be more chill: book versus musical
i very recently (like, friday night) got my hands on a copy of ned vizzini’s be more chill, a novel i have been meaning to read even before i had heard of the musical due to the fact that i have read another one of his novels, it’s kind of a funny story, but i could never get my hands on a copy of due to the fact that the bookstore never had any. being a diehard of the musical, i decided to do a little review of the book, how it compares to the musical, and why it should not be getting all the hate that it deserves. here we go:
I instinctively knew that the original book version of Be More Chill is a wildly different product than the musical. Also, neither one is better than the other considering that they are two very different things. The novel Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini centres on the struggles of Jeremy Heere, a socially inept high school aged theatre kid who takes a pill called a SQUIP in order to be with the girl of his dreams, the blonde, popular, and frankly hotheaded Christine. The musical Be More Chill by Joe Icons and Joe Tracz deals with a similar situation- Jeremy Heere, an anxiety ridden teenage boy who likes video games, takes a pill called a SQUIP in order to be less sweaty and more cool, and to hopefully go out with his long time crush, a passionate, ADHD Asian theatre kid named Christine.
When I see a lot of people on Tumblr comparing the novel to the book, I feel like they’re forgetting the fact that (a) Ned Vizzini wrote the novel in 2004, and (b) The novel is not a hero vs villain story like the musical, but rather the protagonist vs himself. The musical is about Jeremy vs the SQUIP, with some character development for him thrown in. The book is about Jeremy vs his own anxiety, fears, and self-set limits.
When you get into theatre, it’s hard to stay away from well, the theatrics. Adapting anything to the modern stage can be a challenge, especially a stream-of-consciousness book like Vizzini’s Be More Chill. Instead of having your character’s thoughts be portrayed through text, they have to be shown through dialogue. Vizzini’s books are projections of himself, his experiences, and a place of vent. The musical is not Ned Vizzini.
Having the SQUIP be villainous makes for a much better show. Motivations are clear, the setup is easy, and the audience reception is much more well-received. However, if you were to novelize the musical version of Be More Chill, I can guarantee that it would be tacky and not very well recepted. And I think that’s a credit to the Joes of the Musical, who managed to pull off such an insane show. The concept is strange and unusual, but the exposition is wonderful. A ballad like Michael in the Bathroom would have absolutely never been well translated into text, because the entire song is pure, raw, unfiltered emotion coming from Michael, rather than it as experienced through Jeremy’s point of view (which is how the novel is written- Note: the novel features 0 instances of Michael freaking out in a bathroom).
Here’s some things I noticed in the novel that made somewhat of an appearance in the musical:
Novel!Michael mentions that his older brother got a SQUIP, and he went from a failing student to attending Brown University, but because it was a SQUIP 1.0, it also made him go insane. In the musical, (the dialogue just before Michael in the Bathroom) Michael tells Jeremy that he couldn’t find anything about the SQUIP on the internet, but he says that, “Finally, this guy I play Warcraft with told me how his brother went from a straight D student to a freshman at Harvard” which is obviously a reference to his novel!brother.
Michael and Jeremy are much closer friends in the musical. In the book they were friends, but they weren’t die-hard-I-would-put-on-pants-for-you friends. They weren’t as dedicated to each other in the novel, which I think, when you watch the musical, was meant to provide a best-friend-who-saves-the-day type situation, a la Lord of the Rings Samwise Gamgee style. Novel!Jeremy is much more isolated from other characters and social situations than Michael is, which is apt for a novel about the individual vs self. Having Michael and Jeremy be outcasts together makes for a much more interesting climax at the end when they’re on opposite sides of the social hierarchy and pitted against, yet still want to care for each other.
The novel was written in 2004, at a time when Mountain Dew Code Red was readily available. In a modern retelling, having Michael be some hipster ass gamer who buys expired soft drinks for his collection is downright hilarious and a wonderful way to explain why it was hard for Rich to get his hands on some, it further asserts the importance of Michael as a character, and creates even more suspense for a climax (as the soft drink was only available in limited quantities, AKA 1 bottle, and it would be extremely difficult to get more).
(Can you notice that I love Michael Mell? Personal bias, I guess.)
One of the things that surprised me the most was that Jeremy’s mom was in the novel. I just figured that she was also absent in the books, and that it was one of the many other things that Jeremy was struggling with. Having his mom absent is a strange decision, but I can see only two possible reasons for it: a smaller cast, because there really isn’t a need for a grown adult woman in the play besides his mother, and Jeremy already has a parent (for reference, the actor for Mr. Heere also plays the drama teacher Mr Reyes and other background characters; Mrs Heere would not have had any secondary roles), and for dramatic situation. Having Mr. Heere a depressed father whose wife left him adds another layer to his character, rather than just having obese divorce lawyer who eats peanut butter oreos. Mr Heere is the one who shows up to Michael’s house and motivates him to help Jeremy, even after he had been a jerk to him. It’s much more suited because the musical has different conflicts and requires different resolutions, including those of background character development.
Despite being written in 2004 and now retold, Eminem is still relevant and mentioned in the musical, and canonically dies in both. I think my favourite addition though is when Brooke says “he was super old and mean to women” just after they all find out he dies.
Also Jenna takes much more precedence in the novel, but in the musical she’s reduced down to the “school gossip”. This is done for a reason though, because she is a main catalyst to how Jeremy keeps spreading the SQUIP to the other students of Middleborough. Brook is also a lot less apparent in the book. Overall, I think the female characters in the musical have a lot more personal development and personality than what the novel reduces them to. In defense of Vizzini, however, the novel is written in the POV of Jeremy and that is how he sees the girls, rather than the omniscient point of view that the musical provides. Ie: Christine, who is a much more likable girl in the musical for her dorkiness and self-aware theatre geekiness.
So overall, the book and the musical versions of Be More Chill are still different things, adapted for different modes of sharing, and for different audiences. One is not better than the other, one is just much more culturally relevant than the other, especially because were in an age where the Teen Musical is increasingly becoming popular and centralized for a pretty specific group of fangirls.
Also jeremy is a furry in the novel ok i said it
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