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Maybe Happy Ending director Michael Arden gets in the weeds talking about the Broadway show’s breakout houseplant.
It’s a new Broadway musical about two retired robots – plant-dad and hyperfixating jazz fan Oliver, and cool, brilliant Claire – having an odd-couple affair before one of their batteries dies forever. Maybe Happy Ending, written by American composer Will Aronson and South Korean lyricist Hue Park, is a charming, sweet, visually dazzling show, blending throwback, screwball comedy with technically elaborate, futuristic production design. Other shows in recent years have caused screen-fatigue; here, screens are used cleverly to illustrate the robots’ interfaces and memories, sort of like After Yang, but also Wall-E, and they don’t come at the expense of physical sets, classic jazz-inflected score, and chemistry between the leads Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen.
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