Never has an intellectual exercise had such heart. The allegory is clear: two adults, deep into the routine of their second act, fighting to remain independent, resisting nostalgia, and yet slowly, inevitably, slipping into the patterns we all recognize.
Photo credit: Adam Josephs.
That’s where the play begins. It is the story of two robots trying desperately not to fall in love. Oliver (played with aching, Tony-nominated precision by Darren Criss) and Claire (a luminous Helen J. Shen, or Cathy Ang, depending on the performance) are outdated helper bots left to their own devices in a near-future Seoul. They meet. They connect, awkwardly, cautiously.
It’s a brave, quirky piece, and it only works because the lead actors bring such discipline to the roles. These aren’t cute automatons or easy caricatures. Every gesture, every blink, every beat is intentional. Criss and Shen maintain the physicality of machines while letting real, flawed, deeply human emotion flicker through. The result is deeply moving, and often surprisingly funny.
You want to watch their journey. And as gently as the story unfolds, you remain rapt, puzzling through the strangeness of their form and the emotional realism buried inside it. (We need a better word than “mechanical,” but maybe that’s the point: it’s not mechanical at all.)
You fall for them. You root for them. And the show leaves you doing just that,still rooting. Even as it quietly asks the hardest question of all: with so little to be sure of, what can any of us really count on?
Maybe Happy Ending has 10 Tony Nominations
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Best Musical
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Best Book of a Musical – Will Aronson & Hue Park
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Best Original Score – Will Aronson & Hue Park
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Best Direction of a Musical – Michael Arden
Best Orchestrations – Will Aronson
Best Scenic Design of a Musical – Dane Laffrey & George Reeve -
Best Costume Design of a Musical – Clint Ramos
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Best Lighting Design of a Musical – Ben Stanton
Best Sound Design of a Musical – Peter Hylenski -
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical – Darren Criss
©️ Adam Josephs, 2025
🎭 Maybe Happy Ending
The show enjoys an open ended run at the Belasco Theatre 111 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036
🎟️ Ticket Options:
- Official Tickets:
Purchase directly from the production at:
https://www.maybehappyending.com/tickets/ - Telecharge:
Buy tickets through the official ticketing partner:
https://www.telecharge.com/Maybe-Happy-Ending-Tickets - TKTS Discount Booths:
Same-day discounted tickets may be available at TKTS booths. Check current listings at:
https://www.tdf.org/shows/21710/maybe-happy-ending - TodayTix App – Digital Rush:
A limited number of $45 digital rush tickets are released at 9:00 AM on the day of the performance via the TodayTix app.
https://www.todaytix.com/nyc/shows/41018-maybe-happy-ending-on-broadway - Telecharge Digital Lottery:
Enter for a chance to purchase $45 tickets through the Telecharge digital lottery. Entries open at 12:00 AM and close at 3:00 PM the day before the performance. Winners are drawn at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM.
https://rush.telecharge.com/
In-Person Rush:
A limited number of $40 rush tickets are available at the Belasco Theatre box office on the day of the performance, subject to availability. The box office opens at 10:00 AM Monday–Saturday and 12:00 PM on Sunday.
