MAYBE HAPPY ENDING Reviews- Page 31

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 10:37am

Ensemble1698878795 said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "But a valid point is made here. This is certainly affecting the casts mental health and well being. That's most likely why they're being very strategic about whether or they speak out on their own. There's already so much being said, there's nothing they can do or say that will make people happy. Yes, even if ABF stepped down, it wouldn't be good either. So what can they do? All we can hope for is that they see this, and they do better after his run, and for the tour casting"

Blame the producers. The castsmental health and well being is shaken based on a decision made by the creative team. What the producers can do is remove him from the role for the integrity of the show."

Do you understand how contracts work?

This is my first time wading into this thread against my better judgment. I have my own opinions about the whole thing which I'm not even going to get into. But I predict this will end with ABF stepping down, perhaps with a gentle nudge from producers. But he won't be "removed."

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 10:47am

The authors’ Instagram post makes me feel bad for them, but it is still a bit “cringe.” They clearly want to have their cake and eat it too – to have made it to Broadway and won major awards partly because of the show’s Asian representation, but now they want to be able to live off of the royalties for the rest of their lives, which will be a lot harder if all regional and educational productions are limited to Asian performers - who still, outside of major cities, are a minority population in many parts of the U.S. This is about money, plain and simple.

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 10:47 AM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 10:48am

I can’t tell if these statements are actually being written by the creatives or some PR manager. It’s crazy, either way, that the producers are throwing them under the bus versus themselves. Surely this casting wouldn’t have happened without Jeffrey Richards or Hunter Arnold’s approval.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:01am

”made it to Broadway and won major awards partly because of the show’s Asian representation,“

How did Asian representation help it win any of those awards? Have voters said that they liked the show better because of the Asian representation?

Corey Cott and Denee Benton were part of early readings. If they had stayed with the show, none of this would even be a discussion at all. Just because the show opened on Broadway with an Asian actor as Oliver, that doesn’t mean it must always be an Asian actor who plays him.

Anyone who leads to less subsidiary rights income for the Korean creators and Darren Criss (as a producer) because the show is now limited to Asian actors only (which it wasn’t from the start) is complicit in denying income to Asian theatre makers. 

[SeanD2]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:10am

BorisTomashevsky said: "”made it to Broadway and won major awards partlybecauseof the show’sAsian representation,“

How did Asian representation help it win any of those awards? Have voters said that they liked the show better because of the Asian representation?

Corey Cott and Denee Benton were part of early readings. If they had stayed with the show, none of this would even be a discussion at all. Just because the show opened on Broadway with an Asian actor as Oliver, that doesn’t mean it must always be an Asian actor who plays him.

Anyone who leads to less subsidiary rights income for the Korean creators and Darren Criss (as a producer) because the show is now limited to Asian actors only (which it wasn’t from the start) is complicit in denying income to Asian theatre makers."

And it could lead to producers taking fewer chances on hiring POC to originate roles not written with a specific race in mind because it could lead to an expectation that role is always a POC. And before you say that people will understand the difference, let me ask this: Collins in Rent was written to be white, after Jesse L Martin how many white actors have had a chance to play the role of Collins in first class productions? What would be the reaction if a new revival was announced with a white Collins?

[dexter3]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:16am

God forbid we listen to the writers' intentions with the piece. What do they know? 

Actually, nevermind, let's force our opinion on others and pretend we're making real world change by posting online.

 

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:26am

update

theyre replacing darren criss with mandy patinkin

hey it worked for great comet of 1812

 

 

[hicaesar]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:31am

There seems to be this weird hatred towards Broadway Producers in this thread.... most shows don't ever recoup. Maybe hasn't recouped yet. The Producers are not the enemy - they want the best for the show.

I'm just a casual Broadway fan, I never heard anything about Maybe being about Asian representation - that's certainly not why I bought a ticket.  I bought a ticket becasue the TKTS staff kept geeking out about it and telling me how good it was. They were raving about the story, the technology, and the talented cast.  There was a cheap ticket so I gave it a shot. And very much enjoyed it.  At no point in time did I ever think that Darren Criss or Oliver was Asian... I still wouldn't know if it wasn't for this thread.  

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:35am

I'd encourage everyone to go read Christopher James Tamayo's comment on the show's Instagram post. He's a standby for Gil and Oliver in the production, and an Asian-American actor. He rightly points out that a lot of people are not engaging in good faith around this issue. They're trying to burnish their wokeness bonafides or take a shot at the current hit show. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:38am

No people cannibalize themselves like show people. 

[gibsons2]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 11:53am

BorisTomashevsky said: "“especially when so much love has poured into this show from the AAPI community“

How many from said community have paid for tickets to see the show? How many of them have encouraged others to pay for tickets to see the show? If they’ve only sat at home and said “I love this!!!” without actually keeping the show alive with money or promotion, then there’s no “especially” about it and they’re owed Nothing."

And that's here the truth about representation in any theater production. If the target "represented" audience isn't showing up and buying tickets, the producers and creatives should be able to cast anyone to carry (or save) the show. We all know what happened to Here Lies Love. Acclaimed Tony winning Yellow face had very average grosses. On the other hand, we also observed Buena Vista, Hell's Kitchen, Purpose and many other recent shows that are thriving because the target audience keeps showing up and shows their support by actually purchasing tickets. Audience demographics at those shows is the proof to this support. 

In my opinion, nobody gets to complain about being represented in a show (or a movie) if they aren't willing to show up and support with a dollar.

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 11:53 AM

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:00pm

“In my opinion, nobody gets to complain about being represented in a show (or a movie) if they aren't willing to show up and support.”

