“Possibly Glad Ending” had a really sad starting.
The present’s triumph at Sunday evening’s Tony Awards, the place it received six honors, together with greatest new musical, capped a exceptional turnaround for a small manufacturing with a baffling title and a hard-to-sell premise that was seen by business 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 group 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this present would even open,” stated its star, Darren Criss, who received his first Tony for taking part in Oliver, an outdated helperbot who strikes up a life-changing (effectively, shelf-life-changing) relationship with a robotic throughout the corridor. Criss, an Emmy winner (for “American Crime Story”) and “Glee” alumnus, can be a member of the present’s producing group.
“We didn’t have the luxurious to dream a few situation like this,” he stated. “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 have 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,” stated Allan Williams, the present’s government producer.
The manufacturing quickly laid off staff, refunded tickets for the month of canceled performances and contended with a TikTok theater influencer’s suggestion that the musical might not open.
“Folks began texting me with sympathy,” stated 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 lots of traders due to that TikTok,” Arnold stated. “No investor needs to put in writing a verify 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 bought 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 by means of previews. Weekly grosses have been beneath $300,000, which is effectively 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: Easy methods to describe a present with simply 4 actors, two of them taking part in 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, ‘Nicely there are these two robots, in a not-so-far-future Seoul, South Korea,’ persons are similar to, ‘This doesn’t sound like a musical to me,’” Arnold stated.
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 simple promote.” Shen stated her most well-liked argument for the present was “Simply belief me.”
“It’s like describing a brand new shade,” she stated. “We didn’t know how you can describe this piece to individuals.”
Those that did see the present have been moved by it, they usually began telling others. “I feel individuals preferred with the ability to share a secret,” Arden stated.
The present opened on Nov. 12, and the opinions by critics were overwhelmingly positive. “Ravishing,” wrote The New York Times. “A darling gem,” declared The Washington Post.
However nonetheless, doubt remained. Broadway is a failure-prone business, and reveals can crash shortly — in late 2022, the musical “KPOP” closed just two weeks after opening and final yr, the musical “Tammy Faye” lasted just three weeks post-opening.
“We left city the morning after opening evening, and we stated these very emotional goodbyes to everybody as a result of we thought it was going to be a really brief run,” stated Will Aronson, who wrote “Possibly Glad Ending” with Hue Park.
The producers, heartened by word-of-mouth and the opinions, raised one other $1.75 million to advertise the present. A turnabout started. “It merely constructed incrementally,” Arnold stated. “We have been burning lots of money. However we may see that on-line sentiment was altering, gross sales patterns have 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 bought out for the reason that Tony nominations have 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 inconceivable for brand new musicals to earn money in New York — over the previous three seasons, solely “& Juliet” has accomplished so. However the Tony Awards ought to assist: There are often theatergoers who need 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 group — Aronson is from the US and Park is from South Korea. They’ve labored in each international locations and each languages.
Park had the concept turned “Possibly Glad Ending” whereas sitting in a Brooklyn espresso store in 2014. He heard the track “Everyday Robots” and began musing concerning the interaction between expertise, isolation and connectedness.
The present’s first industrial manufacturing was in Seoul in 2016; later that yr, the writers offered the English-language model in New York, the place Richards noticed it. He has watched lots of reveals throughout greater than 50 years engaged on Broadway, and captivated by what he thought-about this one’s “sheer inventiveness,” he acquired the industrial rights.
The musical was on its method. 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 Realized From Folks” and that includes solely three actors, received the Richard Rodgers Award, which helps the event of latest musicals.
Richards set about serving to to assemble a artistic group, 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 in the end life affirming.”
The present’s American premiere, directed by Arden, was in early 2020 on the Alliance Theater in Atlanta; The Atlanta Journal-Structure called it “dazzling,” and the Occasions critic Jesse Inexperienced called it “Broadway-ready.” Richards had hoped to deliver it to Broadway the subsequent season, however then got here the coronavirus pandemic.
By the point theaters started to reopen, the momentum had been misplaced, traders have been in excessive demand and theaters have been booked. “We had to return to the start,” Richards stated.
However there have been constructive 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 homeowners 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 ground), and was unable to seek out one for a number of seasons. However lastly, final fall, the Belasco turned accessible.
The area labored, and in addition has a compelling historical past. Richards famous that in 1960, a poorly reviewed play referred to as “All of the Means Dwelling” had a near-closing expertise there and rebounded, incomes it the nickname “The Miracle on forty fourth Avenue.” Now, Richards stated, “We’re the Twenty first-century miracle on forty fourth Avenue.”
Simply earlier than 2 a.m. Monday, the present’s Tony winners have been nonetheless cradling their silver statuettes as they posed for photos with well-wishers in an open-air eating room, celebrating how absolutely the awards voters had embraced their present’s fundamentals — it received for its rating, its ebook, its scenic design and its path.
“You can really feel the business get behind it as a result of it’s precisely the sort of theater that everyone on this enterprise needs,” stated Dane Laffrey, the scenic designer. “It’s heartfelt, it’s authentic, it’s modern — it’s all the issues which are scary and are dangerous however in the end carry essentially the most reward for those who can keep the course.”
