Maybe Happy Ending is getting ready for Broadway and the excitement is real. “I’ve never been more excited to work on a show,” director Michael Arden told BroadwayWorld’s Richard Ridge.
“The fact that this is my first original musical on Broadway is just overwhelming, because I couldn’t have chosen a better show. It’s not based on a book, a short story, anybody’s music… it’s completely original! It’s beautiful. I’m so excited for people to see the production and what my design partner, Dane Laffrey, is doing onstage at the Belasco is unlike anything audiences have ever seen.”
Will Aronson and Hue Park’s new musical will star a cast of four, including Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winner Darren Criss, Helen J Shen, Dez Duron, and Marcus Choi
“I can’t believe that I keep getting to be a part of things that I truly believe in,” added Criss. “I don’t think I’m drinking the Kool Aid… I just think I’ve had a very lucky streak with very different and delicious Kool Aids beings served. And they just keep handing them to me!”
The flavor of this particular Kool Aid is musical rom-com. Inside a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Oliver lives a happily quiet life listening to jazz records and caring for his favorite plant. But what else is there to do when you’re a HelperBot 3, a robot that has long been retired and considered obsolete? When his fellow HelperBot neighbor Claire asks to borrow his charger, what starts as an awkward encounter leads to a unique friendship, a surprising adventure, and maybe even…love?
“[Maybe Happy Ending] has had productions in the past in Korea and Atlanta, but Michael has been so generous with letting us build this by ourselves,” explained Shen, who will make her Broadway debut with this role. “We can learn about what has come before, and we can also put our on spin on it.”
In this video, watch as the full company tells us more about what the new musical is all about!
