If popularity came in a pill, would you take it, no questions asked? That's the sometimes hard to swallow question explored in Be More Chill, the musical starring One Life to Live alum Jason Tam (ex-Markko Rivera) that's set to hit Broadway next month.
Tam joined the show's Off-Broadway run last summer in the role of The Squip (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor), a supercomputer whose purpose is to help a teen named Jeremy Heere win the heart of his secret crush and make him more popular. And he's set to reprise the same role now that the show, based on the 2004 Ned Vizzini novel of the same name, is set to begin previews on Broadway.
With music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and book by Joe Tracz, the reprisal will feature the rest of the cast from the Off-Broadway production, including Will Roland, George Salazar, Stephanie Hsu, Gerard Canonico, Katyln Carlson, Tiffany Mann, Lauren Marcus, Britton Smith, Jason SweetTooth Williams, Cameron Bond, Anthony Chatmon II, Morgan Siobahn Green, Troy Iwata, Talia Suskauer and Joel Waggoner.
"We are absolutely thrilled that the entire New York premiere company will be making the journey with us to Broadway," says Gerald Goehring, lead producer of Be More Chill. "This company has collaborated to bring Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz's beautiful and universal musical to life Off-Broadway this summer and we could not have been more thrilled with the outpouring of love we received from our fans around the world. The entire company cannot wait to bring the production to an even greater audience at The Lyceum in the new year."
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Be More Chill is set to begin performances at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street) on Wednesday, February 13 at 8:00PM. The official opening night is scheduled for Sunday, March 10. Tickets are now on sale at Telecharge.com, (212) 239-6200 or (800) 447-7400, and at the Lyceum Theatre box office.
In addition to OLTL, Tam's television credits include Beyond the Break, Hawaii 5-0, Do No Harm and The Blacklist. He also starred as Peter the Apostle alongside music superstar John Legend in NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. His Broadway credits include A Chorus Line, If/Then and Les Mis?rables.
What do you think about Tam heading back to Broadway in Be More Chill? What is your opinion on the premise of the musical? Would you take a pill to become popular? Why or why not? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
