Video: Hanging with the Broadway-Bound Cast of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

The new musical, Maybe Happy Ending, which is directed by Michael Arden, will open on Broadway at the Belasco Theater on November 12th

and I caught up with a company led by Darren Chris and Helen J. Shen

I've, like, never been more excited to work on a show. The fact that this is my first original musical on Broadway is just kind of overwhelming

because I couldn't have chosen a better show. It's not based on a book, a short story, anybody's music

It's completely original, and it's beautiful, and I'm so excited for people to see the production, too

what my design partner, Dan Lafrey, is doing on the stage of the Belasco

is unlike anything audiences ever seen, so I can't wait for them to witness that

and led by these four incredible actors. It's a dream come true

I'm just so very excited, so grateful. this is like a dream team. This is like dream coming, you know, true for me

Total co-sign on that. I mean, really, incredibly excited. And the people that have gathered here are just incredible

The actors, the directing team, the designers, the stage management crew. I mean, really, top to bottom

it's just an incredible group of people that have come together to do this. And that we get to be a part of it is just amazing

Well we opened this show in Korea about like nine years ago We are very excited to bring this show to the American audience You were about to return to Broadway in a brand new musical creating a brand new role

How excited are you? I'm almost too excited. I'm almost, I have to stop myself from like, is like, am I dreaming

Is this too good to be true? I've had a lot of too good to be true experiences on Broadway

In fact, they've all been like that. And I know I tend to be an enthusiastic person, but I'm like, am I, I just can't

believe, like, you know, that I keep getting to be part of things that I truly believe in

And I don't think I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I just think that the, I've been very, I've had a very

lucky streak with very different and very delicious kinds of Kool-Aids being served. And I, they just

keep handing them to me. And I just feel continuously and exponentially more and more grateful. But

this is a new kind of Kool-Aid, which is, it's wildly original. And it's with a team of people that

but I'm, I'm, I am so, so fond of. And it's only been a couple weeks

You know, there's room for us to drive each other crazy. So maybe come back to me in a few months

We'll see what I say. I always wanted to be a part of something that I believed in this much that was brand new

But it's so hard to come by. And as a writer, I was like, well, I guess if I originated something on Broadway

it's probably going to be something that I wrote, that I put together, that I packaged

Because it's something that I can do in with. And I wanted to do it for a long time And boy am I glad this came along because it really saves me the legwork of having to spend the years writing something for myself So I feel so extraordinarily privileged to be a part of this

And I'm, I say that about a lot of things, but boy, this one really does have some special

sauce, the likes of which I've never tasted before. And I'm really excited for people to see this

Well, you are about to make your Broadway debut. How does it feel? It feels amazing

It's like every dream come true. It's also all of these amazing overwhelming feelings

Like just, I feel so, it feels big. And also the story feels like something that I know I can do

It's, the goal itself is person to person, but the thing of it, seeing my name on that marquee, seeing that, it's overwhelming

I'm so grateful. Tell me what you've been enjoying the most about working on a brand new musical

I've been, it's been so new. learning the music from the ground up has been so exciting and building these characters

has been exciting because it has had productions in the past in Korea and in Atlanta and

but I think Michael has been very generous with like we're building this by ourselves and we can

learn about the things that have come before and we can also put our own spins on them and

that's why it's a new group you know it's it's why we've we've

we can inject our individuality into it and that really exciting The show itself is just so special I feel so lucky to get to work on an original show that not even based on anything This story is so wonderfully

It has depth and beauty, but it's funny and light and makes you feel good

The music is just unbelievable. And the songs that I get to sing are just so gorgeous

So it's fun to have material that all you have to do is do it justice and do it and know that it's going to get the work done

I just, I love this show. So the fact that I'm going to get to do it eight times a week is just a dream

What do you hope audiences take away after seeing this show? I truly hope that they walk out of the theater and they have a real yearning to call an old friend or call their parents, call their partner

And just tell them how they feel, how much they love them. because I think at the core of our show

it's a pure telling of discovery of love and friendship and sorrow and regret and

you know, things that we all connect with as a, you know, society

Human beings are social creatures, you know. And so to see these themes told through these sentient beings

discovering it for the first time in its purest form, it really, for me, it really makes me feel like

I miss this connection with the people that I love the most of my life, you know

Yeah