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My favorite musical

No burying the lede

My favorite musical I've seen (to date) is Maybe Happy Ending.

I had the privilege of seeing it for the first time in NYC on January 28th, 2026. And I was really enjoying it! Up until it literally got canceled 2/3 of the way through due to unrecoverable technical difficulties.

In the 506 showings prior, there were some technical issues yes, but they could usually just put Dez Duron (one of the 4 show leads) in front of the audience to sing classical jazz for a few minutes while repairs got done and get back to it. But not this time. Darren Criss came out 10 minutes in and gave us the bad news. We left the theatre feeling more incredulous than anything: did that just happen?

Thankfully we got vouchers as compensation and could book a second viewing just a few weeks later on 2026-02-15. Coincidentally, this was Helen J. Shen's penultimate performance before her closing act that night. And boy did she sing her heart out, it was even better the second time.

I am not a particularly emotional person, but I'll admit I had to wipe away some tears at the ending. I haven't felt so moved by media since I watched Clannad in high school.

The spoiler-free highlights

  1. An incredible original soundtrack. The blend of classical jazz notes with robotic undertones fit the characters and plot perfectly.
  2. Extraordinary acting. Darren's stiff robotic physical acting contrast so well with Helen's natural poise.
  3. Chemistry! Their joke timing is on point, and break up the more serious tones of the show to keep things from getting too heavy.
  4. Yummy secondary social media content. The musical team does a great job running a YouTube channel, Instgram page- the works. So you can immerse yourself even after the show. They even have an Insta page for the houseplant in the show, HwaBoon.
  5. Outrageously cool set design. The sliding mechanisms to create physical visual aperture is so cool. Though I can see how technical difficulties would plague this show, it doesn't seem easy to maintain.
  6. A philosophical viewpoint without preaching. The musical tows a fine line where it clearly espouses a viewpoint on life but respects the audience enough to let them interpret it how they want.

Spoilers ahead

I unfortunately can't explain my favorite part without spoiling the plot. If you have the chance to see it live in NYC, please go do so at your nearest convenience.

I know this will be inaccessible to many people though. So as an alternative before they release pro-cam footage to view online, at least for now there's a YouTube video called "two robots fall in love in jeju island the musical" with a shakycam bootleg recording. I'm only telling you this to motivate you to see it in person though! I promise you it's worth it.

Oh hey it's our buddy existentialism

I'll admit it's been a while since I've studied philosophy, but the show's themes remind me of existentialist thinking. At its core, existentialism is a movement that posits "existence precedes essence" - that people are born without a predetermined purpose and must create their own meaning in an absurd universe.

The helperbots are literally programmed with a purpose, but once that purpose is revealed to be obsolete they must define their own. This leads them to both joy and suffering, but as Oliver's choice to retain his memories demonstrates, the journey itself is what's worthwhile even when you know it's fleeting.

For a long time I struggled with relationships because I knew they would one day end in tragedy. Why bother with love knowing that? It took a lot of personal growth for me to overcome this thought and choose to be happy with the present, despite its transience.

Oliver's decision got me emotionally worked up because it speaks to the difficult choice we make every day as we proceed in an increasingly absurd world filled with unlimited information and painfully limited capability.

Oh and it's a super cute demonstration of love & devotion. I'm pretty sure that's what made everyone else cry, probably not French philosophy.

Art must be found

Watching Maybe Happy Ending reminds me how important it is to seek out art. As my blogposts suggest, I often focus too much on feeding my brain and not my soul, which I'm still working on.

Anyway, I hope you get a chance to watch it in person and enjoy it as much as I do!