in 2015, he couldn't have predicted that four years later, he would be receiving fan art featuring his Chihuahua because of it. Nor could he have he imagined that the show—Be More Chill, based on the young adult novel by Ned Vizzini—would be heading to Broadway with one of the most enthusiastic teenage fan bases the Great White Way has ever seen.
3 comments:
This is a strong example of how media, and social influence can help ideas spread and succeed. At my high school Be More Chill was very popular. I was introduced to it by a friend's younger sibling whom I was surprised would even like a musical, considering they have very very specific tastes. The story is reminiscent enough of a high school situation, but with a sci-fi twist. One of the parts of the article that stuck out to me was the idea of this musical reaching a lot of people, but not being for everyone. I think a lot of times people get very aggressive and angry if someone does or doesn't like something, when in reality, you are not the target audience for every form of consumable media out there. Be More Chill is, in my opinion a story everyone should look into, but it might not affect you in the same way it might others. For my own personal reasons, I relate to the story because of how it deals with friendships, specifically through the character of Michael. If you don't like the story, then that's fine, because there are a lot of people who are supporting it.
I don't have much of an opinion on this musical. I really dislike some of the music, but there are other songs that I like and overall I find it more inventive than most of the teen-targeted pop musicals coming out right now both in book and score. The show, which was originally put on the stage around four years ago, appeals to a really young audience, which did not make it a commercial success at first. Its presence on youtube and spotify thrust it into popularity maybe two years ago which is why it is now headed to Broadway. I think this drives home how important social media is to getting more exciting and diverse content on Broadway. This way, groups that are not highly represented among the circles of critics and producers can still promote their favorite content all the way to big stage which is a really important step to actually getting those voices into power in the future and eventually make Broadway as diverse as it needs to be.
I love the idea of Frankenstein, just as I very much love the idea of this production. As the world has never had a decent adaptation of the original source for film, the closest being the Kenneth Branagh one which was decent but horribly over acted to opera level of melodrama. If I really want 19th century horror I’ll stick with Dracula which is far more interesting to me. Frankenstein becomes too sad in my opinion, and if it is fantasy of the science fiction type even worse because I quite dislike any science fiction, especially of the dystopian flavor. So the more the story is updated to modern technology the less I am interested in it because I am really interested in the relationship between creature and creator, and the dangers we take on when we attempt to play God. This production looks cool at least and the actors seem wonderfully adept to the material.
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