Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STAGE BE MORE CHILL
Shaftesbury Theatre until September 5 bemorechillmusical.com
This exhilarating musical reworks the familiar high school trope of the desperate outsider sacrificing his soul for popularity and takes it to ludicrous extremes, yet never loses sight of the human story at its core.
Scott Folan is gloriously, excruciatingly awkward as teen geek Jeremy, secretly in love with theatre kid Christine (a delightful
Miracle Chance). Hope is at hand when he takes a dose of “black-market nanotechnology” Squip, which reprogrammes his behaviour. A seductively sinister Stewart Clarke embodies the Squip, overriding all Jeremy’s natural impulses to make him not just cool but chill. Will Jeremy realise he’s paying too high a price before it’s too late?
The show hurtles along with infectious energy, the charmingly offbeat pop score matched by backdrop visuals that channel a wonderfully cheesy video game vibe.
Among the excellent cast, Blake Patrick Anderson shines as Jeremy’s devoted best friend Michael, giving an engagingly empathetic performance that brings the house down on the heartbreaking standout number Michael In The Bathroom.
Be More Chill tackles teen sexuality and identity in a purposefully neon-bright 2-D way that perfectly parallels a world where the internet has made superficial conformity crushingly omnipotent. Most importantly, the show has a real heart that beats under Jeremy’s bony chest, and leaves us all feeling hopeful by the end.