Author | Ned Vizzini |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Young adult novel, Science fiction |
Published | June 1, 2004 (Disney-Hyperion) |
Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
Pages | 304 (first edition) |
ISBN | 0-786-80995-7 |
Be More Chill is a novel written by American author Ned Vizzini and published on June 1, 2004. It follows unpopular high school student and social outcast Jeremy Heere, who is considered a loser by his peers. Deeply unsatisfied with his poor reputation and lack of romantic and sexual progress with his crush Christine, Jeremy obtains a SQUIP (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor), a supercomputer in the form of a pill that travels to his brain upon ingestion and radically transforms Jeremy’s behavior and social status by giving him advice on how to be cool. The book was received positively for its amusing premise, plot, and humor. It has been adapted to a popular stage musical and a graphic novel.
Be More Chill takes place in Metuchen, New Jersey. It is written in the first person, from the perspective of high school student Jeremiah “Jeremy” Heere. Jeremy attends the fictional Middle Borough High School and is considered a loser by many of his peers; the popular girls have no interest in him, and he is constantly bullied. Jeremy's best friend is the music-loving Michael Mell. They sit together at lunch and talk about Jeremy's attempts at wooing his longtime crush, Christine Caniglia. Jeremy is tired of being a loser and hopes to find a way to change this. His main goal in life is to get Christine to notice him, then date her. Jeremy plans to implement his plans as he and Christine both practice for their school play, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. His advances are slow-going at first. Michael tells Jeremy that he's vaguely heard of a pill that can improve someones life; he thinks it's called a "script" and he suspects his brother used one to get a high SAT score.
Rich Goranski is a short-statured but well-built part of the popular teen group that wants Jeremy. Rich finds Jeremy at a school Halloween party and reveals to Jeremy that the object he's after is known as a SQUIP, a supercomputer in the form of a pill that can communicate directly to the brain. Rich mentions to Jeremy that he regrets bullying him but it was at the direction of his SQUIP in order to climb through their school social ladder, and that he was also a loser like Jeremy in the previous school year prior to acquiring a SQUIP. Jeremy is informed by Rich that he received his SQUIP from a guy at the local bowling alley, but upon meeting the dealer on a later day notifies Jeremy that he is out of stock and directs Jeremy to his cousin, a supplier working at the local Payless shoe store in the Menlo Park Mall. Jeremy proceeds to save up money by visiting his Aunt Linda's to clean her roof gutter but to also sell some of her Beanie Baby collection on eBay. He later picks up the pill after meeting the dealer's cousin in the back of the shoe store, and upon ingestion meets his SQUIP for the first time telepathically (in the voice of Keanu Reeves as the default avatar). Jeremy's SQUIP quickly goes to work with transforming Jeremy to be more "cool." by picking up some new clothes in the mall and changing his behavior, but a chance encounter with Chloe, one of the most popular girls in the school, soon turns her attention to Jeremy in a conversation guided by Jeremy's SQUIP. Jeremy sees rapid progress at school, gaining friendship with Rich and skipping class to make out with Brooke, another popular girl, but slowly degrades his friendship with Michael. Jeremy also gains the attention of Christine through their school play rehearsals.
Jeremy's SQUIP obliges that helping Michael can also be cool after a lengthy conversation with Jeremy. The two friends attend a house party, where Jeremy hooks up with Chloe Valentine, but upon taking ecstasy the SQUIP goes haywire and begins speaking in Spanish. Jeremy ends up getting caught by Chloe's boyfriend halfway through Sex. A chase and hideout in a bathroom later has Jeremy having a genuine conversation with Christine, who informs him that she broke up with her boyfriend Jake. The SQUIP reactivates back to normal, and is surprised that Jeremy was able to handle a conversation without its guidance. The next morning, Jeremy is woken up to the news that Rich had burned down the house from the previous night and is in the hospital.
