“Possibly Glad Ending” had a really sad starting.
The present’s triumph at Sunday evening’s Tony Awards, the place it gained six honors, together with finest new musical, capped a exceptional turnaround for a small manufacturing with a baffling title and a hard-to-sell premise that was seen by trade insiders as lifeless on arrival when it started previews final fall.
However within the wee hours of Monday morning, because the quirky present’s performers and producers partied with their artistic staff and traders on the Bryant Park Grill, the celebrants lastly allowed themselves to acknowledge that their against-all-odds present is breaking although.
“We didn’t know if this present would even open,” mentioned its star, Darren Criss, who gained his first Tony for taking part in Oliver, an outdated helperbot who strikes up a life-changing (properly, shelf-life-changing) relationship with a robotic throughout the corridor. Criss, an Emmy winner (for “American Crime Story”) and “Glee” alumnus, can also be a member of the present’s producing staff.
“We didn’t have the luxurious to dream a couple of situation like this,” he mentioned. “This was undoubtedly the little present that might.”
How unhealthy did issues get? Final summer time, the present’s lead producers, Jeffrey Richards and Hunter Arnold, postponed the primary efficiency by a month, citing provide chain points, which the producers insist had been actual (there was a delay within the availability of digital video tiles from China), however which many thought was a canopy story to cover monetary issues.
“They put a fork in us,” mentioned Allan Williams, the present’s government producer.
The manufacturing briefly laid off employees, refunded tickets for the month of canceled performances and contended with a TikTok theater influencer’s suggestion that the musical may not open.
“Folks began texting me with sympathy,” mentioned Helen J Shen, Criss’s co-star, who performs a later-model robotic named Claire. “We by no means actually felt safe.”
A few of these anticipated to assist finance the present started peeling away, not wanting to place their cash right into a sinking ship.
“We misplaced loads of traders due to that TikTok,” Arnold mentioned. “No investor desires to put in writing a test and suppose that they’re not even going to get to see the present.”
By the point “Possibly Glad Ending” lastly began previews on Oct. 16, it had offered simply $450,000 price of tickets — woefully low for a brand new Broadway musical.
“Possibly Glad Ending,” which didn’t end elevating its $16 million capitalization till the week of its opening evening, hemorrhaged cash via previews. Weekly grosses had been beneath $300,000, which is properly beneath the present’s $765,000 weekly operating prices. The 973-seat Belasco Theater was about 20 % empty. By the fourth week of performances, the present’s common ticket worth had dropped to a disastrously low $45, partly as a result of the producers determined to supply all tickets for between $30 and $69 in a calculated, but in addition determined, effort to get seats stuffed and construct word-of-mouth.
Then there was an enormous advertising and marketing problem: Find out how to describe a present with simply 4 actors, two of them enjoying robots, that poignantly explores isolation, reminiscence and love. The music is a mixture of indie pop, American jazz and Broadway, and the design is a slowly unfolding spectacle that makes use of automation and projections to advance the storytelling.
“Each time you attempt to clarify, ‘Effectively there are these two robots, in a not-so-far-future Seoul, South Korea,’ individuals are identical to, ‘This doesn’t sound like a musical to me,’” Arnold mentioned.
The present’s personal web site doesn’t use the phrase “robotic” when explaining what it’s about. The director, Michael Arden, referred to as the musical “a mild, contemplative piece, in some ways, which isn’t a straightforward promote.” Shen mentioned her most well-liked argument for the present was “Simply belief me.”
“It’s like describing a brand new shade,” she mentioned. “We didn’t know how one can describe this piece to individuals.”
Those that did see the present had been moved by it, and so they began telling others. “I believe individuals favored with the ability to share a secret,” Arden mentioned.
The present opened on Nov. 12, and the evaluations by critics had been overwhelmingly optimistic. “Ravishing,” wrote The New York Instances. “A darling gem,” declared The Washington Submit.
However nonetheless, doubt remained. Broadway is a failure-prone trade, and exhibits can crash shortly — in late 2022, the musical “KPOP” closed simply two weeks after opening and final 12 months, the musical “Tammy Faye” lasted simply three weeks post-opening.
