By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
When Horizon Youth Theater Director Mikayla Trimpey decided to challenge her teen troupe with the play “Be More Chill,” she was worried that it was too big of a risk.
The teenage coming-of-age musical with a sci-fi twist asks a lot of its actors, especially young actors; however, by the end of Thursday night’s dress rehearsal, the audience’s effusive response confirmed Trimpey and her team nailed it.
HYT’s production of “Be More Chill,” featuring music by Joe Iconis and a book by Joe Tracz (adapted from Ned Vizzini’s 2004 novel), opens to the public tonight (Friday, June 5) at 7 p.m. in the Grand Rapids Town Hall Theater, 24282 Front St., Grand Rapids. Additional shows are Saturday, June 6, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 and $15 ($12 each for groups of 5+) and are available at the HYT website or at the door. (Note: Please be advised that this show contains mature themes and is not suitable for young children.)
Jeremy (Fox Roberts-Zibbel) is a self-described “loser” who wants nothing more than to be cool in the eyes of his high school classmates, especially the vivacious and optimistic Christine (Greta Chung).
The opening song explains his angst (and many teens’ angst) to a T. Stuttering, “C-c-c- c’mon. Go. Go. … I don’t want to be a hero. … I don’t want to be special, no, no. I just wanna survive” from the bullies and taunts of the popular kids.
He and his best buddy Michael (Callum Mather) commiserate about their plight, with Michael taking a more ebullient perspective. He tells Jeremy that humanity has stopped evolving because technology has changed the need to be strong to survive, “which means there’s never been a better time in history to be a loser! So own it.”
When Rich (Zola Barnhill), a bully-turned-cool kid, explains his sudden rise to popularity by swallowing a pill-sized supercomputer called a SQUIP, Jeremy decides to go down that path, especially in his effort to win the affection of Christine via signing up for the school play.
He buys the magic pill from Scary Stockboy (Layla Miracle Werner) and swallows it with Mountain Dew. SQUIP (Liam Rogel), with a certain likeness to Keanu Reeves, shows up, visible only to Jeremy (and the audience). His role to coach Jeremy moment to moment on how to “be more chill” evolves into one of domination over Jeremy, his classmates and eventually the world.
SQIUP’s control over Jeremy causes confusion for Jeremy and a rift between Jeremy and Michael. Christine falls for Jake (Bryce Johnson) rather than Jeremy.
At a Halloween party for all the cool kids, SQUIP forces Jeremy to abandon Michael, hook up with cool girl Brooke (Juliet Erekson) in his quest for popularity, and aggressively pursue Christine to boost his social standing.
When Jeremy recognizes Christine’s reaction to his SQUIP-fueled actions he chooses to fight the supercomputer’s programming. Without giving away the ending, the drama (and humor) that follow confirms that life’s outside influences, anxieties, and inner doubts will always exist; everyone’s inner voice is the most important one to listen to.
There are so many emotional moments throughout the play— from feeling (and maybe relating to) the heaviness of being the unpopular kids and the intensity of life as a teenager whether cool or not cool, to the laugh-out-loud, comic-relief moments when Mr. Heere (Camden Winkler) finally puts on pants or drama teacher Mr. Reyes (Kayden Beckman) rewrites Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for the high school play.
From start to finish, the production is a life lesson. The audience is smacked with that aha! moment as the moral of the story unfolds. The other realization is that this group of teens accepted the challenge set by Director Trimpey and the production team, and they excelled. See the entire cast, crew and production team here.
The musical score is constant and pretty complex (from my amateur viewpoint), but they sang/talked through the script like pros with strong, pop-belting voices and great timing. The choreography (Riley Runnells) was fun and perfectly executed. The set colorfully, yet simply, conveyed the computer theme without overshadowing the acting. And the crew managed the scene changes, lighting, sound and costumes with skilled hands and expertise.
Trimpey said she chose “Be More Chill” for the challenging script with mature but contemporary content. The teens’ performance delighted and delivered.
