Maybe Happy Ending

Maybe Happy Ending is the love story of two retired robots, each a different model with strengths and weaknesses the other does not possess, dealing with living life to its fullest while also aging.

It is also the joyful, heartwarming story that we all need right now. Add in excellent music, a great set and costumes, good lighting and sound design, and the excellent acting of Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, and you have yourself a Tony Award winning best musical.

In early 2025, when I was planning my next trip to Broadway, Maybe Happy Ending was not even on my radar. I knew I wanted to see Redwood and SMASH, but that was about as far as I had gotten. Later, I was attending an Opening Night celebration for the play Golden at ACT Theatre in Seattle, when the topic came up with one of the theatre’s interns. He told me, “You have to see Maybe Happy Ending!”

I went home, looked up the show, and immediately recognized Darren Criss. Whoa, how did I miss this show? As a fan of Glee, I thought how fun would it be to see Darren Criss back to back with Jonathan Groff (I had already booked Just In Time tickets by this point). I watched some clips from the show, and Helen J. Shen’s character was hilarious. I was now just as excited to see Helen as I was Darren.

The next surprise was to find out my daughter is a huge fan of Darren Criss, even though she had not watched Glee. “How do you know Darren?” I asked her. “Duh, he is totes lowkey rizz (or something like that) in A Very Potter Musical!”

This was my favorite show (musical or play) of all nine shows I saw this trip, and I agree with it winning the Tony Award for Best Musical. I will also call out Just In Time for being my favorite experience of the trip. Maybe Happy Ending and Just In Time are the two shows (out of nine) that I am taking my daughter to and seeing again. I would likely also take her to SMASH and Sunset Blvd., but they will both be closed by that trip.

If you can only see one show, this is the one to see. The story, the music, the cast, the set, and the overall production are simply the best right now. The Tony Award voters agree. If you are for some reason on the fence, you can listen to the cast recording on your favorite music streaming service to preview the show a bit.

In this show, Darren Criss stands out for his physical acting, and Helen J. Shen stands out for her comedy and delivery. She is very funny, and I am confident we will be seeing much more of her on stage in the future.

See more show reviews from 2025.