“Maybe a Happy Ending” had a very unfortunate beginning.
Sunday night's Tony Awards show victory. There, earning six honors, including Best New Musical, rounding out the incredible turnaround of an astounding production that was considered dead when it arrived when it began previewing last fall.
However, the celebration ultimately admitted that their offensive show was broken as the quirky show performers and producers partyed with creative teams and investors at the Bryant Park Grill early on Monday morning.
“We didn't know if this show would open,” said star Darren Chris, who won the first Tony to play Oliver, an outdated helper bot who attacks a life-changing (well, changing the life with shelves) relationship with a robot that crosses the hall. The winners of Emmy, Criss (“American Crime Story”) and the “Glee” alumni are also members of the show's producer team.
“I didn't have the luxury of dreaming of a scenario like this,” he said. “This was definitely a small show that could be done.”
How bad has things gotten? Last summer, show's lead producers Jeffrey Richards and Hunter Arnold postponed their first performance in a month, citing supply chain issues that producers claim to be authentic (delayed the availability of digital video tiles from China), but many thought it was a cover story to hide financial issues.
“They put our fork on us,” said Alan Williams, the show's executive producer.
The production temporarily fired workers, refunded tickets for the month of a cancelled performance, and fought against the Tiktok Theatre influencer's proposal that the musical might not open.
“People started texting me with sympathy,” said Criss co-star Helen J Shen, who plays the late robot named Claire. “We never felt really safe.”
Some of the people expected to help fund the show didn't want to put money in the wreck.
“We lost a lot of investors because of that tiktok,” Arnold said. “Investors don't want to write a check and think they can't even see the show.”
By the time “Maybe Happy End” finally began previewing on October 16th, it was selling tickets worth only $450,000.
“Maybe Happy Ending” didn't end the $16 million increase in capital until the week of opening night. The weekly total is under $300,000, which is well below the show's $765,000 weekly running cost. The 973-seat Velasco Theatre was about 20% empty. By the fourth week of performance, the show's average ticket price had fallen to a disastrously low of $45. This is because the producers decided not only to have calculated, but also to provide all tickets ranging from $30 to $69 in their desperate efforts to fill up their seats and build word-of-mouth.
Then there was a major marketing challenge. The way in which the four actors describe a show in which two of them play robots takes isolation, memory and love to heart. The music is a mix of indie pop, American jazz and Broadway, while the design is a slow unfolding sight, using automation and projection to advance storytelling.
“Every time I try to explain, “There are these two robots. In Seoul, Korea, which isn't too hot, people say, 'People say, 'This doesn't sound like a musical to me,'” Arnold said.
The show's website does not use the word “robot” when describing what it is. Director Michael Arden called the musical “a gentle, contemplative work, in many ways, it's not an easy sell.” Shen said her favorable argument for the show was “just trust me.”
“It's like explaining a new colour,” she said. “I didn't know how to explain this piece to people.”
Those who saw the show were moved by it and they began to talk to others. “I think people liked being able to share secrets,” Arden said.
The show began on November 12th, with reviews by critics being overwhelmingly positive. “It's fascinating,” wrote The New York Times. “The Beloved Jewel” declared the Washington Post.
But even so, doubt remained. Broadway is a prone to failure, and shows can crash quickly. In the second half of 2022, the musical “KPOP” closed just two weeks after its opening, and last year, the musical “Tamy Fay” lasted just three weeks after its opening.
“We left town on the opening night morning and we said these very emotional farewells because we thought it would be a very short run.
With a heartfelt views and reviews, the producers raised an additional $1.75 million to promote the show. Turnabout has begun. “It was simply built in stages,” Arnold said. “We were burning a lot of cash, but we found that online emotions were changing and sales patterns were changing.”
The week after the opening, the show sold $591,000. Christmas holidays have their first $1 million week, and since then, that total has exceeded the running cost for most weeks. And the show has basically sold out since Tony's nomination was announced in early May.
It is not yet clear whether the show will make a profit on Broadway. The rising costs of production have made it nearly impossible for new musicals to make money in New York. For the past three seasons, only “&Juliet” has done so. But the Tony Awards should be helpful. Usually there are theatre rooms that want to see the best music winners.
“Maybe Happy Ending” has a rare history. Aronson and Park, who made their Broadway debuts on the show, are bilateral songwriting teams. Aronson is from the United States and Park is from Korea. They have worked in both countries and in both languages.
Park had the idea that in 2014 he sat at a coffee shop in Brooklyn and had a “maybe a happy ending.” He heard the song “everyday robots” and began to meditate on the interactions of technology, isolation and connection.
The show's first commercial production took place in Seoul in 2016. Later that year, the writers published the English version in New York. There, Richards saw it. He saw many shows working on Broadway for over 50 years and was fascinated by what he considered “pure originality” and won commercial rights.
The musical was underway. Korea's production was successful and there were several runs. There were also production in Japan and China. In 2017, the English version, which features only three actors, was called “What I Learned from People,” and featured the English version, which was awarded the Richard Rogers Award for supporting the development of new musicals.
Richards helped assemble the creative team, organize workshops and raise funds. Arden signed on in 2018 and emailed Richards that he discovered the material “devastating, beautiful, and ultimately life-affirming.”
The American premiere of director Arden's show took place in early 2020 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal Constitution called it “dazzling,” and Times critic Jesse Green called it “Broadway response.” Richards was hoping to bring it to Broadway next season, but the coronavirus pandemic has come.
By the time the theatres began to reopen, momentum was lost, investors were in high demand, and theatres were booked. “We had to go back to the beginning,” Richards said.
However, there were positive developments. Criss, who performs in the production of “American Buffalo,” produced by Richards, agreed to have a “maybe a happy ending,” and his participation encouraged both theatre owners and investors.
“Maybe a Happy Ending” required a theatre with a small house (the show is small) and a large stage (the set is elaborate and an elevator under the floor), which we couldn't find for several seasons. But finally, Velasco was made available last fall.
The space works and has an attractive history. Richards said that in 1960 a play called “All the Way Home” was almost closed there, earning the nickname “The Miracle of 44th Avenue.” Now Richards said, “We are the 21st century miracle of 44th Avenue.”
Before 2am on Monday, the show's Tony winner posed for a well-lit photo in the outdoor dining room, celebrating award voters' acceptance of the show's fundamentals in full.
“It's exactly that kind of theatre that everyone in this business wants. “It's heartfelt, it's original, it's innovative. It's scary and dangerous, but ultimately everything that will pay most if you can stay on the course.”
