“Retired robots in love” doesn’t sound like the sexiest sales pitch for a Broadway show. Maybe a sitcom. Perhaps a Pixar movie. But Will Aronson and Hue Park’s Maybe Happy Ending—which just opened on Broadway after previous productions in Seoul and an American premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre—is right at home in the cozy Belasco Theatre. It’s a jewel of a musical, and a pure ray of sunshine on a dark winter day.
The aforementioned robots—Helperbots, as they’re called in our near-future Seoul setting—are Oliver (Darren Criss, of TV’s Glee and Broadway’s American Buffalo, awash with charm) and Claire (Helen J Shen, in a spectacular Broadway debut). Once accustomed to serving and catering to a human’s every need, they’re now living out their remaining days in a Helperbot retirement home, essentially a technological trash heap. Claire, probably because she’s a Helperbot Five, a more advanced model—a “sleeker, more fashionable design,” notes Oliver begrudgingly (he’s a Three)—knows it won’t be long before they both power down forever. Oliver, meanwhile, has no concept of his obsolescence—or that he got dumped. He’s still waiting for his owner, James Choi (Marcus Choi), to fetch him; meanwhile, he reads Jazz Monthly, and listens to LPs, lip-synching to James’ favorite crooners such as Gil Bentley (Dez Duron)—a product of the future obsessed with the songs and sounds of the past.
[Read Michael Sommers’ ★★★★☆ review here.]
Their meet-cute happens because Claire’s charge is dangerously low, and she asks the antisocial Oliver, her neighbor, for a battery boost. (“The Helperbot Five series runs out of battery really quickly. It’s also less durable,” Oliver says, in a pitiful attempt at small talk.) Girl meets boy; girl and boy take a random road trip; girl and boy pose as a married couple in a low-rent motel, whereupon comedy ensues. Strip away the futuristic bells and whistles, and Maybe Happy Ending reveals itself to be a good old-fashioned love story. (Note: Other than a seedy sign and the use of the word “bang,” the show is very family-friendly. Take your tech-obsessed pre-teen and their iPhone-clutching pals!)
Aronson and Park’s score is a savvy mix of bubbly traditional musical-theater numbers—Oliver and Claire’s “When You’re in Love” will be bopping through your head for days—and single-malt-smooth swing music (Gil Bentley’s big-band hits provide underscoring and accompaniment at key moments). And it’s all sung superbly—and simply. No exhausting, ear-popping American Idol–style riffs, just precise vocals that reflect each Helperbot’s emotional shades.
One more the show (thankfully) lacks: an over-the-top, applause-generating set. At first glance, Dane Laffrey’s scenic design might look simple, but it’s truly a technical marvel, with sliding screens and shifting shadowboxes to emphasize Oliver’s and Claire’s isolated lives. And George Reeve’s video and projection design (Laffrey also contributed to the video) adds essential, often surprising, plot details with cinematic style. There’s one reveal that we won’t spoil, but it involves fireflies, and it’s completely enchanting. Director Michael Arden, a Tony winner for the recent Parade revival, knows how to take an audience’s breath away.
Maybe the musical takes a few too many tries to reach its (maybe) happy ending. But this is a 100-minute future-set show about robots, bursting with genuine feeling. If you need something to lift you out of your post-election depression, Maybe Happy Ending is your emotional upper.
Maybe Happy Ending opened November 12, 2024, at the Belasco Theatre. Tickets and information: maybehappyending.com