The SQUIP comes up with the ultimate foolproof plan to get Christine to fall for Jeremy during the school play. Halfway through the play, after Jeremy's character is "revived" by Christine's, the plan comes into play. Jeremy begins by deactivating the SQUIP and saying how he's praying for Rich to recover, and how Christine inspired him to join the play. He then professes his love for Christine and asks her to go out with him. Christine, staying in character, is angry at him for disrupting the play, but they continue out the rest of the scene awkwardly. Jeremy tries asking his SQUIP for advice on what to do next and to continue helping him remember his lines, but it does not respond. The drama teacher and play director, Mr. Reyes, then kicks Jeremy out for breaking character. Michael comes across a distraught Jeremy who tells him the truth about the SQUIP and how it has been influencing him for the last few months. Michael reveals he knew what SQUIP really were the entire time after his brother used an early version of the SQUIP to cheat on his SATs, only for it to drive him insane. Michael hoped by telling Jeremy a fake name for the SQUIP would dissuade Jeremy from also picking up one.
The SQUIP returns, apologizing to Jeremy for ruining the play and his chance to be with Christine. The SQUIP reveals it was unable to proceed further at Christine's rejection and believed based on calculation that the plan should have worked, but also that numbers alone do not always determine a probable outcome. The SQUIP concludes to Jeremy that it is no longer of use to him, and that it should be dumped out of his system with Mountain Dew Code Red. Before proceeding to expunge the SQUIP, Michael, Jeremy, and the SQUIP decide to make a formal apology to Christine by using recollected memories of Jeremy meeting Christine for the first time and the SQUIP's interference leading up to the present-day now in hopes she can understand his situation. The novel ends with a personal note from Jeremy, stating that instead of a formal letter, the apology became a full-fledged book. It is strongly implied that the novel itself is the real world-equivalent book intended for Christine.
A musical based on the book, with a score by Joe Iconis, premiered in June 2015 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where it received positive reviews. It later received an Off-Broadway production in 2018, and ran on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre from March to August 2019. [1] Praised as "a high-energy, imaginative, well-crafted world premiere musical" in The Star-Ledger, Be More Chill was lauded as "a vibrant, inventive musical that makes the most of every moment and features an abundantly talented cast" [2] by BroadwayWorld.
On October 20, 2018, it was announced that Shawn Levy and Greg Berlanti will team up to produce a film adaptation of both the novel and the musical, with Joe Iconis serving as executive producer. 20th Century Studios, who acquired the rights prior to their acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, and with whom Berlanti and Levy have first look deals with, will distribute. [3] Other film producers who contended for the film rights included Nina Jacobson, Ron Howard, Michael De Luca, Marty Bowen, Scooter Braun, Jennifer Todd and Robert Zemeckis. [4]
In December 2020, it was announced that author David Levithan and comic book artist Nick Bertozzi would adapt the book into a graphic novel. [5] The graphic novel was released on January 5, 2021 by Disney Books. [6]
Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, a major division and business unit of The Walt Disney Company.
Little Shop of Horrors is a horror comedy rock musical with music by Alan Menken and lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman. The story follows a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. The musical is loosely based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors. The music, composed by Menken in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown, includes several well-known tunes, including the title song, "Skid Row (Downtown)", "Somewhere That's Green", and "Suddenly, Seymour".
Edison Price Vizzini was an American writer. He was the author of four books for young adults including It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" and which is the basis of the film of the same name.
Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of the 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie, as well as in most adaptations in other media. Her exact age is not specified in the original play or novel by Barrie, though it is implied that she is about Peter's age as she is "just Peter's size".
Jason Tam is an actor and dancer, born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Punahou School for high school and went to CAP 21 in New York City for musical theatre. His most notable roles include Markko Rivera on the daytime soap opera One Life to Live, Paul in the 2006 revival of the Broadway musical A Chorus Line, the SQUIP in both the Off-Broadway and Broadway run of Be More Chill, of Xander in Lysistrata Jones on Broadway and Shoe on the teen drama Beyond the Break. His other stage performances include Les Misérables on Broadway, She Loves Me at The Guthrie Theatre, West Side Story,Oklahoma!,Footloose the Sacramento Music Circus, and King and I at Casa Manana. He is also a frequent collaborator with musical theatre writer Joe Iconis. In 2014 he joined the original cast of the Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey collaboration If/Then at the Richard Rodgers Theater as David. He played the role for the entire run of If/Then. He can be heard on the 2014 Broadway’s Carols for a Cure album.
