Maybe Happy Ending Tour Stars Steven Huynh and Claire Kwon Find the Beauty in Being Human
The actors bring Helperbots Oliver and Claire—and the Broadway hit's tender love story—to audiences across North America
(Photo by Sergio Villarini for Broadway.com)
What to Know
- Steven Huynh and Claire Kwon play Helperbots Oliver and Claire in the Maybe Happy Ending national tour
- Both actors previously performed in the Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical
- Huynh and Kwon connect deeply with the show’s moving exploration of love, grief and what it means to be human
Steven Huynh and Claire Kwon are hitting the road, taking their Broadway performances in Maybe Happy Ending and sharing them with audiences across North America on the Tony Award-winning Best Musical's national tour. Playing Helperbots Oliver and Claire, respectively, Huynh and Kwon are two robots learning what it’s like to be human. “There is something so incredibly magical about watching two non-human characters live through life, discover emotions, deal with grief and falling in love and really all of the things that make us so beautifully human,” Huynh tells Broadway.com.
Kwon joined the Broadway company of Maybe Happy Ending in January of 2025 as a vacation standby after performing with the show’s original Claire, Helen J Shen, in the off-Broadway musical Teeth. Playing the Helperbot 5 has been relatable for Kwon, and not just because they share a name. “Throughout the show, there's a journey of softening, of finding a love and a wonder that she didn't have in the beginning,” she says. “I've gone through that in my life, for sure, just being a woman in society. She has so many characteristics that a lot of people could relate to.”
After doing a workshop of The Lost Boys with Maybe Happy Ending director Michael Arden, Huynh auditioned and became a member of the original Broadway cast as an understudy. “I read through the script in my bedroom and listened to the demos and I was bawling in the middle of listening to the material,” recalls Huynh. “My girlfriend was in the room with me and she's like, ‘Are you okay?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever read.’ I knew in that moment that even if I didn't get to be a part of it, I wanted something like this to come to Broadway and I wanted to see it. I've just been lucky that they let me be a part of the company and it has been wonderful to watch our journey from the beginning all the way to now and to expand the family on the road as well.”
Watch the video below!
