Jason Tam

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Photographer Ungano + Agriodimas Stylist Debbie Hsieh

Interview by Sydney Nash

You’re originally from Hawaii. Tell me what it was like to grow up there. Has it shaped your performances as an artist?

It’s paradise! Time’s slower. People are kinder and more generous. I spent a lot of time outdoors, hiking or at the beach, and that grounded me in a way that has followed me into the roles I play.

Tell me about your first encounter with performing arts that you can remember.

Playing an angel at church during Christmas. I was five, and I remember a bunch of moms buzzing around me, fitting a tinsel halo over my head, and giving me instructions on when to walk and where to stand. It felt exciting – more exciting than regular life.

Your Broadway debut came when you were quite young, playing Gavroche’s replacement in the original production of Les Miserables. What an incredible production to be a part of! What was this experience like and how did it impact your future as a performing artist?

I was so young, I’m not sure I fully realized how meaningful it was at the time. It just felt like an extension of doing what I loved, but this time on an expensive set with a giant turn table, and fun automated barricades to climb on. Later as a young adult, fresh out of conservatory, it helped me feel at home in the Broadway community, like a life in New York theatre was possible because I’d already done it.

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In 2006, you returned to Broadway in the A Chorus Line revival and have since starred in a number of productions, including Lysistrata Jones and If/Then. Is there any one role or production that stands out as having a significant impact on you?

I’m grateful for all of those experiences, but if I had to pick one I’d say KPOP, an immersive off-broadway production I did two years ago. I played a biracial member of a Korean boy band, and it felt both validating and vulnerable to do a show about racial identity in the entertainment industry.

Last year, you played the apostle Peter in the live TV performance of Jesus Christ Superstar alongside John Legend and Sara Bareilles. Explain how you came to be involved in the project.

I auditioned for it. I remember loving working with the director, David Leveaux, in the audition room. It immediately felt like an exciting collaboration, fueled from a place of curiosity as opposed to certainty. I’d work with him again in a heartbeat!

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Jesus Christ Superstar blended both live theater performance and television. How did you strike the balance between the two for mediums for the performance?

I was on One Life to Live for three and a half years, so I was familiar with the multi-cam setup. On top of each camera there’s a red light that turns on when they’re taking footage from it, and you get used to adjusting your performance accordingly. When the red light was off I’d tell the story to the 1,500 people in the live audience, but when it was on I’d tell it in a more intimate way for the camera.

Jesus Christ Superstar was nominated for a Grammy. Tell me what the moment was like when you received the news.

It was incredible! It still doesn’t feel real to have been nominated alongside John Legend, and Sara Bareillis, and Alice Cooper!

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You star in Be More Chill, which just opened on Broadway. Explain to me what initially drew you to this project.

Well first I’m a huge fan of Joe Iconis, who wrote the music and lyrics. I’m drawn to challenges, to things that are out of my comfort zone, and initially the character I play in Be More Chill felt intriguingly far away from who I am. I’m also a sucker for sci-fi and it’s so rare to get to do a sci-fi musical.

Your character, the SQUIP, isn’t a human but a supercomputer. Can you explain your approach in preparing to play a character that itself is not human?

SQUIP stands for super quantum unit intel processor, and I play the visual representation of artificial intelligence that implants itself in the brain of a nerdy high schooler named Jeremy. I appear as Keanu Reeves, because that’s Jeremy’s idea of cool. As the SQUIP, I’ve lowered my voice, added more breath and a tinge of surfer lilt, to mimic Keanu circa Point Break. For the most part, I play a normal human who just happens to be highly observant, and very good at deducing, and then exploiting the strengths and weaknesses of the people around me. Later in the show, my programming evolves and upgrades, and so I’m playing with splitting my focus, being both here and there, present and elsewhere. It’s mentally exhausting!

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Despite the production’s sci-fi elements and fantastical storyline, Be More Chill is rooted in very real themes, including the ever-increasing role of technology in our personal lives and the more mundane (but ever difficult) experience of being a high schooler. What message do you hope for audiences to take from the show?

The show asks, through the lens of technology, what we’re willing to erase of ourselves, and who we’re willing to step on, in order to become the person we think the world wants us to be. In the end, I hope audience members are more accepting of the quirks that make them unique, and become more radically inclusive of the people around them.

Playing a super-computer that is trapped in the head of a high-school boy, I have to ask. Can you empathize with Jeremy’s character at all? What was your high school experience like?

I 100% empathize with the self-doubt and anxiety that propels Jeremy to get a SQUIP. I remember having really big feelings in high school, but not having the perspective or the language to understand them, or even be fully aware of them. I wouldn’t now, but back then I’d definitely consider getting a SQUIP that would instantly solve all my problems and make me “chill.”

Suit by MAISON VALENTINO

Be More Chill came to Broadway in a somewhat unconventional manner, propelled by its young fans. It’s a Cinderella story in a sense. Tell me what sets the show apart from other traditional Broadway productions.

Yeah, fans fell in love with the show through an album that was recorded from a production that happened almost four years ago in New Jersey. Usually Broadway shows happen because a few people with money decide what they think audiences will like. But this was the complete opposite – the Broadway production of Be More Chill is happening because fans demanded it, and producers listened. It’s theatre for the people!

Tell me about your most meaningful fan encounter.

A mother showed me a big picture album of her daughter’s Be More Chill themed party, and explained that the show saved her daughter’s life. She was dealing with anxiety and depression, but Be More Chill helped her feel seen, and represented, and not alone. It helped her understand those big feelings in a healthier way. She became friends with other fans of the show, and they all helped lift each other up, leading to this really detailed, extravagant, beautiful Be More Chill birthday party.

What’s next for you after Be More Chill? Any plans to return to television and film?

I’m attracted to projects that expand who I am as an artist, and as a human, and I’d love it if that next project happened to be on film or tv!