Broken Legs Blog

The intimate setting of the Old Joint Stock Theatre might seem an odd choice for a musical as lively and ambitious as Be More Chill. And yet, this intimacy helps to create a connection between the varied characters of this musical and the audience. The actors continually direct lines to specific audience members, are not afraid of making eye contact, and more or less make the audience feel included and dragged along for the ride. Directed by James Edge, this reimagining sees the backdrop littered with TV screens, which display numerous animations, designed by Liam Alexandru, that aid scene transitions and provide additional information to the audience. The musical tells the story of high school nobody Jeremy Heere (the lovable and frankly superb Tom Dickerson, fresh from his travels during the Dear Evan Hansen UK tour) as he tries to level up his character, and become increasingly popular. The set up is your usual teen drama, but the musical takes a supernatural twist with the introduction of the Squip (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor), a pill that implants a supercomputer inside Jeremy’s head with the intention of making him “cool” – sorry, “chill”.

From the get go, the show races along at breakneck speed, with numerous uplifting musical performances as we are introduced to Jeremy’s high school peers. Shannon Bourne is the sweet and innocent Christine Canigula, the subject of Jeremy’s affections, whose main interest is in theatre. Her song “I Love Play Rehearsal” sees Bourne expertly switching tempo mid-track in a musical interpretation of Christine’s ADHD. Bourne is a sure fire audience favourite, her character just the right amount of goofy and vulnerable that is easy to root for. Unfortunately, Christine has had her head turned by Jake (Harry Chamberlain), and whilst we were not meant to approve of this relationship, Chamberlain is also fairly likeable and seems to treat Christine with utmost respect, so his sudden change of heart in Act Two does feel a little unexpected.

In fact, this is a musical full of likeable characters, and audience members are likely to come out with different favourites. The reason for this is that every character is well-realised, with suitable depths and vulnerabilities. Rich (John Óg) is introduced as the school bully, and Chloe (Maya Jade Frank), Brooke (Ailsa Erskine) and Jenna (Jessica Lim) are likely to give the mean girls a run for their money, but as the play continues they are all afforded time and space to explore their characters further. There are no simple stereotypes here. Jenna spreads gossip about others as a way to make herself feel popular, Brooke is worried that she will always be in Chloe’s shadow, and Rich has a (particularly sudden) realisation about his sexuality. It’s all handled in a way that never feels unearned – these moments of characterisation are woven neatly into the music and wacky plot. The show never needs to pause for exposition, it’s all incredibly natural.

The highlight of the show has to be Jack Carr as Jeremy’s best buddy Michael, who self-defines as a loser but is not as eager as Jeremy to change himself, assuring his friend that “guys like us are cool at college” and “humanity has stopped evolving, there’s no such thing as survival of the fittest, so there’s no better time in history to be a loser”. His standout moment comes in Act Two, as Jeremy, finally fitting in with the cool kids, abandons Michael at a Halloween party. The song “Michael in the bathroom” sees Carr have a panic attack as a he realises his two-player game has turned into a solo mission. The vocals are phenomenal, the performance is heart-wrenching, and the entire number will leave you speechless and then leaping from your seat to cheer and applaud. A simply astounding performance.

Jeremy’s Squip manifests as a voice inside his head, taking on the appearance of Keanu Reeves (and later, Steve Jobs) and played by Tommy Fouweather. The Squip is fairly menacing, controlling Jeremy with some excellent choreography that sees Dickerson and Fouweather perfectly in sync. The title song “Be More Chill” features a tango-style number as Jeremy is coerced into lying to Brooke about a previous girlfriend, with Fouweather leading the vocals and Dickerson following slightly behind. The Squip’s ulterior motives become more evident in “The Pitiful Children”, as Fouweather takes his place on a raised platform, looking down at the children he plans to infect, with Hannah Finch’s lighting design making it seem as though he is wired into the digital backdrop.

Every cast member gets their moment to shine, and provides a virtually faultless performance. Lim’s Jenna displays her impeccable vocal range as she takes centre stage during “The Smartphone Hour”, Óg’s Rich gets to lean into his more comedic side with “The Squip Song”, which sees his voice climbing into impossibly high ranges as he passionately explains that the Squip was made in Japan, and Erskine and Frank perform “Do you wanna ride?” and “Do you wanna hang?” respectively, two songs that perfectly mirror each other, with Frank’s performance a little more sinister as she tries to seduce Jeremy out of jealousy. Even Jeremy’s father (Steven Rostance) gets his chance to shine during “The Pants Song”, which concludes a subplot around his battle with depression, an element that begins by feeling a little shoehorned, but is given a nice resolution and provides some funny visual jokes.

There are a few minor niggles. The use of TV screens is clever, and provides nice links back to video games, with each scene introduced as a new “level” and lots of meme-y references that are sure to appeal to the target demographic, but they have the effect of occasionally slowing down the action. Some of the graphics are a little too on-the-nose (a visual representation of Jeremy’s declining mental health is perhaps unnecessary – it is perfectly clear from Dickerson’s superb performance), and the Act One finale of “Loser Geek Whatever” seems to add very little in the way of character development and is a bit too long. But these are just small complaints in what is overall a hugely enjoyable show and a great success for the Old Joint Stock. William Spencer’s lively choreography means that the audience are practically jumping along with the cast as the entire room seems to shake during some of the more frenetic dance numbers. By the end of this show, the audience are beaming, the cast are beaming, and everyone is enjoying themselves. Theatrical magic.

Tom Morley, August 2025

For more information on how I decide on star ratings, see here: Star ratings – Broken Legs Blog

Review Round-up:

Harry Theatre Life: Be More Chill – The Musical – Four stars from HTL, who call the music “unforgettable” and the performances “truly outstanding”

Fairy Powered Production: Be More Chill Review – FPP give the show five stars, giving this show the well-earned description of “bold, weird and captivating”

Theatre and Tonic: Be More Chill at Old Joint Stock – Finally, T&T award the show four stars, saying Tom Dickerson is “perfect”, Shannon Bourne is “adorable” but pointing out that “a larger venue would have allowed Be More Chill to achieve its full potential“. I am minded to agree – this could have happily sold out a 1200 seat theatre and achieved standing ovations every night.