We have talked about how the musical Maybe Happy Ending was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won 6 of them. As this New York Time article discusses, Maybe Happy Ending almost did not open! It faced many obstacles in its path to becoming a multiple Tony winner, from before it opened to the initial weeks and months after its Broadway premiere.
The lighting for the show was particularly complex. Ben Stanton said here that this was one of the most complex designs he had ever done. The design required video tiles that were delayed, and that pushed back the opening date by a month. The show had to layoff workers because of the delay.
When Maybe Happy Ending did open, it left 20% of seats unfilled. It was grossing less than half of the income that it needed to cover costs. Part of the problem wasits unique story that was not relying on previous IP, such as a revival of a previous show or the movie. The story about two robots in Seoul was not an easy concept for people to grasp. “Just trust me,” was lead Helen J. Shen’s main argument to people for getting to see it.
While Maybe Happy Ending almost did not open, it eventually did so in November 2024 to excellent reviews. With those reviews and word of mouth, ticket sales took off. After the Tony Award nominations, the shows sold out consistently. Darren Criss has extended his run on the show through August 31. Tickets are available at the show’s website here.
