skygiants

For some reason all current ambient stress in my environment is manifesting itself as really big emotions about pets, so the opening number of Maybe Happy Ending -- in which Darren Criss plays an obsolete helper robot convinced that his beloved owner is someday going to return for him -- played on my feelings Extremely Effectively and perhaps moreso than it would have at any other time.

The show, which is set in and originally premiered in Seoul, focuses on two retired helperbots, Oliver (Darren Criss) and Claire (Helen J Shen), who live across from each other in a big retired helperbot complex that I think they are not legally allowed to leave. Both of them, but Claire in particular, are slowly deteriorating due to the fact that replacement parts for their models are no longer available; they meet when Claire has to come borrow Oliver's charger because hers isn't functioning anymore. After some initial bickering, Oliver reveals his ill-conceived plan to go on an epic Brave Little Toaster journey to Jeju Island to find his old owner James, and Claire -- who owns a car as a gift from her old owner, despite the fact that she is not allowed to drive it -- offers to drive him there, because she's always wanted to see Jeju's fireflies again.

When I first saw the title and read the 'robots fall in love' little promo summary on the website, I thought the show's failure mode might be a certain level of cutesy or twee. But it's not, not really, and I think that would have been be true even if I didn't spend much of it feeling Big Sad Pet Emotions -- inherently it's a show about entropy, and the inevitability of loss, and there's a kind of melancholy that pervades it even in its cutest moments. There was a point 2/3 of the way through the show where it could easily have ended before the robots officially explicitly fell in love, and there's a part of me that wishes that they hadn't Officially Explicitly Fallen In Love and that the show had let the connection between them sit in a place that was real and significant and important without being Exactly Like Human Romance. But the ending is satisfying and makes for a nice thematic landing point right on that knife-edge of cuteness and melancholy, and who am I to tell the robots they shouldn't fall in love?

In other notes, it's technically very well-done -- the visuals and sound effects are superb, and Darren Criss in particular is doing a very effective job with Robot Physicality -- and really my only actual complaint is that I do not think the music is particularly memorable. There's a lot of jazz oldies in the soundtrack because Oliver picked up Being A Jazz Fan from his owner, and IMO all the new/non-diegetic music suffers in contrast .... is what I started to type and then I looked up the music and realized that everything I thought was a jazz oldie was in fact written for the show. So! I take it back! Good job on the convincing jazz oldies! They were great!

Also shout outs to HwaBun the potted plant and congratulations to him on his Broadway debut; his bio was the best thing in the program.

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sovay

There's a lot of jazz oldies in the soundtrack because Oliver picked up Being A Jazz Fan from his owner, and IMO all the new/non-diegetic music suffers in contrast .... is what I started to type and then I looked up the music and realized that everything I thought was a jazz oldie was in fact written for the show.

Clearly the entire show should have been written in jazz oldie mode.

I saw this musical get a rave in the Globe and was then keenly disappointed it was not a local production, so I am glad you saw it and it was good!

Edited Date: 2025-02-16 05:13 am (UTC)

skygiants

I would've loved it if the entire show was written in jazz oldie mode tbh!

I missed the Globe article but I do hope it comes to Boston at some point, I absolutely think it's earned the tour.

lokifan

Oh, that sounds cool! Esp the robot physicality, I love that kind of thing; one of my favourite parts of the Death Note musical was the genius of the actors playing the shinigami.

Yeah, it's such a cool human trick for a human to move in a way that's convincingly non-human!

troisoiseaux

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I want to see this show so bad. So glad you got to see it!!!!

I hope you get a chance at some point too!

I saw it!!!! It was fantastic!!!!!

my only actual complaint is that I do not think the music is particularly memorable

I did initially think this - I walked out of the theater and was like "that was FABULOUS but I don't think I'll be adding the cast album to my rotation" - but I then I listened to the cast album the next day and a couple of songs have been stuck in my head ever since. There's something— delicate, I think, about the (non-diegetic, more than the jazzy diegetic) music in this...?

sperrywink

So glad you saw the show and enjoyed it! So did I, and yeah, Darren Criss did excellent at robotic movements, and it really stood out against Claire's more natural movement and made the "older model", and "newer model" dichotomy much more pronounced.

Someone shared a clip with me of part of the Korean production, and Darren's characterization is def. the most consistently robotic.

And yeah.I cried so much at the pathos in the show, but I'm a big old softie.

Yeah, it was such a really clear and visual distinction right off the jump! I'm so curious about the Korean production -- it sounds from Wikipedia like the plot is pretty distinct in a couple of key ways.

obopolsk

There was a point 2/3 of the way through the show where it could easily have ended before the robots officially explicitly fell in love, and there's a part of me that wishes that they hadn't Officially Explicitly Fallen In Love and that the show had let the connection between them sit in a place that was real and significant and important without being Exactly Like Human Romance.

Yes! I have not yet written up my thoughts but have been pondering this exact thing. There are moments where I feel like they're playing at human romance rather than experiencing the exact same thing, but I think they could have leaned into that more, at the very least.

Yeah, I agree -- that's honestly something where I think the music and the conceit of Oliver's love of old songs could have done a little more work, too, it would have been really fun to have the sentimentality of the old-school jazz standards contrasted against Oliver and Claire solos that do not express or feel exactly the same kind of sentiments in the same way. But I enjoyed the show a ton and I don't think I would have prioritized it if you hadn't suggested it, so thanks again for inviting me! :D