‘Maybe Happy Ending’ Is The Most Original, Most Beautiful Musical In Eons

They're wary at first, because neither robot has ever known—much less kissed—another robot, but as Oliver and Claire get to know each other, he teaches her to appreciate the sophistication of jazz, she shares with him her love for fireflies, and they join forces on a journey to reconnect with their original owners because Oliver feels it will help him regain his purpose since that is what he was constructed for. It is Claire who is wiser but leaving the world sooner than she planned. They come equipped with innovative devices such as paper cup phones, hard drives and passwords. But the more human they become, the closer they come to feelings of pain, loss and love. "Everything must end eventually," sings Claire in one of the score's most haunting and memorable songs, "living with people has taught this to me." It is best to say nothing more about the plot. Going through the discovery of what happens next is one of the show's most heartbreaking take-home rewards. Nothing is what they hoped for, but they find something better in each other. Maybe love will help them survive, without wi-fi.

From this inept outline, I can only tell you how impossible it is to relate the freshness, the joy and the quality that elevate every aspect of this extraordinary work of theatre artistry. While the rapturous music and lyrics by the team of Will Aronson and Hue Park break your heart, the dazzling direction by Michael Arden reaches levels of perfection in staging and the technical marvels in the settings by Dane Laffrey leave you slack-jawed with awe. There is nothing familiar, no "seen it before" feeling to the action sequences that unfold within moveable neon squares that open, narrow or expand, depending on the size and stature of the scene. The unseen orchestra is conducted from a pair of television sets attached to the balcony. And to me, the gorgeous arrangements are a rapture to hear—lush and thrilling and a beatific antidote to the usual noisy rock and roll pandemonium that pollutes so many of today's juke box musicals.

Best of all, in addition to Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, the two terrific leads, this show introduces a fellow from Shreveport, Louisiana named Dez Deron making his Broadway debut as a swinging headliner named Gil Brently from the big band era who opens and closes the show with a vocal style that moves the action in stanzas that illustrate the popular music that shaped the era in which the Helperbots lived up to their names and reputations. This musical marvel has got it all. He's movie-star handsome, he croons like a knockout combination of Vic Damone and Mel Torme, and I can't wait to hear him headline in a chic supper club or intimate jazz watering hole ASAP. Like everything else in Maybe Happy Ending, he is merely sensational. I love this show and cannot wait to see it again—and often.