Be More Chill's Stephanie Hsu on Sweet Stage Door Moments, Singing Wicked in the Car & More

She loves play rehearsal! Stephanie Hsu is landing laughs and drumming up Broadway buzz for her standout performance as big-hearted theater enthusiast Christine Canigula in Be More Chill. Hsu is not one to back down from a zany comedy role: she made her Broadway debut last season as evil super computer Karen in the Tony-nominated musical SpongeBob SquarePants. Now, Hsu is showing off her chops in a new musical—and audiences are responding in a big way, especially Be More Chill's avid fans. (Hsu has played Christine since the production's world premiere run at Two River Theater.) Broadway.com sat down with Hsu to talk about her own theatrical obsessions growing up, the celeb she lost her chill meeting, meaningful stagedoor moments and more.

Mic Drop
The Los Angeles native remembers beginning to perform (and think on her feet on stage) at a young age. "I could feel that performing came somehow naturally to me," she explains. "I was in elementary school, and we did a show called The Garden Show. It was about plants. I played a news reporter. I accidentally dropped a microphone, but I immediately picked it right back up and put it back on the stand. One of my teachers was like, 'Great job, Stephanie!' I don't know how I knew how to do that. But I did."

Not Your Typical Drama Club Kid
Contrary to her proud theater-dork character Christine, Hsu wasn't dead-set on theater in high school. "I was always a super social butterfly. For a really long time, I did not want to be a theater geek the way that they portrayed them on like the Disney Channel, which was in like black turtlenecks," she recalls. "I played basketball. But then, toward the end of high school, I became more and more involved [in theater] because that's where all the truly coolest weirdos were." Though the black turtlenecks weren't her speed, Hsu was not immune to playing cast recordings on repeat. "I loved [The 25th Annual Putnam County] Spelling Bee. I thought it was so funny, so witty. I also remember being very obsessed with Wicked," Hsu says. "People—even if they were non-theater lovers—would always try to hit the Idina Menzel note. I remember being in my high school boyfriend's car, and both of us trying to sing the 'Defying Gravity' end note."

New York State of Mind
Hsu attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. The West Coaster vividly remembers the moment she fell in love with Manhattan: "I was visiting schools. I actually really wanted to have more of an academic education, so I was considering going to a lot of different places. But it was springtime, and it started raining in the West Village. I was waiting outside of a restaurant with my friend, and the way the rain was catching in the streetlight against the bricks in the West Village was so beautiful," she remembers. "Literally in that moment, I was like, 'I have to move to New York.'" Since she attended college, Hsu has had quite the journey: "I cannot believe I am on Broadway right now. I worked at Pinkberry. I worked in a really high-end sports bar in the West Village where it costs like nine dollars for a Bud Light. I am blessed for all the lessons that I have learned and continue to learn."

Zero Chill 
One of the most fun parts of starring in a new Broadway musical? The famous guests performers get to meet backstage! The one Hsu lost her chill over? "Roxane Gay, who's an incredible writer, came. [Her memoir] Hunger really changed my life," Hsu says. "I really never get starstruck. I'm never even like, 'Can I take a picture?' I took a picture with her." So, who else would Hsu love to meet backstage at Be More Chill? "Jada Pinkett Smith. Because she's fabulous."

Sounding Off in SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants marked Hsu's Broadway debut. Not unlike the relentlessly optimistic yellow sponge, one of Hsu's most treasured memories started off as a flub. "I once went up on one of my lines. It was with Wes Taylor," she recalls. Leave it to the performer who knew to think on her feet when she dropped the mic at a young age to take the moment as an opportunity. "I couldn't remember what to say, so I just made this really weird noise. Everyone on stage—because the whole town at that point is in Bikini Bottom together—all of my friends' faces were just like, 'What is going on with her?' That is one of my favorite memories of that time. We love each other a lot, and all of us would really make fun of each other."

Making Space
Having been in Be More Chill from the beginning, Hsu has a lot of love for the show's dedicated fanbase: "The fans are so, so beautiful. They really inspire me and teach me a lot about what I think the world needs right now and what young people really could use a lot more of." In addition to an opportunity to receive kind words and fan art, her interactions at the stage door are particularly meaningful. "I always joke that I have seen more Asian people at the stage door of Be More Chill than I have seen when I walk through Chinatown," she says. "Every single time I see a young Asian female, there's this connection that is so clear. It's just, 'I know why you're here. I know you see me, and I see you also.' That co-affirmation is so moving and really helps me continue doing the work in service of the people that I know are in need of this story and these role models right now. I'm really humbled to be able to make even just a little bit more space for people."

Photos by Emilio Madrid-Kuser | Makeup by Rachel Estabrook | Video directed and edited by Kyle Gaskell