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2024 Broadway
Maybe Happy Ending the Musical - SYNOPSIS
Oliver, a male Helperbot-3 model, powers on in his apartment in Helperbot Yards, a living facility in Seoul for retired Helperbots. He greets his potted plant HwaBoon and begins his daily routine while listening to a song by jazz singer Gil Brentley ("Why Love?"). Oliver goes through the cycle of listening to music, caring for HwaBoon, and receiving his regular Jazz Monthly magazine and replacement parts, all while awaiting the return of his owner James ("World Within My Room"). One day Claire, a female Helperbot-5 model and one of his neighbors, knocks on his door to ask for help as her charger is broken. Oliver reluctantly gives her his charger, but insults her by bragging about the superior durability of the Helperbot-3s to the newer Helperbot-5s. Offended, Claire goes back to her room to attempt to fix her charger herself, to little success. She reaches out to her friends but they are unable to help due to their own maintenance issues ("The Way That It Has to Be"). Eventually, Oliver offers to let her use his charger if she sticks to a fixed schedule of picking it up and returning it. Claire agrees, and the exchange becomes a routine for the two of them ("Charger Exchange Ballet"). One day, Claire is late to pick up the charger, prompting a worried Oliver to go to her apartment to check on her. Claire reveals she has jerry-rigged an external power supply to charge her, and thus no longer needs Oliver's charger. He leaves, denying any concern and claiming he is thankful that he will not have to deal with her anymore. Claire runs a diagnostic and learns that her battery life is failing. Later, she visits Oliver's place to thank him and discovers he has been collecting money through bottle deposits so that he can travel to Jeju Island to reunite with James ("Where You Belong"). Claire expresses interest in also going to Jeju Island, as it is one of the few places left in the world to see fireflies. She proposes they go together using her car. Oliver accepts and they prepare for their trip ("Hitting the Road, Part 1", "Goodbye, My Room", "Hitting the Road, Part 2"). As it is illegal for retired Helperbots to go out in public on their own, they plan to pretend they are a human couple on holiday, and come up with a believable story of how they first met ("The Rainy Day We Met"). The situation reminds Claire of her owners, the married couple Jiyeon and Suhan.
Claire starts to run out of battery as they drive to the ferry so they stop to charge at a motel, which turns out to be a love hotel. The pair book a room for the night without being discovered, despite awkward conversations with the motel owner and another guest ("Jenny"). While in the room they bond over watching the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day and mocking its depiction of robots ("How to Be Not Alone"). While Oliver is powered down, Claire accesses his memories, learning that James' move to Jeju Island was meant to be permanent, as was his leaving Oliver, and that James had avoided telling Oliver the truth for fear of hurting him. The following day, they set off once again. While on the road, Claire tells Oliver to promise that he won't fall in love with her ("Hitting the Road, Part 3"). When they arrive at James' house on Jeju Island, Claire attempts to stop Oliver from entering, trying to warn him that James may have changed and will break Oliver's heart ("What I Learned From People"). She forces Oliver to view her own memories of Jiyeon leaving her: Jiyeon had gifted Claire her administrative password so that she could access a deleted memory, revealing Suhan had made a pass at Claire due to his insecurity over his lower social status to Jiyeon, leading to the breakdown of their marriage. As Oliver protests James is different, they are interrupted by the arrival of James' son, Junseo. Junseo explains James had actually passed away some years before, having moved to Jeju so he could be taken care of after he got sick: however, Junseo, resentful of Oliver for replacing him as James' son after his parents separated, forced James to leave Oliver behind. Junseo bitterly gives Oliver a Gil Brentley record, explaining James left it for him. Oliver despondently tells Claire she was right, but she points out James actually proved her wrong by leaving a gift for Oliver, showing he truly cared about him. Though upset, Oliver suggests they go see the fireflies like Claire wanted. They walk deeper and deeper into the forest, and slowly they start to appear ("Chasing Fireflies"). The two excitedly take in the sight and even manage to catch one, which they put into a jar ("Never Fly Away").
They return to Seoul but feel something is different between them ("A Sentimental Person"). They can't stop thinking about each other and slowly realize that they've fallen in love with each other ("When You're in Love"). They quickly admit their feelings and share a kiss ("Touch Sequence (Instrumental)"). Afterwards, they spend many happy days together holding hands while charging and trying to do what they think a human couple would do, even attempting to have a fight ("Then I Can Let You Go"). Over time, however, it becomes clear that Claire's body is starting to fail her more, with her battery life continuing to drain. Claire tells Oliver she only has at most a year of functionality left, and Oliver admits due to his durability he has much longer. Hoping to spare each other the hurt, they attempt to end their relationship, but cannot stop thinking of each other ("Goodbye, My Room (Reprise)"). One day, Junseo visits Oliver, requesting some good memories of his father. While loading the memories onto a drive, the two talk about the importance of sharing happy memories with loved ones, which causes Oliver to realize he cannot simply forget Claire. Before leaving, Junseo gives Oliver his administrative password as a peace offering. With the both of them having their passwords, Oliver and Claire realize they are able to erase their memories of each other. They decide this is the best path for the both of them moving forward, but offer that it is not a tragic ending but a kind of happy ending as their experiences still occurred ("Maybe Happy Ending"). They both get rid of objects that would remind them of their past and seemingly erase their memories ("Memory Sequence (Instrumental)").
Sometime later, Oliver powers on in his apartment and greets HwaBoon before initiating his daily routine ("Why Love (Reprise)"). However, he is interrupted when Claire knocks on his door, asking to borrow his charger. He hesitantly lets her in and gives her the charger before whispering to HwaBoon, "Don't tell her." While Claire charges she makes conversation, repeating some of the prior things she had initially said to Oliver. He responds with his prior bragging about the superiority of Helperbot-3s to Helperbot-5s. After a moment, however, he admits to some advantages by listing the things Claire helped him with before. Touched, Claire asks if "it is going to be okay", to which Oliver responds that maybe it will ("Finale").
Review: Maybe Happy Ending the Musical Lyrics
Maybe Happy Ending the Musical Lyrics
SYNOPSIS
World Within My Room
The Way That It Has to Be
A Sentimental Reason
When You're In Love
Maybe Happy Ending
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