'Maybe Happy Ending' Is a Sweet Robot Love Story With Sweeter Human Lessons
There's a lot to learn from (and relate to in) the romance of Helperbots.
Oliver’s life as a retired Helperbot, a human-like robot made to assist people, is contained, routine, and stable. In the perfectly-made up box of his home (scenic design by Dane Laffrey), we see 12 years of the same routine: wake up, brush your teeth and eyes, wait for mail from your former owner, and water your beloved plant, HwaBoon.
Until the Helperbot from next door comes to shake things up.
This is the catalyst for “Maybe Happy Ending,” a new Broadway musical that holds big emotions in small containers, and tells a human story not despite of, but because of, its robot protagonists.
The robot next door is Claire (Helen J Shen), a Helperbot 5, who needs to borrow a charger because her battery is dying. Despite this being a futuristic meet-cute, Oliver (Darren Criss) is immediately closed off and defensive: he is only a Helperbot 3, an older model. Oliver’s motions are somewhat robotic, while Claire’s are fluid, just close enough to human.
They are an unlikely pair, but their chemistry is sweet and apparent. Oliver is stuck in his ways, forever faithful to his former owner and convinced he will one day show up at his door. Claire is sarcastic and serious, with a deeper and unsettling understanding of how humans can really be. They may make snide comments about one another’s habits and model numbers, but they are united in their isolation.
So when Oliver mentions he’s been saving up to reunite with his old owner, Claire jumps at the chance to travel. She’s especially excited because she’s always wanted to go to Jeju Island, where Oliver is going, because she’s never seen its fireflies.
The plot’s simplicity allows for the complexities of these robots’ lives and relationships to come forward; we can focus on Claire and Oliver falling in love. There’s a beautiful duet (“The Rainy Day We Met,” just released as a single!) where the pair creates a fake cover story of how they met, imagining themselves as humans on the streets of Paris and New York. There are no big belty notes or impressive riffs in this score (music by Will Aronson and lyrics by Hue Park). Instead, it’s the sweet precision of the lyrics, and the slippery, unexpected melodies and harmonies that make it unique.
The straightforward plot also allows us to see how these Helperbots’ past relationships with humans inform the way they love now. Oliver wants to share music like his owner, James (Marcus Choi) did. We hear the jazz that’s become the melody of his life — and quite literally a recurring presence. The production personifies Oliver’s favorite singer, Gil Brentley (a buttery smooth Dez Duron), who appears on stage to sing jazzy interludes that comment on the couple’s relationship as it progresses.
Claire has a more complex relationship with her former owner and her owner’s ex-boyfriend. In futuristic holograms (George Reeve) — that feel truly innovative rather than cheesy — we get pieces of Claire’s past. These Helperbots have haunting access to their memories, so much so that they can replay them on demand in clear, precise detail for us.
These memories are also part of the way we understand the fascinating world this show builds. There are clear, defined rules of how Helperbots function: each Helperbot has a password, and whoever knows that password can erase memories. Claire’s owner has given her this password just in case “it all becomes too much.”
There are sillier rules of the world, too, like the fact that Oliver’s Helperbot model has to say “you’re welcome” whenever someone says thank you. This leads to a sweet, flirty back and forth between the two, with Claire sneaking in as many “thank you”s as she can in quick succession. Oliver angrily says “thank you” each time.
Is this falling in love? The rules are less clear. In Helperbot world, love is just as undefined as it is for humans. In a memory we see in hologram, Claire recites specific signs of love and attraction to her owner and her owner’s boyfriend, as if reading from a book. But the real love in the show is left uncontained, messy and free, not like the neat boxes they live in.
How the show signals that love is beautiful. It’s through the sights Claire and Oliver see together on their journey, specifically the fireflies in Jeju — a moving sequence that highlights the production’s orchestra and lighting design (Ben Stanton). It’s through the way the couple sings in disjointed harmony, their notes weaving up and down unexpectedly. It’s through the way they hold each other, robotic limbs touching at first with static-y friction, then perfect union.
By operating within the confines of this love robot story, “Maybe Happy Ending” can make big sweeping declarations about human love and life. Claire originally thinks her life will be “the way that it always was” — that she is destined to live the same routine forever until she has an inevitably sad ending. Oliver starts thinking a stable and contained life is the only way to stay happy, because he can control every aspect of it.
Their journey, out of home and back again, disrupts these beliefs to make way for new, equally joyous and devastating realizations about love — what it is, what it means, and why we risk it, even if we know it may end someday. But it’s not just the Helperbots that are learning about love. It’s the human audience, too.
“Maybe Happy Ending” is running now on Broadway. I think it’ll be up for (and maybe win?!) Best Musical…
How I found out about it: I’m not sure when I *first* heard about the show, but the most convincing sell was at Elsie Fest, a Broadway-filled concert hosted by Darren Criss himself. Helen J Shen joined him onstage to sing through one of the duets!
Why I went: Beyond the taste I got at Elsie Fest, this show got incredible reviews across the board (an impressive 14 thumbs up on the “Did They Like It?” reviews aggregator site).
How I got tickets: My lucky, lucky friend Angela who is always winning lotteries. You too may be lucky if you enter the Telecharge lottery, which scored us us $40 orchestra tickets.