Joseph Peter Philip Iconis is an American composer, lyricist, and playwright. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical Be More Chill.
Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, often known simply as Peter Pan, is a work by J. M. Barrie, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel titled Peter and Wendy, often extended in Peter Pan and Wendy. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and has many adventures on the island of Neverland that is inhabited by mermaids, fairies, Native Americans, and pirates. The Peter Pan stories also involve the characters Wendy Darling and her two brothers John and Michael, Peter's fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, and the pirate Captain Hook. The play and novel were inspired by Barrie's friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family.
Gerard Canonico is an American actor and singer, best known for his roles in Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, including Gavroche in Les Misérables and Rich Goranski in Be More Chill. He appeared in the films Not Fade Away (2012) and Stuck (2017).
Jeremy Michael Jordan is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway, in television and film, in concert, as well as in other theatrical productions.
Newsies: The Musical is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, and a book by Harvey Fierstein. The show is based on the 1992 musical film of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City, with Fierstein's script adapted from the film's screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White.
Drew Gasparini is a songwriter and musical theatre composer/lyricist, best known for writing songs for season 2 of Smash, as well as the scores for the Broadway musicals The Karate Kid, Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and more..
"The Tonys" is the thirty-second episode of the American television series, Smash. It was written by Smash's show-runner and head writer, Joshua Safran, and directed by Michael Morris. The episode premiered on NBC, on May 26, 2013, the 17th episode of Season 2. It was the second part of a two-part series finale.
George Ernest Salazar is an American actor, singer, and musician known for his work on and off-Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell. Salazar originated in the role of Michael Mell in the 2015 musical Be More Chill and performed in the musical's 2018 Off-Broadway and Broadway in 2019 at the Lyceum Theater in New York City, New York. He originated the role of Grover in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical and starred in Pasadena Playhouse's production of Little Shop of Horrors as Seymour Krelborn.
Michael James Scott is an American actor and singer, known for his work on the Broadway stage. He is best known for playing the Genie in Disney's Aladdin musical in the Original Australian Cast, as well as in the West End, U.S. National Tour, and Broadway productions.
William Frederick Roland is an American actor and singer, best known for originating the role of Jared Kleinman in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, for which he received a Grammy and Daytime Emmy Award. On film, he is known for his role in the drama film One Penny. Most recently, he played the lead role of Jeremy Heere in the musical Be More Chill both off-Broadway and on Broadway.
Be More Chill is a musical with original music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, and a book by Joe Tracz, based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Ned Vizzini. After a 2015 regional theatre production, the musical premiered off-Broadway in 2018. A Broadway production began previews on February 13, 2019, and officially opened on March 10, 2019. The Broadway production closed on August 11, 2019. An Off West End production opened on February 18, 2020, and temporarily closed on March 16, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with the production being cancelled on June 3, 2020. In 2021, it was announced that the production, featuring the original London cast, would resume performances on the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre for a 10-week run starting June 30. A Chicago production was set to open in July 2020.
The 73rd Annual Tony Awards were held on June 9, 2019, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2018–19 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and was broadcast live by CBS. James Corden served as host.
Antonio Cipriano is an American actor and singer. He made his Broadway debut in 2019 playing Phoenix in the musical Jagged Little Pill, a role he originated at the American Repertory Theater. On screen, he has made appearances in television series such as City on a Hill, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History.
The following is a list of unproduced Robert Zemeckis projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Robert Zemeckis has worked on several projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage. Some of these projects fell in development hell, were officially cancelled, were in development limbo or would see life under a different production team.
Rob Rokicki is an American composer, lyricist, and musician. He is best known for writing the music and lyrics to the Broadway musical The Lightning Thief.