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Which, in a way, it has.
It ran for four weeks and then closed.
Butthe internet latched on to the shows cast album, which in turn inspired art and fan fiction.
On March 10, it opens on Broadway.
They call itBe More Chill 3.0.
On January 30, cast members arrived to see this set for the first time.
George Salazar, who plays the fan-favorite Michael, started to tear up.
Im George, he said, by way of introduction.
Im just so happy to be here.
He was on the lip of the stage, where smartphone abuts dusty old theater.
Here, how it all came to be.
Near the end of the show, however, Jeremy and Michael unite and defeat the Squip.
As the writers present these ideas, cast members respond with their own questions.
Vizzini, who died by suicide in 2013, often spoke about his experiences with depression.
What could contain a worse set of impulses than the mind of a male teenager?
Tracz, introducing the image to the cast, mentions that hes seen fan art of that very idea.
Britton Smith, playing Jake, tries to learn to dribble a basketball.
I know as performers what they do well and what they can bring off comically, Brock says.
Roland and Tam, who both joined Off Broadway, had worked with Joe Iconis on other musicals.
After performances, they wait and talk with everyone who lines up outside.
The cast album racked up ten thousands of hits.
The musical became available to license for amateur productions, and popped up at high schools around the country.
Then came the fans, liking, following, sharing, and re-blogging everythingBe More Chill.
Though at moments that closeness can become unsettling.
Roland, a veteran of another Broadway teen sensationDear Evan Hansen, prefers to preserve some distance online.
Its like a family in a strange way.
My whole career has been trying to get young people to take interest in a thing, Iconis says.
While he assumesBe More Chills core audience might not read theTimes, others will.
Not because we want theTimesto love us, he says.
Though wouldnt that be great?
One strategy that didnt work: a recent marketing push on Facebook.
Another wrinkle: Facebook is for old people now.
It is a time when there is, if anything, too much feedback.
Theres nothing that could be quite so brutal and unforgiving as a Broadway audience, Roland says.
Back at the Lyceum, most of the upgrades are in place, with more to come.
Youre paying for a Broadway ticket, I think the show should be a show, he explains.
Even if it isnt logical, it works for Broadway.
Two performances in, George Salazars doctor tells him he has to go on vocal rest.
The work done in development on the character arcs, for the most part, stays.
Its the essential feeling of adolescence shoved in the pressure cooker of social media.
Maybe its more than adolescence.
The abstract idea of an internet sensation becomes asensationsensation.
This isnt just a show thats big online, its big in person.
Who are seemingly all here.
But will they keep coming?
Thats the big question.
Maybe the internet is real life.
Be More Chillis in previews at the Lyceum Theatre and will open on March 10.Buy tickets here.
