RED BANK – Gerard Canonico laughs and says he’s a little worried about those pesky high notes.
But everything else about the fact that the cast of “Be More Chill” is reuniting for a set of concerts 10 years after the show’s world premiere at Two River Theater and ensuing meteoric rise? That’s simply a dream come true for the actor, who has been with the show from the early stages of its development, playing the character of Rich.
“That show completely changed my life,” Canonico, who grew up in Matawan and attended Mater Dei High School, said. “I’m so appreciative. I know a lot of actors sometimes get frustrated when they get that part that people all know them for, right? But to me, it feels like a blessing, because from there I was able to do other things and have more experiences. And if ‘Be More Chill’ is the thing that gets you to care about any of the actors or the writers of that show and like what they’re doing now, I think that’s a really cool thing.”
The musical, based on the book by Ned Vizzini, features music and lyrics from Joe Iconis and a book by Joe Tracz.
It took on a life in a way no one saw coming, with a groundswell of support from fans who “discovered” it online after the 2015 Two River production, eventually leading to a 2018 off-Broadway run and 2019 Broadway transfer.
Iconis agrees that magical run was seismic in his own life. “’Be More Chill’ is a show that changed my life in countless ways,” Iconis previously said in a news release. “I don’t know where I’d be had Two River not taken a chance on me many years ago and I am so thrilled to celebrate 10 years of this misfit musical on the stage where it was first performed. My collaborators and I cannot wait to spend a few days in glorious Red Bank partying with the fans who have supported us on this journey and looking toward the future. There’s never been a better time to be a loser.”
There will be two nights of reunion concerts, 8 p.m. on July 24 and 25. Performers from the original and Broadway runs who are scheduled to appear are: Canonico (“American Idiot,””Groundhog Day”), Katlyn Carlson (“Bookie,” “The Neighborhood”), Lauren Marcus (“Company,” “Tick, Tick…Boom!”), Eric William Morris (“King Kong,” “Fleishman Is In
Trouble”), Will Roland (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “One Penny”), George Salazar (“Godspell,” “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical”), and Jason SweetTooth Williams (“American Horror Stories,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”).
“‘Be More Chill’ holds a special place in Two River history,” said Two River artistic director Justin Waldman in a news release. “Beloved by audiences here, on Broadway, and around the world, we are thrilled to mark this special occasion by welcoming the Joes, Iconis and Tracz, back to Red Bank.”
Long history with ‘Be More Chill’
Canonico remembers feeling an immediate connection to the project when it first came across his radar. He was riding New Jersey Transit into the city one day when an email to audition came into his inbox.
“The first thing that it said was ‘a new Joe Iconis project,'” he said. “I hadn’t worked with him yet, but I was very aware of who he was, the kind of underground, cool musical theater guy that you want to work with. Then I read the breakdown for the character. And I was like, ‘if I don’t book this, I should just quit acting,’ because I get this guy. I understand this guy already.”
Luckily, he booked it − and was hooked right from the start not only by the material, but the people involved.
“It just started so normal, like a normal audition, ‘oh God, I hope I get it.’ And then it became this life-changing event,” he said, not only on-stage, but off. “Joe is extremely good at not only cultivating a group of people that feels like a family, but he does that widespread thing where he also gives his opportunities out,” he said. A decade later, he relishes the relationships built through the show and the opportunities that continue to arise to work with his network.
‘The internet brought us to New York’
Canonico was stoked for the Two River Theater run, so close to where he grew up. “We didn’t have anything like this around here, really, at that time, there isn’t really that much new musical theater being presented,” he said. “So that was super exciting for me.”
While the run was successful, there were no guarantees about the future of “Be More Chill.””We sort of sat dormant after we made the cast album for a while, and we were all just like, ‘all right. That was something we did,'” Canonico said. “We all believed in it, and it wasn’t that we didn’t want to see it succeed after Two River. It’s just that there’s only so much you can do. You can present the piece, you can hope people like it, you can hope people invest in it and you can push it, too. After we closed, we were sort of like, ‘hey, there’s an album. Check it out. It’s pretty good, you know.'”
It’s showbiz, the cast moved on to other projects. But slowly, people started listening. Canonico was in “Groundhog Day” on Broadway in 2017 when he glanced at his phone one day before a performance.
“I noticed my Instagram followers were blowing up, just out of nowhere,” he said. “I was getting a bunch of hits and from these names that sort of had to do with ‘Be More Chill.’ After a day or two of this still happening, I’m waking up to thousands of new people following me, I was like, ‘what is happening?'”
He reached out to other cast members and found out they were experiencing the same thing. “George (Salazar) was very much spearheading the conversation. He said, ‘I’m gonna talk to Joe. I gotta let Joe know.’ And Joe obviously already knew, everybody was kind of aware that people were finding our show. Somehow people found this little album that could and it was − I’m not kidding you − almost overnight that our entire lives were sort of thrown into this new wave of ‘Be More Chill.'”
The cast got an email from Iconis urging them to stay tuned. “The internet did it. The internet found it, and they they did their thing. The internet brought us to New York. Without the fandom, this show would not have ever had this new chance at life. It was instant, and it was crazy. And then once it happened, you’re like, ‘okay, I guess we’re doing
this now.'”
Why ‘Be More Chill’ clicked
Just what was it that resonated with the show’s fans? “I felt like there is this uncanny thing with that show that spoke to so many different emotions that people are going through,” Canonico said.
“A lot of musicals try to put a lot of agendas or whatever into their show … I think that’s all fine and great, but it sometimes makes you lose the plot of what the story is. And I think we sort of tap into the teenage anxieties and the realities of the things that we say or might not say, or the ways that we act to deflect from how we’re actually feeling. I just feel like the way it’s written was a little bit more impactful and a little bit more streamlined to teenagers,” he said.He said young fans would come to the show off-Broadway dressed as many of the different characters in the show, highlighting the ways it connected with them in so many different ways.
“That was the moment where I was like, ‘whoa. Alright, we’re doing something good here.’ We’re not messing this up. We’re not trying to oversaturate the story with unnecessary things, we’re just trying to tell the real, honest truth about what these kids are going through at this time and the realities of being a kid today,” he said.
Canonico said seeing kids attending the shows with their parents was also special. “Maybe it would help them understand their kid a little bit more. Joe loves the terms weirdos and freaks and whatever. And yes, that is absolutely true, and we wear that badge with honor. There was a place where you’re safe no matter what, you are safe in the community that we are trying to build here at ‘Be More Chill.’ I think that’s essential with every Joe production. He cultivated that in a universal way with ‘Be More Chill.’ I’m super proud to be a part of that.”
Canonico is glad for the reunion concerts, as place to reconnect and reminisce, to celebrate a show that has touched countless lives with its unlikely trajectory. But he also looks forward to bringing the core values of the production back to the forefront.
“The fact that the show is happening now is a great thing. I think I feel like now more than ever, we need to create more of these safe spaces for people, especially with everything going on. The least we can do with musical theater is give people a place to know that they’re okay. And this is one of those shows that really does that,” he said.
“No matter what I do, I’m never going to shy away from how proud I am of being a part of it. I’ll sing ‘The Squip Song’ until I can’t sing anymore,” he said.
Visit tworivertheater.org/whats-on/be-more-chill-10th-anniversary-concert for more information.