Darren Criss, who parlayed a breakout position on “Glee” right into a multifaceted profession in tv, theater and music, will return to Broadway this fall in a brand new musical that is nominally about robots but additionally about life, love and loss.
The present, “Possibly Pleased Ending,” is a rarity on Broadway: a completely unique musical, not tailored from a pre-existing story or music catalog. Criss will star alongside Helen J Shen and two different actors within the musical, which is about in Seoul on the finish of the twenty first century and is about two old school helper robots who meet at a robotic retirement dwelling and forge a relationship whereas fighting their very own obsolescence.
The musical, by Will Aronson and Hue Park, had an preliminary Korean-language manufacturing in Seoul in 2016, and an English-language manufacturing in Atlanta on the Alliance Theater in 2020, the place New York Instances chief theater critic Jesse Inexperienced. , referred to as it “a captivating, Broadway-ready new musical about robots in love.”
The Broadway manufacturing, introduced Tuesday, will likely be directed by Michael Arden, who additionally directed the Atlanta manufacturing and who final 12 months gained a Tony Award for guiding a revival of “Parade.” “Possibly Pleased Ending” is scheduled to start previews on September 18 and premiere October 17 on the Belasco Theater.
“It is a unusual, futuristic have a look at love, with an attractive rating that feels fairly classical,” Arden stated in a telephone interview. “Once I first learn it, I discovered it completely devastating, heartbreaking and delightful; it was one of the crucial human tales I’ve ever encountered, although our protagonists aren’t human.”
Criss, an Emmy winner for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” final appeared on Broadway in a 2022 revival of “American Buffalo”; He had beforehand starred in “Hedwig and the Offended Inch” and “Methods to Achieve Enterprise With out Actually Attempting.”
“Possibly Pleased Ending” would be the first Broadway present for Shen, who’s presently in “The Lonely Few” at Off Broadway’s MCC Theatre. Criss and Shen will play the robots; The solid may even embrace former “The Voice” contestant Dez Duron.
“Possibly Pleased Ending” will likely be capitalized for $18.25 million, in keeping with a doc filed with the Securities and Trade Fee.
The musical’s lead producers are Jeffrey Richards and Hunter Arnold, who on Friday introduced that also they are among the many producers of a brand new Off Broadway play, “N/A,” starring Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe. That play, written by Mario Correa and directed by Diane Paulus, will start previews June 11 and premiere June 23 on the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre. The play, described in a press launch as impressed by actual folks and occasions, offers with the tensions between the primary feminine speaker of the Home and the youngest girl elected to Congress; the characters have parallels to Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
