Marcus Choi, Helen J Shen, Dez Duron and Darren Criss of the Broadway musical “Maybe Happy Ending,” photographed on the Belasco Theater in New York.
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
A line in “Maybe Happy Ending” describes the lives of fireflies, the once-ubiquitous bugs that magically produce their very own gentle.
“They only live for two months. But what a beautiful two months.”
The identical was practically stated of the stage present itself. Of all the brand new musicals debuting on Broadway this season, “Maybe Happy Ending” is the only entry not primarily based on true occasions, archival music or another present materials, which made it a field workplace underdog when it opened final November.
Its unabashed originality has since change into its largest boon. Set in Seoul circa 2064, the one-act journey facilities on two retired Helperbots who put aside their solitude and head to Jeju Island; Oliver, optimistic by design, hopes to reunite along with his former proprietor, and Claire, cynical from expertise, needs to witness the fireflies’ glow earlier than her personal obsoletion. Alongside the way in which, these robots fall in love, their narrative needle dropped by jazz requirements of a bygone period.
This intimate spectacle — already successful title in Asia for years, earlier than the isolation of the pandemic and the existential risk of AI — is a singular exploration of human connection and the great thing about being alive, though the one dwelling factor of their flats is a potted plant named HwaBoon. The Occasions spoke individually with members of the musical’s solid and artistic group about growing the standout present in Asia, witnessing its exceptional rise to Broadway acclaim and pulling off an ending that fascinates audiences to the tune of repeat viewing.
Hue Park (lyricist, ebook author): In 2014, I used to be in a espresso store, and a tune performed within the background: “Everyday Robots” by Damon Albarn. The lyrics begin with, “We are everyday robots on our phones / in the process of getting home.” I instantly considered an intimate love story, however the protagonists are robots.
Will Aronson (composer, lyricist, ebook author): His pitch was, “Two robots in the future in Korea, but one plays trombone alone late at night in the garage beneath their apartment.” There was already a powerful emotional shade due to this facet of loneliness and isolation.
Park: I had simply gotten out of a long-term relationship and misplaced a detailed pal to most cancers, and at the back of my head for a very long time was hikikomori, the Japanese phenomenon [of severe social withdrawal] that can also be in Korea. It made me surprise: Loving somebody is usually a heartbreaking factor, so why will we do it? Do I actually wish to pursue one other deep reference to somebody new, or do I wish to be on my own, which is extra comforting in some ways?
Darren Criss performs an optimistic Helperbot named Oliver in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
Aronson: We thought concerning the causes for that remoted state and shaped our two Helperbots: Oliver has discovered a routine, and there’s an actual draw to remain in that room and by no means depart it, even when it means not experiencing something. Claire is on the opposite facet: I’ve seen it and I don’t need it, I’m not going to interact with any of it.
Michael Arden (director): The music was so contemporary. I felt like I used to be listening to some love little one of Sufjan Stevens, Richard Rodgers and Mr. Rogers, as a result of one thing about it made me extremely nostalgic. Then I obtained to the script — robots sooner or later? What the hell is that this? Any new musical is a tough promote to traders, however particularly one with an elevator pitch that’s barely odd. However by the point I completed studying it, I used to be in tears. It’s about robots, but it surely’s actually about life.
Park: There was a particular model and sound that I wished us to attempt: On this futuristic Korea, we have now this extraordinarily acoustic, chamber sound, with jazz as an enormous component. I discovered that distinction thrilling; to make every part digital could be so apparent.
Dez Duron (actor, Gil Brentley): These attractive jazz requirements really feel like hits from the ’40s and ’50s — songs that Oliver would nonetheless be listening to on a report participant, over 100 years later. If these songs existed when Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and all these crooners have been alive, they’d’ve beat down Will and Hue’s door to allow them to sing them first.
Marcus Choi and Darren Criss in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Clint Ramos (costume designer): Theater followers [in Asia] have been speaking about this musical for years. It’s attention-grabbing — to a non-Asian viewers, it’s a tremendous love story, however to Asian of us, it hits all these various things. For instance, between the robots, there’s no lust, there’s no intercourse. There’s quite a lot of holding again feelings, and a contact or a glance is so charged with vitality — that’s like a traditional relationship, but it surely’s additionally very Asian in quite a lot of methods.
