Renegades | Darren Criss & Helen J Shen Tackle Finding Love as a Robot
The co-stars of Broadway's "Maybe Happy Ending" talk to us about their unique experience telegraphing human emotions through their robot characters
Welcome to Renegades, Gold House’s newsletter series spotlighting Asian Pacific leaders and creatives who are carving their own paths and defying stereotypes along the way. This week features Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Darren Criss & Helen J Shen, co-stars of Broadway’s Maybe Happy Ending. Maybe Happy Ending is the offbeat and captivating story of two outcast robots near the end of their warranty who discover that even robots can be swept off their feet.
Helmed by visionary director and Tony Award winner Michael Arden, with lyrics by the internationally acclaimed duo Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending is a fresh, original musical about the small things that make any life worth living. Darren and Helen talk to us about their journeys through the world of theatre, what originally drew them to the role, and the nuances of playing robots in front of a live audience. Get tickets to Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway now!
What did you want to be when you were growing up and how does that compare to where you are now?
Helen: I wanted to be a singer growing up, and now I get to sing for my job. I kind of feel like I won the lottery.
Darren: I’m very fortunate that I have always known what I wanted to do. Because of that, I feel like I haven’t spent a day of my life that wasn’t working towards that. Most of my young life was very targeted to be working as a performing artist in some kind of professional space. So it wasn’t something that I fell into, it was a sight I set. And I would like to think that my younger self would be pleased! It’s exactly what we worked towards.
Your new Broadway show Maybe Happy Ending is an incredibly unique musical about two “helper” robots who fall in love in the not-so-distant future. How did you first come across the project and what pieces of this one-act musical attracted you most to the role?
Helen: I was sent a request from my agents to do a self-tape of the Maybe Happy Ending material. Then after I sent it, I got a request to come in to do a chemistry read with Darren Criss. The day after the chemistry read, I found out I got the job. I was most drawn to the music initially. The lyrics were so specific and evocative, and the music beautifully supported the imagery. I was enamored and hungry to sink my teeth into the material.
Darren: I’ll say the number one thing about this show, before really knowing anything about it, was Michael Arden. Michael Arden is a visionary force: I’ve been friends with him far longer than I’ve had professional relations with him because of our own personal lives. Getting the opportunity to work with him was something that I always kind of hoped would present itself as an opportunity.
Jeffrey Richards is also a lead producer on this, who I did American Buffalo with and who I’m very fond of. Having those two men believe in a new project like this says something about the material itself, because both gentlemen could do anything they want. The fact that they were doing something like this, a producorial risk because it’s brand new, it’s a harder thing to put together. That actually makes my ears perk up because I go, “Wow, if these two guys want to do it then there must be something special going on.”
What was the most challenging part of playing the role of a robot that conveys human emotions in front of a live audience? Were there any new performance tips or tricks you and your co-star picked up or ideated along the way?
Helen: Knowing how Claire (a model 5) functions, as opposed to her counterpart Oliver (a model 3), as well as how she interacts with her human owners, was a great starting point to understand the nuance of "robot acting", or lack thereof. What actually has become fun and challenging is maintaining some of the same line readings tonally, while still keeping the lines fresh and not going monotonous or predictable to a new audience's ear.
Darren: One of the great ironies about the performance choice of this piece is that you can’t be a human being; there are a lot of really big emotions happening, but it's the one thing we can't really do. You can't emote to the level that a human being would, because that would be directly against the characterization of what we're experiencing. The only people in the room that are allowed to feel that catharsis is the audience, because the people on stage can't. So you have to reprogram your brain accordingly, everything is telegraphed on the surface, facial expressions, physicality, a lot of the things that are happening to these people, you can read on the outside, just like an animated movie.
Darren, over the course of your decorated career, you’ve performed across both the silver screen and the theater stage, having starred in television phenomena such as Glee and American Horror Story, as well as acclaimed stage productions such as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. As a performer, have you started to form a preference for one medium over the other? Are there other performance mediums you’re eager to try next?
Darren: I think it always comes down to the story and the character. Working as an actor is such a ludicrous life choice already, that getting to work at all is always the preference. To have any job at all is such a blessing. The next job is certainly never guaranteed. So just working at all to tell stories, which is something I'm so passionate. I've been lucky enough to be able to hang out in a few of the different avenues that are available for that passion. But I think just by nature of it, being my first love and experience, theater is the sort of de facto, quote, unquote, preference. But it isn't that black and white!
Helen, with a long background in the arts, having studied the piano very seriously from quite a young age, you eventually pivoted to theatre by the time you got to college and went on to act Off-Broadway last spring in the ensemble cast of Michael R. Jackson musical Teeth. What was the primary driver of that career switch for you?
