A thoroughly modern musical

AT FIRST, IT SEEMED AS IF THE CURRENT Broadway phenomenon Be More Chill was going to be condemned to regional-theater status. “We only had a four-week limited engagement in New Jersey,” says music and lyrics writer Joe Iconis of the show’s initial run in 2015. “For us to go beyond that, we’d need a good review from the New York Times.” Instead, the Times panned the production. “That meant we were done.”