Ghostlight Records and Two River Theater release the original cast recording of the new musical Be More Chill ( international digital release on Friday, November 13; with physical CDs in stores and online Friday, December 18).
Be More Chill, which recently had its world premiere in an extended run at Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ, has music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, book by Joe Tracz, and is based on the novel by Ned Vizzini. The show was directed by Stephen Brackett with Chase Brock serving as choreographer. The orchestrator and musical supervisor was Charlie Rosen and the musical director and copyist was Nathan Dame. The Be More Chill cast album was produced by Kurt Deutsch, Joe Iconis and Charlie Rosen.
The song “Halloween” is available as a special “First Listen” free download at bemorechill.viinyl.com.
To help celebrate the album, Joe Iconis’s Rock and Roll Haunted Halloween Special 6 will be performed at the Laurie Beechman Theater at 407 West 42nd Street on October 31 at 7:30 p.m.. The event will star members of the original cast of Be More Chill including Gerard Canonico, Will Connolly, Katie Carlson Farrell, Katie Ladner, Lauren Marcus, and George Salazar. Jeremy Morse (Waitress), Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen), and Jason “SweetTooth” Williams (Transport Group’s Once Upon a Mattress) will also perform.
Joe Iconis has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the recipient of the Ed Kleban Award and the Jonathan Larson Award for Musical Theater writing. His songs appeared on season two of NBC’s Smash and he is the author of The Black Suits, the rock-and-roll Spaghetti Western musical Bloodsong of Love, Things To Ruin, The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People. Upcoming projects include a new musical about Hunter S. Thompson for La Jolla Playhouse and an exploitation action musical called Annie Golden: Bounty Hunter, Yo!. Be More Chill is Joe’s third album on Ghostlight Records.