Tony First-Timers: With Maybe Happy Ending, Darren Criss Didn't Go Chasing Fireflies

Darren Criss will accept “dedication” if you’re looking for a word to encapsulate his relationship with the New York theater community. But if he’s being honest, some other words fit better: “I would more call it an obsession and an affliction—really addiction,” he tells Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek. But there’s no use fighting it. The stage has got him by the short hairs. “I’m such an eye-roll ‘theater person,’” he says, resigned to his fate. “It’s just what I eat, breathe, sleep and sh*t.”

Maybe Happy Ending, the show that’s given Criss the first Tony nomination of his career (two technically—one as a performer and one as a producer), isn’t his first Broadway rodeo. He took over lead roles in revivals of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (2012) and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2015) and played Bobby in the 2022 revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo. But in all those cases, he admits, “I’ve hedged my bets pretty well.” Hopping into successful productions of popular musicals. Reviving an American classic. “I haven’t exactly been risky.”

Maybe Happy Ending—an unknown title about futuristic Helperbots falling in love and discovering the beauty of life’s impermanence—qualifies as one of the biggest gambles of the season. Now, with a 10-time Tony-nominated hit on his hands and a pair of nominations for himself, Criss gets to experience the thrill of beating the house. Although he describes it more like the Buddha reaching nirvana than a feverish gambler walking away with the jackpot.

He defers to the wisdom of Maybe Happy Ending: “There's a moment in our show where Oliver's trying to catch a firefly, and Claire says, ‘Just stand still,’” says Criss. “There's a lot of poetry to that—of just staying your course and letting those fireflies show up in front of you.” He’s chased down his fair share of fireflies: Hedwig, American Buffalo, his stint as Seymour in the off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors. This one, however, landed on his shoulder—fragile and fleeting.

“Everything is transient. Nothing is guaranteed. Just like the way people have taken to the show. That was never guaranteed,” Criss says. “The firefly light goes on and off. How much battery life do you have in these amazing magical moments? That is my feeling at all times with all things.”

Even in the midst of a career high, laurels thrown at the feet of the project he’s put his heart and soul into, Criss is prepared for it all to fade into a memory. “I'm just passing through, man,” he says serenely. “I just thank my lucky stars that this firefly showed up.”

GET TO KNOW THE TONY FIRST-TIMERS
Left to Right: SADIE SINK (John Proctor is the Villain) | JUSTINA MACHADO (Real Women Have Curves) | DARREN CRISS (Maybe Happy Ending) | CONRAD RICAMORA (Oh, Mary!) | NICOLE SCHERZINGER (Sunset Boulevard) | JEB BROWN (Dead Outlaw)

Watch the June 4 episode of The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal, highlighting all six of our first-time Tony nominees, and flip through the complete gallery of photos from our exclusive Broadway.com photo shoot.

The Broadway Show Credits: Directed by Zack R. Smith | Producers: Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens | Senior Producers: Caitlin Moynihan and Lindsey Sullivan | Videographers: Eddie Lebron, Nick Shakra, and Ryan Windess
Photo Credits: Photography by Emilio Madrid | Photo Assistants: Eric Hodgman, Farley Schilling and Leandra Worth  | Location: Corner Studio
Styling Credits: Styling: Emma Pritchard  | Styling Assistant: Rina Andreatta | Shirt: Adyela  | Pants: 5000  | Necklace: Alex Monroe