Park: [Bringing it to America in 2020,] we have been cussed — we’re not altering the placement, we’re not doing stunt casting, the actors ought to actually match the characters. Fortunately, the present was already working for a number of years in Korea and Japan and China, and everybody was respectful of what was already achieved, so we have been capable of follow the authenticity of the fabric.
Aronson: At one level, we had Denée Benton enjoying Claire, Corey Cott as Oliver and Jon Jon Briones as each [Oliver’s former owner] James and the jazz singer. Then, our considering was: They’re robots, so they might technically be any background, but when the viewers solely has just a few moments to outline the setting, it helps that the protagonists are solid Asian.
Helen J Shen (actor, Claire): Speaking to folks on the stage door, there are such a lot of Asian faces — individuals who have adopted the manufacturing since Korea, folks attempting to do musical theater, people who find themselves excited to see both themselves mirrored onstage or simply one thing that doesn’t match what we’ve change into accustomed to seeing. Me embodying this character and standing on this constructing [on Broadway] is a revolution in and of itself; I really feel the load of that on a regular basis, and it’s straightforward for that to really feel somewhat paralyzing.
However the different day, Baayork Lee held my palms and informed me, “You’re representing us — it’s a lot of pressure, but you’re doing it.” These surreal “pinch me” moments make me reevaluate rising up and never seeing faces that seem like me, or seeing the few that do play characters who weren’t well-rounded. I maintain that particular person after I carry out this.
Helen J Shen performs a cynical Helperbot named Claire in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
Darren Criss (actor, Oliver): Let’s name a spade a spade right here — I’m the white-passing Asian of our group, however it’s my id. The AAPI neighborhood within the arts is a smaller, if not marginalized, group, so to be up there, I really feel that pleasure and encouragement from the neighborhood at giant. It’s essential, and I hope this present can proceed to have that legacy and be an inspiring name to motion in different inventive spheres.
Marcus Choi (actor, James/Junseo): The American model has a deeper narrative between James and his estranged son, Junseo. I respect it as a result of, rising up as a second-generation Korean American, I had some cultural difficulties when it got here to my father — one thing I believe quite a lot of Asian American households can relate to. Taking part in each roles has been therapeutic; it’s been a chance to voice my frustrations as a son whereas additionally sympathizing with the daddy character.
Justin Scribner (manufacturing stage supervisor): I’m excited for Asian artists to see themselves in a chunk that’s not about Asian trauma, of which there’s a lot within the musical theater canon, like “Miss Saigon” and “The King and I.” That takes its toll. To have roles for Asian artists that simply occur to be in Korea, constructed by Asian creatives in Asia — all of it seems like a attainable starting of one thing.
Helen J Shen and Darren Criss in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Arden: The problem all through this complete course of was by no means letting the complexity of the design overwhelm the simplicity of the story. We body every part in these packing containers that open and shut, which is impressed by how we learn manga — you see a picture, and then you definitely transfer to the following one, and the scenes are dropped at you want a conveyor belt — in addition to how we take in media on our telephones. Our complete first motion is offered in a vertical rectangle, such as you’re watching an Instagram Reel. It feels acquainted but additionally considerably unhuman.
Dane Laffrey (scenic designer): The Helperbots’ models are impressed by the Nakagin Capsule Tower, which was constructed within the ’70s as a part of a transient structure scheme: There’d be many of those towers in each main metropolis, and your house might go along with you from metropolis to metropolis. It was utopian and idealistic, and the pods have been designed with modular furnishings constructed into the partitions. However no different tower was ever constructed, so these futuristic cubes stayed there, began to decay and have become out of date.
Michael and I have been briefly in Tokyo earlier than the constructing was torn down [in 2022], and it was extraordinary to see from the skin how a lot of it was being held along with plastic and tape, with extension cords popping out of the home windows. It was unhappy and superb and inevitable, all in a method that felt related to our story.
Ramos: In Asia, the aesthetic that Westerners understand as “cute” additionally interprets to nonthreatening. So Oliver’s costume is maxed out in that facet — he’s put collectively in a form of uniform, with clear strains and sharp angles, but it surely additionally resembles that of a doll. There’s no {hardware}, no belt; it’s a glance that’d make an individual really feel secure.
Claire’s costume needed to be modest; we didn’t desire a Ok-pop or schoolgirl vibe. And since she’s a extra superior mannequin, her look evokes an individuality, a way that she and her proprietor might kiki about vogue and check out on these black suede boots. Compared to Oliver’s, Claire’s outfit has extra curves, textures and room for her extra advanced actions.
