Don’t Blame Young Adults For Teen Musicals On Broadway

Just like Young Adult literature, YA theatre – or Teen theatre, perhaps – had an initially rapturous welcome, and a rapid cooling-off. “Critical consensus about Young Adult Theatre took a sharp turn when the subgenre became solidified, popularized, and canonized with the viral teen hit Be More Chill. Joe Iconis’s musical, which made it to Broadway thanks to a huge, enthusiastic teenage fanbase online, received vitriol from many critics who called it loud, hollow, and vapid.” – American Theatre