Video: Darren Criss Talks Positive Response to MAYBE HAPPY ENDING
Watch Criss discuss the hit musical on Good Morning America.
By: Josh Sharpe Mar. 06, 2025
Broadway star Darren Criss recently joined Good Morning America for a conversation about the new hit musical, Maybe Happy Ending. On the show, he discussed some of the big themes that the musical aims to address, including those of love, loss, and the finite nature of our existence. "While it is about robots being retired, I think computers and technology are a very apt, useful metaphor for human life," he explained.
Since its debut, the musical has received rave reviews and lots of love from audiences, which Criss noted is "encouraging...When people outside of your world and your head react the same way to something that you like as much, you're almost released of insanity," he admitted. "My personal love language is sharing things that I love with people that I love and hopefully getting them as enthusiastic as me." Watch the full interview with Criss here!
Maybe Happy Ending stars Darren Criss and Helen J Shen with music by Will Aronson, lyrics by Hue Park, book by both Aronson and Park, and direction by Tony Award-winner Michael Arden. The cast also includes Steven Huynh, Hannah Kevitt, Daniel May, and Christopher James Tamayo.
Inside a one-room apartment on the outskirts 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 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?
Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award, Maybe Happy Ending is the offbeat and captivating story of two outcasts near the end of their warranty who discover that even robots can be swept off their feet. Helmed by visionary director and Tony Award winner Michael Arden (Parade, Once on This Island), with a dazzling scenic design by Dane Laffrey (A Christmas Carol) and book, music, and lyrics by the internationally acclaimed duo Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending is a fresh, original musical about the small things that make any life worth living.
Maybe Happy Ending was written in both Korean and English-language versions. The Korean-language version opened in December of 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 U.S. premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in the 2019-2020 season under the direction of Michael Arden.
