MAYBE HAPPY ENDING Reviews — Page 61

PipingHotPiccolo said: "
Right, casting Andrew Barth Feldman for a 2 month stint, who did readings of the show and is the leading lady's real life partner, and who is a proven leading actor himself, is a DESPERATE move by the producers. Its actually shocking that producers EVER need to cast anyone because the understudies are always right there and thats how it usually works, right?"

He did not do any readings for the show. He was Helen's scene reader for her self tape. That is his only connection to the show, he never worked on it before now. 

How do you know they didn’t bring him in to read the lines or sing the songs? 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOW9GGiibFD/?igsh=MXV0M2U0and2YTEyYw==
 

“A lot of damage is already done.”  Really AP news??

Congratulations to Maybe Happy Ending. The week after their star leading man left, the same week most shows dropped sharply, and when their new leading man missed three performances on the biggest nights of the week, the show had one of the lowest drops, the 6th highest gross on Broadway, and the 5th highest average ticket price of any show.

Pretty much confirming the show would have held on just fine with the understudies carrying the show for two months until the star returns, and there was no need to stunt cast the leading actress's white boyfriend. 

MemorableUserName said: "Congratulations to Maybe Happy Ending. The week after their star leading man left, the same week most shows dropped sharply, and when their new leading man missed three performances on the biggest nights of the week, the show had one of the lowest drops, the 6th highest gross on Broadway, and the 5th highest average ticket price of any show.

Pretty much confirming the show would have held onjust fine with the understudies carrying the show for two months until the star returns, and there was no need to stunt cast the leading actress's white boyfriend."

🥨 Tuesday night is pretzel night! 🥨

MemorableUserName said: there was no need to stunt cast the leading actress's white boyfriend.

Look up the definition of stunt casting because it doesn't include an experienced, hardworking actor that has no sway on ticket sales. Congratulations, indeed.

Updated On: 9/9/25 at 07:51 PM

Congratulations to Andrew Barth Feldman on a great first week! I would love to see him, but my late-September weekend in NYC is already full.

I can say that and still understand why Asian-American actors are disappointed.

bear88 said: "Here’s my guesses as to whyMaybe Happy Endingsurvived its first week without its Tony-winning star amidst the casting controversy (and with absences by the replacement over the weekend) while most other Broadway shows had miserable box office results:

- It won Best Musical and is a very entertaining and emotionally resonant show that people have heard good things about and want to see.

That’s pretty much it."

Weird, because the sentiment I saw was that the show wouldn’t sell with a non-Asian/without Darren in the lead role. Or at least that was the vindictive “hope”. So I guess it DOESN’T need an Asian actor to succeed. How about that. 

Do people around here even lift? Because the shifting goalposts would indicate YES. 

The first weekend of Feldman's run, when he missed three shows for scheduled absences, one of the understudies posted that they would be on the following weekend as well, making it seem as though Feldman would be out again last weekend. It turned out not to be the case and he was apparently in all 8 shows last week (vs 5 his first week). The result: virtually no change. 244 more attendees; $18,640 less in gross. Demonstrating again that the material is the draw, not the star, so there was no reason not to let the Asian understudies carry the show during Criss's two-month break.

As some of us said early in this debate, if any show could weather its leading man leaving and keeping an Asian lead in the role, it's the winner for Best Musical, which isn't likely to tank three months after winning the biggest prize at the Tonys. They were going to ride that wave for a long time no matter what. Some tried invoking the Great Comet, which never made sense. That show was already struggling and had lost the Best Musical Tony. It needed help. The highly successful Best Tony winner didn't. It didn't need a white savior. It didn't need the non-existent cache of a former Evan Hanson or the gimmickry of casting the lead actress's boyfriend to survive. (I'll avoid the "s" term for those who think it only refers to celebrities and not any kind of gimmick in casting, as though both his name and the relationship weren't things the production were initially eager to play up.)

When I pointed out Feldman missed the first weekend of his run, someone sneered that I was complaining. I wasn't. I wanted to see how the show would do without him and with Asian performers in the role. And it held up better than most shows on a week when many tanked, despite him only doing 5 performances and Asian actors carrying the weekend. And when he returned to do his first full week, surely the grosses would go up if he mattered at all. Instead, they essentially remained steady, even going down a bit.

We'll see what happens this week, but right now it looks more than ever like a rare opportunity to shine was denied any number of Asian actors for no reason at all.

Updated On: 9/16/25 at 09:31 PM

Seb28 said: "MemorableUserName said: "The result: virtually no change. Demonstrating again that the material is the draw, not the star, so there was no reason not to let the Asian understudies carry the show during Criss's break."

Why are you proposing something so highly unusual? Understudies almost never take over roles for months. That's not how it works. They are needed in their own tracks."

It's 8 Weeks and yes Understudies have been bumped up to fill in for extended absences all the time. Megan Hilty was literally just out of DBH for 6 weeks and they had the understudies covering it.

Please don’t even bother engaging with dangerous troll Seb28.

You won’t get anywhere.

I went last night on a rush ticket, and it was a few hours after Constance Wu hit the web with her latest thoughts.

Andrew was serviceable, but he is very much missing the control and nuance that Darren had. Could he potentially improve? Sure. But right now, he is far too emotive and loose of limb. Example: If Darren would use his eyebrows and a slight elevation of his voice to evoke surprise, Andrew used his whole face and more volume. It felt very much like I was watching a character who was either neurodivergent or emotionally disregulated. It was a bit too distracting at times.

Claire Kwon was on as Claire last night and was magnificent. I got there close to curtain and neither looked at the board or saw the slip in my Playbill and so the whole time I was thinking “Wow, Helen is KILLING it tonight”. I was very impressed with her and would be quite pleased if she took over once Helen leaves.