Marcus Choi performs Oliver’s former proprietor James, in addition to James’ son Junseo, in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
George Reeve (video projection designer): I really like how, in Oliver and Claire’s reminiscences, the people are represented digitally whereas the robots are performed by folks.
Ben Stanton (lighting designer): For these reminiscences, we fly in a hologauze, a scrim that’s so tremendous it’s nearly invisible however displays gentle again so efficiently that, when projecting video onto that floor after which lighting the actors behind it, we have now a hologram impact. We drain all the colour from the stage so it’s all monochrome, and it all of a sudden seems like a unique actuality.
Scribner: We’ve got over 50 automated parts, together with the turntable, lifts, firefly hatches within the deck — they’re individually programmable items, however they’re run by operators who press buttons rhythmically and in the fitting order.
Altogether, we have now 19 crew members, they usually’re busy each second, working very quick in very small areas. When Oliver’s house disappears for 13½ seconds and comes again all packed up, that’s seven crew members exactly choreographed to seize sure issues, hand them to one another and get out of there — all at midnight.
Helen J Shen in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
Reeve: This complete time, we’re watching Oliver and Claire journey to see these fireflies, and since that second is definitely fairly fast, it needed to land. It wanted to be summary but theatrical, joyful but additionally makes you cry. There was such a dialogue about how a firefly flashes — What number of seconds? Are ours twinkly sufficient? — however these particulars make all of it click on.
Stanton: There are lots of of fireflies within the background, on the video screens, upstage and scattered all through the home. We get this actual sense of depth and dimension; this scene of robots in nature feels magical as a result of it’s tangible. After which a single firefly flies out over the home, which is gorgeous.
Scribner: The string quartet performs from an empty dressing room for many of the present. In the course of the quietest scene, they tiptoe upstairs, placed on in-ear displays and tune their second set of devices till the final second. They’re led onstage and, as soon as all of them nod, an electrician blasts the area with fog, and all of a sudden they’re on a turntable, enjoying expressively from reminiscence.
We had quite a lot of rehearsals to verify all of the musicians have been snug — it’s not the same old gig! — however they’re excited to be part of it. They perceive how particular the factor is that we’re doing.
Dez Duron performs jazz singer Gil Brentley in “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
Criss: After just a few previews, we seen that audiences had conflicting concepts concerning the ending and would ask us for solutions. We informed Michael, and he stated defiantly, “No, that’s not the play we’re doing. This is what happens, make sure you tell that story.” Shy of any eye flutters, we’re doing that very same directive each night time.
Shen: Individuals come again and completely see various things as a result of this present can maintain one thing completely different every time you see it. Every time anybody asks me, I really like turning it again on them and listening to how they’re reflecting their very own existence into that second.
Criss: Despite the fact that we’re attempting to be definitive, folks wish to see issues and wish the ending to be by some means, perhaps due to style or life experiences. It simply speaks to the funding folks put into these characters and the story.
Aronson: I truly interpret the title extra as: Even when the details are clear, is it a contented ending or not?
Scribner: To start with, it was scary; it felt like we have been gifting away tickets. I used to be like, Is that this gonna be the best factor I ever labored on and nobody obtained to see it? However to then have all the opinions be so optimistic, and communicate to the storytelling’s depth and layers, modified the sport. I ended getting texts asking free of charge tickets and as a substitute obtained texts asking find out how to get any tickets in any respect.
Park: That these audiences turned our largest supporters is one of the best factor on this planet. I discovered it unhappy that, as a result of we didn’t base this on something well-known, we weren’t promoting sufficient tickets upfront. We’re creating a brand new present, a brand new story — that’s our job. And to be sustainable, it shouldn’t be unique?
Aronson: I get it — with tickets this costly, folks desire a secure alternative. We have been asking folks to take a danger, particularly earlier than anybody knew what it was about or what the expertise could be. Am I actually going to go see robots in love?
Park: Nevertheless it’s like Oliver opening his door to Claire when she knocks. You don’t must reply, however in the event you do, it may very well be actually rewarding, even life-changing. I hope we’re not too cynical to open that door.
Darren Criss, Dez Duron, Helen J Shen and Marcus Choi of the Broadway musical “Maybe Happy Ending.”
(Justin Jun Lee / For The Occasions)
