Maybe Happy Ending has officially its Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre, and the reviews are in! The show celebrated a gala opening night November 11, but is officially open as of today. Previews began October 16, with Michael Arden at the helm.
Darren Criss and Helen J Shen lead the cast as, respectively, Oliver and Claire. The cast also includes Marcus Choi as James and Junseo, Dez Duron as Gil Brentley, Arden Cho as Jiyeon, Young Mazino as Suhan, and Jim Kaplan as Young Junseo. Understudies Steven Hunyh, Christopher James Tamayo, Hannah Kevitt, and Daniel May round out the company. Casting is by Telsey & Co's Craig Burns.
Get your copy of the Limited Edition Opening Night Maybe Happy Ending Playbill at The Playbill Store.
Read the reviews below.
CitiTour NYC (Brian Scott Lipton)
Entertainment Weekly (Shania Russell)
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski)
New York Stage Review (Melissa Rose Bernardo, Michael Sommers)
New York Theatre Guide (Gillian Russo)
The New York Times (Jesse Green)*
Talkin' Broadway (Howard Miller)
The Washington Post (Naveen Kumar)*
*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Set in South Korea, the musical follows a Helperbot 3 that has been deemed obsolete. When his Helperbot neighbor drops by to borrow a charger, a bond is formed, the beginning of a surprising and romantic adventure. The original work features music by Will Aronson and lyrics by Hue Park, and both have collaborated on the book. The musical was previously forced to postpone its Broadway start due to supply chain issues related to the show's scenic design, which uses specialty projection technology.
Maybe Happy Ending features scenic and additional video design by Dane Laffrey, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Peter Hylenski, video design by George Reeve, music supervision by Deborah Abramson, and music direction by John Yun. Justin Scribner is serving as as production stage manager.
Park is a former K-Pop lyricist, working with Music Cube as a college student. Later attending New York University, Park met Aronson, and a musical theatre collaboration was born. Working mostly in Korea, the pair has previously written the musicals Bungee Jump (based on the Korean film) and Il Tenore, and will premiere Ghost Bakery at Seoul's Doosan Arts Center later this year.
Aronson and Park have written both English- and Korean-language versions of Maybe Happy Ending, with the latter having premiered in 2016 in Seoul. The English version won the 2017 Richard Rodgers Production Award, playing Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in 2020.
Jeffrey Richards and Hunter Arnold are leading the producing team alongside Criss and Pamela and Stephen Della Pietra.
Visit MaybeHappyEnding.com.
