Darren Criss and Helen J Shen to Star in Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Darren Criss will return to Broadway opposite Helen J Shen in the romantic musical comedy, Maybe Happy Ending. Featuring music by Will Aronson, lyrics by Hue Park and a book by both Aronson and Park, the show will begin previews at the Belasco Theatre on September 18 ahead of an October 17 opening. Tony Award winner Michael Arden directs. 

Criss made his Broadway debut in 2012, briefly replacing Daniel Radcliffe in the 2011 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He returned to the stage in 2015, taking over the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and was last seen on Broadway in the 2022 revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo. He also starred as Seymour earlier this year in the off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. 

Maybe Happy Ending will mark Shen's Broadway debut. She currently stars in MCC Theater's The Lonely Few, written by Zoe Sarnak and Rachel Bonds, and was seen earlier this season in the Playwrights Horizons production of Teeth, written by Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson.

Dez Duron, a finalist on NBC's The Voice who starred in the world premiere of Maybe Happy Ending at the Alliance Theatre, will also make his Broadway debut with this production.

Inside a one-room apartment in the heart of Seoul, Oliver (Criss) 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 Helper-Bot 3, a robot that has long been retired and considered obsolete? When his fellow Helper-Bot neighbor Claire (Shen) 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 was written in both Korean and English-language versions. The Korean-language version opened in December 2016 at DaeMyung Culture Factory in Seoul and subsequently won six Korean Musical Awards including Best Musical. The English-language version was awarded the 2017 Richard Rodgers Production Award and had its US premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta during the 2019-20, directed by Arden.

The creative team will include Tony nominee Dane Laffrey (set and additional video design), Tony winner Clint Ramos (costume design), Tony nominee Ben Stanton (lighting design), Tony winner Peter Hylenski (sound design), George Reeve (video design), Deborah Abramson (music supervision) and John Yun (music direction).  

“I am so very happy to be joining the enchanting world of Maybe Happy Ending,” said Criss in a statement. “It’s already such a special piece, but all the more exciting for me to get to build it for Broadway with people I admire—namely my ol’ pal Michael Arden, a visionary I’ve been wanting to work with for longer than I care to admit, as well as the very talented Will Aronson and Hue Park. Their inventive book and music, combined with Michael’s direction, is exactly the kind of alchemy that gets me most excited about what musical theater can be. I can’t wait for audiences to take part in this wonderfully original theatrical experience, and behold a story from a future that explores one of the most ancient questions of humanity—why love?”