The new musical with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, book by Joe Tracz, and based on the novel by Ned Vizzini.

It’s called a Squip. A tiny supercomputer inside a pill. Swallow one and a personalized voice will tell you how to dress, how to speak, how to… become cool.

Jeremy Heere is your average, nothing-special teenager at Middleborough High in nothing-special New Jersey… until the day he finds out about “The Squip.” Thus begins a journey that pits Jeremy’s desire to be popular against his struggle to remain true to his authentic self. Be More Chill is an honest, edgy, super-hilarious look at coming of age in the digital age, set to some of the most exciting songs in contemporary musical theater. This original musical comedy looks at modern issues like depression, bullying, and anxiety through the lens of sci-fi films of the 50s, horror flicks of the 80s, and teen movies of the 90s. Little Shop of Horrors meets The Breakfast Club in this celebration of outcasts, teenaged or otherwise. Based on the cult sensation novel by Ned Vizzini, Be More Chill is already beloved by millions of theater fans because of its best-selling Billboard Top 10 cast recording. Come see what all the fuss is about this summer on 42nd Street. It’s what your Squip would tell you to do.

Find out more: bemorechillmusical.com

I will always be the first to admit that I was never, ever the cool kid in school. I was somewhere between the well-known-but-not-popular kids and the geeks, thanks to my obsession with Broadway. Thankfully I went to a school that was accepting of everyone, where literally no one was made fun of and no fights broke out. This is not the typical experience for most high schoolers, though; most high schoolers’ reality is probably a lot more like Jeremy Heere’s in Joe Iconis’ Be More Chill, which is running at The Signature Center, directed by Stephan Brackett and produced by Jennifer Tepper. Jeremy (Will Roland) is a high school freshman who would rather sit in his room playing video games with his best friend Michael (George Salazar) than go to the cool kids party. But when the school bully, Rich Goranski (Gerard Canonico), corners him in the bathroom telling him how he can be cool he leaps at the chance. This is not the typical change of clothes, get new friends routine though. Jeremy goes to the Payless Shoe store in the mall to buy a mini computer in pill form from a shady salesman. He swallows the pill and activates it with Mountain Dew, and the pill flows through his bloodstream …Read more