“We left city the morning after opening evening, and we mentioned these very emotional goodbyes to everybody as a result of we thought it was going to be a really brief run,” mentioned Will Aronson, who wrote “Possibly Glad Ending” with Hue Park.
The producers, heartened by word-of-mouth and the evaluations, raised one other $1.75 million to advertise the present. A turnabout started. “It merely constructed incrementally,” Arnold mentioned. “We had been burning loads of money. However we may see that on-line sentiment was altering, gross sales patterns had been altering.”
The week after opening, the present grossed $591,000. Over the Christmas vacation, it had its first $1 million week, and since then its grosses have exceeded its operating prices most weeks. And the present has been mainly offered out because the Tony nominations had been introduced in early Might.
It’s nonetheless not clear if the present will flip a revenue on Broadway. Rising manufacturing prices have made it almost unimaginable for brand spanking new musicals to generate profits in New York — over the previous three seasons, solely “& Juliet” has carried out so. However the Tony Awards ought to assist: There are normally theatergoers who wish to see the perfect musical winner.
“Possibly Glad Ending” has an uncommon historical past. Aronson and Park, who made their Broadway debuts with the present, are a binational songwriting staff — Aronson is from the USA and Park is from South Korea. They’ve labored in each international locations and each languages.
Park had the concept that grew to become “Possibly Glad Ending” whereas sitting in a Brooklyn espresso store in 2014. He heard the tune “On a regular basis Robots” and began musing concerning the interaction between know-how, isolation and connectedness.
The present’s first business manufacturing was in Seoul in 2016; later that 12 months, the writers introduced the English-language model in New York, the place Richards noticed it. He has watched loads of exhibits throughout greater than 50 years engaged on Broadway, and captivated by what he thought of this one’s “sheer inventiveness,” he acquired the business rights.
The musical was on its approach. The Korean manufacturing was profitable, and has had a number of runs. There have been additionally productions in Japan and China. In 2017 the English model, then referred to as “What I Discovered From Folks” and that includes solely three actors, gained the Richard Rodgers Award, which helps the event of latest musicals.
Richards set about serving to to assemble a artistic staff, holding workshops and elevating cash. Arden signed on in 2018, telling Richards in an e-mail that he discovered the fabric “devastating and exquisite and finally life affirming.”
The present’s American premiere, directed by Arden, was in early 2020 on the Alliance Theater in Atlanta; The Atlanta Journal-Structure referred to as it “dazzling,” and the Instances critic Jesse Inexperienced referred to as it “Broadway-ready.” Richards had hoped to convey it to Broadway the following season, however then got here the coronavirus pandemic.
By the point theaters started to reopen, the momentum had been misplaced, traders had been in excessive demand and theaters had been booked. “We had to return to the start,” Richards mentioned.
However there have been optimistic developments too. Criss, performing in a manufacturing of “American Buffalo” that Richards produced, agreed to do “Possibly Glad Ending,” and his participation inspired each theater house owners and traders.
“Possibly Glad Ending” wanted a theater with a small home (the present is small-scale) and an enormous stage (the set is elaborate, and desires an elevator beneath its flooring), and was unable to seek out one for a number of seasons. However lastly, final fall, the Belasco grew to become out there.
The area labored, and likewise has a compelling historical past. Richards famous that in 1960, a poorly reviewed play referred to as “All of the Manner House” had a near-closing expertise there and rebounded, incomes it the nickname “The Miracle on forty fourth Avenue.” Now, Richards mentioned, “We’re the Twenty first-century miracle on forty fourth Avenue.”
Simply earlier than 2 a.m. Monday, the present’s Tony winners had been nonetheless cradling their silver statuettes as they posed for footage with well-wishers in an open-air eating room, celebrating how totally the awards voters had embraced their present’s fundamentals — it gained for its rating, its ebook, its scenic design and its course.
“You could possibly really feel the trade get behind it as a result of it’s precisely the type of theater that everyone on this enterprise desires,” mentioned Dane Laffrey, the scenic designer. “It’s heartfelt, it’s unique, it’s progressive — it’s all the issues which are scary and are dangerous however finally carry probably the most reward in the event you can keep the course.”
