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Two American shows that explore adolescent anxiety have been propelled by young online communities in a digital blizzard of streams, fan art and animatics
Schoolboys hunch over laptops in the opening scenes of two musicals that have won devoted teenage fanclubs. One writes a motivational letter to himself, “Dear Evan Hansen …”, in the Tony award-winning smash of the same name, currently in its fourth year on Broadway and recently opened in London’s West End. The other is Jeremy Heere, whose brain is “gonna freakin’ explode” while “waiting for my porno to load”, in the trippy sci-fi caper Be More Chill, which opens at the Other Palace in London this month.
These anxious adolescents’ nervous navigation of the school corridors have a lot in common – and so do both shows’ routes to success. While their plots highlight the more alienating, toxic corners of online life, the shows have won dedicated communities of young fans who come together to share their love in a digital blizzard of Tumblr fan art, fanfiction, YouTube animatics, streams, vlogs and #youwillbefound hashtags (as featured prominently on Dear Evan Hansen’s poster). More than the average musical, both shows built a following through the same sort of social media feeds that dominate the stage in the set design for Dear Evan Hansen. Continue reading...