Correct. And that’s when they blame majority white (75% white on Broadway) audiences for a show’s demise and call them racist and narrow-minded for not buying tickets when they themselves didn’t buy tickets either.

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 12:00 PM

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:02pm

Regarding behaving one way for social media cred but another when money is involved, it could be said the production is also doing the same...

https://www.instagram.com/maybehappyending/p/DJb-T8NRkKF/

x

 

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 12:02 PM

[hicaesar]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:07pm

umm... they still have Asian representation in the show. Does the entire cast have to be Asian in order to celebrate Asian Heritage?

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:09pm

dexter3 said: "God forbid we listen to the writers' intentions with the piece. What do they know?

Actually, nevermind, let's force our opinion on others and pretend we're making real world change by posting online."

Because tomorrowBIGLITES literally addressed authorial intention above quite eloquently.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:09pm

^ You’re overthinking this. 

So, by right, if the production’s recent statement is true and they wanted to always be a show where any race can play any role, then they should NOT have participated in those two occasions that they posted about? 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:19pm

MemorableUserName said: "dexter3 said: "God forbid we listen to the writers' intentions with the piece. What do they know?

Actually, nevermind, let's force our opinion on others and pretend we're making real world change by posting online."

Because tomorrowBIGLITES literally addressed authorial intention above quite eloquently.

"

K-Pop about the music industry… total failure. Here Lies Love about political history… Total failure. Maybe Happy Ending about robots in the future… FINALLY, REPRESENTATION! 

[MimiChika]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:25pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "^ You’re overthinking this.

So, by right, if the production’s recent statement is true and they wanted to always be a show where any race can play any role, then theyshould NOT have participated in those two occasions that they posted about?"

Original casting breakdown before Andrew got cast: 

https://ibb.co/WpD5Rb52



 

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:40pm

Call_me_jorge said: "I can’t tell if these statements are actually being written by the creatives or some PR manager. It’s crazy, either way, that the producersare throwing them under the bus versus themselves. Surely this casting wouldn’t have happened without Jeffrey Richards or Hunter Arnold’s approval."

This is a little in the weeds, but when the Will Aronson and Hue Park statement was posted on MHE's Instagram account as a multi-image carousel post, MHE also tried posting the text in the post description. Only their statement was so long that it took posting several additional comments on their own post to finish sharing it in text form. 

No PR person, unless they were asleep at the wheel, would recommend issuing a long statement on a platform that can't support it. I'm pretty confident that Aronson and Park were the driving force behind that statement, not a PR person.  

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:45pm

Regarding the casting notice, perhaps the production will make a comment now that the Oracle has reposted your image, and it will surely gain wider attention.
Could it have been written by Casting or a casting assistant, who just figured “Asian” was the default, and not seen or picked up on by the writers of the show? After all, with Darren on board perhaps the team didn’t need to read over the Oliver description. Bigger tasks at hand with refining the show, etc. 

 

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 12:52pm

 

ppl keep falling for the same trap

youll never argue your way out of a woke issue

woke invokes circular logic and u will always lose

its by design

and the woke mob is currently trying to cancel andrew barth feldman

at this point there is nothing the producers or writers can ever say that will satisfy the woke mob

no apology is good enough

no action moving forward will cleanse the show of its alleged sins

and the damage done to the show is somehow celebrated as progress by ppl like ensemble0000000

the shows team should instead support their own decision and publicly support their replacement actor and tell everyone to vote with their wallets

then these basement dwelling social justice warriors would move on to their next faux outrage in their attempt to ruin everything

 

MezzoDiva47 has spoken

bow down accordingly


 

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 12:52 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 1:21pm

I think what makes this more egregious is that ABF is dating Helen and that is more likely the reason he is being put in the role. 

Also the idea that Oliver isn't asian really flys out the window when you look at the fact that all the standbys and covers for the role up until now have been asian performers

this was all really unnessarly messy 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 1:27pm

I also want to push back on what I think is an exaggerated idea—that the show's success is somehow due to its alignment with support from the Asian community and thereby the production and casting should prioritize that. Yes, the Asian community should absolutely feel proud that this hit production features Asian actors and tells a story rooted in Asian culture.  But the show didn’t succeed because Asian audiences rallied behind it, or because Darren Criss became the first actor of Asian heritage to win a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. While the PR campaign did highlight those important milestones, like any smart campaign, it was broad and aimed at reaching a wide range of audiences.

There’s a lot of selective projecting happening here—people trying to make this show a symbol for artists who understandably desire more opportunities. But that was never its primary mission. The musical's appeal is broader and rooted in its storytelling, not a singular cultural expression.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 1:30pm

MimiChika said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "^ You’re overthinking this.

So, by right, if the production’s recent statement is true and they wanted to always be a show where any race can play any role, then theyshould NOT have participated in those two occasions that they posted about?"

Original casting breakdown before Andrew got cast:

https://ibb.co/WpD5Rb52



"

At this point, it doesn't matter if the original vision was that the Helperbots are meant to be played by Asian actors, or by actors of any ethnicity. Either are valid artistic choices. The problem is that they're lying about what the original artistic choice was.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 7/31/25 at 1:32pm

QueenAlice said: "I also want to push back on what I think is an exaggerated idea—that the show's success is somehow due to its alignment with support from the Asian community and thereby the production and casting should prioritize that.Yes, the Asian community should absolutely feel proud that this hit production features Asian actors and tells a story rooted in Asian culture. But the show didn’t succeed because Asian audiences rallied behind it, or because Darren Criss became the first actor of Asian heritage to win a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. 
 

It's certainly possible that I missed some posts, since there's so much discourse flying around on multiple sites and platforms, but are people actually claiming that? Can you give the post numbers or links? I'd be interested.  

 

Updated On: 7/31/25 at 01:32 PM