Helen: The main pull I felt towards theater was collaboration. I loved playing piano and loved the feeling of painting a picture, telling a story with the music, but I craved doing those things with other people. Every time I got to closing night of a musical that would only play for one weekend as a kid, I felt some kind of magic. I've been chasing that high ever since. I was really inspired by Lea Salonga, specifically in the 10th anniversary concert of Les Mis that played on PBS Great Performances every so often. Her ease and grace as Eponine became a beacon of possibility for me.
When speaking about his Broadway show Yellow Face, actor and activist Daniel Dae Kim recently said “It’s not often that we see an Asian American play on Broadway told in such a deftly skillful way.” Maybe Happy Ending was not only co-written by South Korean playwright, Hue Park, but it also debuted in South Korea under the direction of Kim Dong-yeon. As an Asian American performer, do you feel the theater world in the U.S. is making progress in terms of showcasing diverse characters, stories, and themes?
Helen: I feel that we are absolutely making huge strides in the theater world to showcase diverse characters and stories. I also feel that there is still a breadth of diversity to still discover. I'm excited about the fact that Maybe Happy Ending spotlights nuanced, flawed, painfully human characters that also happen to be Asian and have Asian features. That kind of visual and physical representation is everything to me. It is not lost on me that I stand on the shoulders of countless trailblazing, talented, unbelievable Asian artists. I hope I can provide beacons of possibility for others hoping to pursue art as well. If Maybe Happy Ending can add to an ever-expanding canon of Asian American theater, we have already won a million times over.
Darren: Just the fact that this is a question being asked is, I think, indicative of a more common place, more understood awareness of the importance of representation in general, across the board, for all peoples and backgrounds and stories. It's something that I think we've taken a wonderful, newly invigorated consideration of in the past 10 years, and it has directly affected the stories we tell and the people who tell them, and it's exciting. We have folks from all over the Asian diaspora, involved in the show, and it's a really cool thing to be part of that. But it's not what makes the show specifically singular and interesting: it's a wonderful ingredient, and there's such marvelous representation, but what makes the story so exquisite and enduring is its universal human themes, just like anything else.
I'm excited that there is even an example of a show that was created in South Korea that can come to Broadway, which is the highest commercial form of theater that can exist in the United States. That's exciting. I've never really heard of that before. And maybe this is the beginning of a future of many shows being kind of fed through a new pipeline of Korean arts and culture.
The performing arts can be a challenging world for aspiring artists to break into. What advice might you offer to those looking to get their start?
Helen: Keep pursuing your most authentic self. That journey is lifelong, and actually harder than one might think. It's easy to look sideways and compare, or look at someone's career and just try to emulate it. The feeling of "making it" is so nebulous and complicated, but the times that I have felt my sense of purpose align with my actions are when I feel like I'm pursuing my most authentic truth. The world doesn't need another fill-in-the-blank-artist, the world needs YOU.
Darren: My one thing that I could say that hopefully could apply to everybody is to just open your mind to as much art as possible along the way. Especially if you're a student, you get a student ID, presumably, that's your key card to getting discounts for as much art that you'll ever get in your life. You know, watching film, seeing plays, reading plays, going to concerts, going to the symphony, hearing about some weird of. You know, type of art you've never heard of before.
What are you most excited for audience-goers to see in the show?
Helen: I'm most excited for audience-goers to experience a completely new story maybe for the first time in a very long time. It's rare that Broadway embraces a new story that is not based on a book, movie, or is a revival of some sort. As the theater community, we have to champion new, original ideas, and be cheerleaders for new perspectives. I just feel proud to have a part in bringing Will Aronson and Hue Park's poignant and powerful story to new audiences.
Darren: Well, if you don’t know anything about Broadway, you're in luck, because you don't need to know anything about Broadway or theater to hopefully enjoy this show. I can safely say categorically that this is unlike anything I've ever seen, and I think a lot of people coming to see it will feel the same way, and that's really exciting, because they have nothing to compare it to. They're not encumbered by previous experiences, unless they know the show very well from Korea. So that would be the one caveat to that. Other than that, this is a very new thing, and that's exciting on Broadway.
Lightning Round
Morning Routine
Darren: One routine: just caffeinating, man.
Helen: Coffee, gratitude journal, maybe some pilates to get the body moving, and a high protein breakfast. I love an egg or two. Soft scrambled, please.
Hidden Talent
Darren: I can, like, name songs very quickly,
Helen: I love to crochet.
Comfort Movie
Darren: A comfort movie is like those rainy days when you're not leaving the house and you have free time, and you just turn on the TV, and this happened to an entire generation of people, which is why it's such a huge hit. But you just turn the TV on and it's like the beginning of Shawshank Redemption, and you're just like, “Hell, yeah, that's my day. I'm gonna watch Andy Dufresne go through this little journey.”
Helen: The Chronicles of Narnia 2: Prince Caspian
Favorite Song from a Musical
Helen: “Arlington Hill” from Passing Strange
Darren: There's too many songs. There's not one singular thing that makes my robot wiring glitch out.