Darren Criss Will Return to Maybe Happy Ending After Limited Andrew Barth Feldman Run

Before Andrew Barth Feldman starts his limited run replacing Darren Criss as Oliver in Maybe Happy Ending on September 2, it’s been revealed who will replace him: Darren Criss! The Tony-winning star of the musical announced at the August 20 matinee that he will return to the role of the jazz-loving Helperbot on November 5 after a nine-week break.

Feldman will be starring opposite his real-life partner Helen J Shen as Claire in the show, which won Best Musical at the 2025 Tony Awards. He made his Broadway debut in Dear Evan Hansen in 2019, starred off-Broadway in Little Shop of Horrors and We Had a World and on screen opposite Jennifer Lawrence in the film No Hard Feelings.

Criss won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance as Oliver. He rose to fame on the musical Fox series Glee, and has previously been seen on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business..., Hedwig and the Angry Inch and American Buffalo. 

With music and lyrics by Will Aronson and Hue Park, and orchestrations also by Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending opened at the Belasco Theatre on November 12, 2024. Michael Arden directs the Broadway production of the show, which premiered, in its Korean-language version, in Seoul in 2016. Maybe Happy Ending also stars original cast members Dez Duron and Marcus Choi, with Steven Huynh, Hannah Kevitt, Daniel May, Christopher James Tamayo and Claire Kwon rounding out the production as understudies.

Inside a one-room apartment in the heart 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 (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 is the winner of six 2025 Tony Awards, also winning for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. The show will embark on a multi-year North American tour beginning in the fall of 2026.