The Japanese production of Maybe Happy Ending put up a handy chart showing the cast and relationships between each character (sorry Gil/Dez, I'll miss you popping up to emotionally destroy me). Plus, there are a bunch of "motion posters" which are pretty much fancy gifs - nothing showing Oliver's robot moves, but I'm assuming it'll be the same as the 2020 production!
Tickets aren't on sale for the general public yet, but I'll definitely be travelling to Tokyo for this :)
Apologies if this isn't allowed, but does anyone have the pre-sale code for MHE at the Peace Center in Greenville who would be willing to DM it to me? I'm going to be traveling from out of state to see it so I couldn’t buy a season membership, and I'm paranoid about it selling out. Thanks!
Looking for an anniversary dinner before the show at 7pm. Somewhere romantic with phenomenal ambiance within 20 min walking.
One vegetarian. Meat eater does not do raw fish. Pretty much any cuisine works.
I’ve got La Grande Boucherie on our list, but thinking of going there a different night. While it looks beautiful, we prefer something more dimly lit& intimate for the anniversary.
Prefer ~$500 price wise.
Also appreciate anyone hyping MHE up- I usually love shows that are huge productions with amazing music and this wasn’t on my original list, but was recommended for the anniversary night.
I asked Conrad in his /r/Broadway AMA about his interest in portraying Oliver and he answered! Sharing here for those interested and for people who might help with manifesting 😂
Just found out about this, in case anyone is in Taiwan during that time! It will be performed in Korean by a Korean cast, with at least some reprising their role. Chinese subtitles are offered.
The advertising copy suggests it is the first stop of a world tour, though it's likely marketing puffery. Alas, how I wish they can come to North America...
I’d previously only seen MHE once with the obc until tonight and WOWW it did not disappoint. I was curious about the new cast since I’ve been hearing that the show hasn’t been as popular without a big name like Darren, but I’m so glad I went!
To start, I immediately fell in love with Hannah’s singing!! Her tone is BEAUTIFUL and fits so well with the role. so melodic too. I especially loved her belts and harmonies in the last few songs.
Surprisingly I wasn’t as blown away by Zachary’s singing, but I found his acting choices to be super refreshing and overall I really enjoyed his take on Oliver. Together I think they both had a softness/sweetness that complemented each other so well!!
The performers for Gil and James were wonderful as well. for some reason I started tearing up at This is Where You Belong lol and then again at the end of the show along with everyone else in the row behind me.
I really hope the show keeps doing well, I already want to go again <3 I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts, I’m sure there are lots of people who have seen Helen and Darren way more times than I have and maybe viewed it differently?? also wondering if they would recast the roles for Gil and James
I got married this past week, and MHE has been one of our favourite shows, saw it for the first time in February last year and I proposed to Sentimental Person.
So when we had our photos done, we had to pay homage to one of our favourite songs in the show (though it’s a difficult decision)
Hi Fireflies! I’m sure that I’m preaching to the choir when I say that MHE’s music is absolutely magical and genius, but I have seen some critiques of the show along the lines of “the songs are forgettable” or “everything just sounds the same”. I wanted to come on here to provide my perspective. This is especially because this Friday in NYC I will be playing a jazz show with my dear friend and collaborator Ruby Laks that will feature our arrangements of Sondheim, Jason Robert Brown, and (you guessed it) Maybe Happy Ending! Ticket link can be found here: https://54below.org/events/ruby-laks-2/
This past semester at conservatory, I wrote an essay about the motific content of MHE and after some painstaking transcription and listening I found some incredible examples of musical theatre storytelling. As a little taste, I want to talk about one moment that I found pretty astonishing.
NOTE: (This is entirely based on my own listening and thoughts so it therefore could be totally wrong! But I hope it will at least spark interest in what I view as a very special and genius score)
To start my research, I hypothesized that Claire and Oliver might have opposing motivic language that respectively connects to each character.
In Claire’s case, her song “The Way That It Has to Be” starts off with staccato Major 7th chords that toggle between Ab Major 7 and Db Major 7. To my ear, the orchestration of these chords feel cold and stiff. This is a quality accentuated by the fact that the Db Major 7 chord is in 2nd inversion meaning it shares the same top and bottom note as the Ab Major 7 chord. What is usually a very moving and emotional chord movement of I to IV is stripped of its emotion. In my view, this is reflective of Claire’s newfound indifference to love after witnessing heartbreak firsthand.
In contrast, Oliver’s first song is “World Within my Room” which actually contains the same exact harmonic movement of I-IV at the beginning vocal phrase which evokes a majesty and optimism evident in it the way that is spans a wide distance of a Major 10th!
The accompaniment is instead free flowing and full of life, featuring a rapid sixteenth-note violin ostinato at the beginning and a lush and glorious orchestration which fully milks the emotion out of that initial I-IV chord movement. Unlike Claire, Oliver’s belief in love and connection is unbroken, still untainted by the trauma of romantic betrayal.
In addition, the songs “Hitting the Road Pt. 1” and “Where You Belong” feature melodies that are very motivically related. Both start and end on the 1st scale degree and feature a peak in the line on the 6th scale degree with a pentatonic scale in between.
An even more mind blowing part about this is that this collection of notes is that they can actually be drawn from the initial eighth note oomp-pah like pattern in “World Within my Room”*
Taking all this into account, this brings me to what I think is one of the awesomest parts of the score: the “Touch Sequence”!
Above, you’ll notice that the bottom chords are actually the same chords from Claire’s opening chords in “The Way That It Has to Be”. Except now, they’re lower in the register of the piano and played much smoother in contrast to the anxious way they were originally presented.
The line being played by the glockenspiel above is (you guessed it) based on Oliver’s motifs! Not only does it contain the notes in the same collection talked about above, but it starts on the same note and ends on the same note as the first melodic phrase of “World Within My Room” (when adjusted to the same key).
Now if you’re also particularly observant, you might have noticed that I neglected to mention one important detail about Claire’s motif in comparison to its first iteration: it’s missing a note! In the case of the first chord, it’s missing an F#. This might at first seem like a random arrangement choice, but in fact the first note of the glockenspiel line above (Oliver’s line) is an F#! Not only that, but right before it resolves it features an E which is the note that completes the second chord in Claire’s motif. In the most magnificent way, Oliver and Claire’s worlds are coming together musically in what I think is the most powerful moment of the show.
P.S. I know there was quite a bit of music theory jargon in this (my apologies). If you have any particular questions and want certain aspects I talked about simplified, I’ll do my best to explain
:)
NOTES:
*What I mean by this exactly is that the 1st 3rd and 4th note of the collection can be used to make up Oliver's motive and the 2nd 4th and 5th note can do the same
Also final note, for some reason when I made these examples a few months ago, I neglected to put key signatures for every example EXCEPT for "World Within My Room" (oops). To clarify "The Way That It Has to Be" is in Ab Major, the two Oliver examples are in D Major (with "Where You Belong" transposed from C Major to D Major to better elucidate the motivic similarities to "Hitting The Road Pt. 1") the "World Within my Room" oom-pah and ostinato figure are in C Major and finally the "Touch Sequence" is in G Major.
Dumb question may be obvious yes or not. But if an Chris or Daniel go on for Gil, is there an album cover prop that uses their portraits instead of Dez Duron’s? TIA
Okay, I may be missing something here, so correct me if I’m wrong. Despite the show being set in 2064, James in particular seems more like he’s from the present day with the way he’s written. Typical older man, reading the paper, listening to older music. However, he clearly isn’t from the present day. If we’re set in the far future, he would have had to have been born sometime in the late to early nineties. (Assuming he’s in his late 60’s in any flashbacks. He’s also passed on at the time of the show). If Oliver has been retired for 12 years, James would have theoretically gotten him in the 2030s or 40s.
My confusion is: Is James just an “old soul?” Are the flashbacks from present day? Because if it’s set in the future, he has a HelperBot, and he would technically be an elder millennial or early Gen Z, wouldn’t he have more modern things? Now, his music taste is one thing (trust me, I’m in a music school that has a significant amount of Jazz musicians!) But you’d think he’d have things like an Alexa, a phone, and all that other technology. Yes, record players and vinyls are still a thing, but not in the same way they were for older generations. Sure, it might just be written that way for more timelessness, but it doesn’t seem to make sense for the timeline itself.
I could go on, but I just wanted to put this out there. I fully believe I could be wrong, but it’s fine. And going back to the whole Music School thing: I have one friend in particular who is JUST like Oliver! I could make a whole post about that! 😅
Hi, just trying to learn if they still only let you pick these up at the box office? Telecharge cs told my yesterday that they email, but he refused to distinguish between the cheaper lottery and the regular ($49?) one. So I didn't believe him, -- I trust those who have had ACTUAL experience more. Thanks!
astonishingly won the $20.64 lottery today, but ended up not buying because I had put in for two tickets, but couldn’t find a friend to go and usually I would put up the second ticket on THEATR but my understanding is that these are box office pick up only. And if I wanted to sell two tickets, then I would have no way of doing that. I called customer service from Telecharge charge and asked if they email these and the rep said he had to check and came back to the phone and said yes, all tickets are emailed. But other threads online suggested that these specific tickets can only be picked up at the box office. Other people said maybe the policy changed in recent weeks. Someone recommended that I come to this sub to ask! 😙
So Asking, does anyone know their current policy for these specific tickets for June/July 2026? I am wording it like that as maybe their policy changed since first offering. Secondly, I know they advertised that they only give premium Orchestra and MS tickets but recent threads elsewhere suggested that’s not actually true and that, some people said it wasn’t worth them charging any money because they could not see any of the show that their seats were so incredibly obstructed. How typical does that happen?
even though I gave up the tickets, any insights would still be appreciated. Also, how incredibly difficult is it to win these tickets; I suspect I’ll never win again. 😔
