The producers of “Maybe Happy Ending” have announced that the musical will soon become the longest-running production to ever play the Belasco Theatre. On July 7, “Maybe Happy Ending” will play its 688th performance at the Belasco, surpassing the record of 687 performances previously held by the 1935 play “Dead End.” By July 7, “Maybe Happy Ending” will have been running for one year, eight months and 21 days.
To celebrate the milestone, “Maybe Happy Ending” will hold a fan event during the 7 p.m. performance on July 7. Audience members will receive giveaways, and are invited to participate in photo opportunities and a post-curtain call sing-along/Q&A session with the cast.
Written by Will Aronson and Hue Park, “Maybe Happy Ending” had its 2016 world premiere in Seoul, South Korea, followed by a U.S. premiere, directed by Michael Arden, at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta during its 2019-2020 season. The Broadway production, also helmed by Arden, officially opened at the Belasco on Nov. 12, 2024. “Maybe Happy Ending” was nominated for 10 Tony Awards that season, winning six, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical for Arden.
“Dead End” holds the current record for longest-running production at the Belasco. The play, by Sidney Kingsley, opened on Oct. 28, 1935, at what was then called the Stuyvesant Theatre. Producer, theater owner and operator David Belasco opened the Stuyvesant in 1907; Belasco renamed the venue for himself in 1910. “Dead End” depicts a group of boys growing up on the streets of Depression-era New York City. It ran through June 12, 1937, totalling 687 performances.
At the time, it was only the third play in the theater’s history to run for over a year. The first was Victor Mapes and Winchell Smith’s “The Boomerang,” which played 522 performances from Aug. 10, 1915, through an unknown date in November 1916, and the second was André Picard’s “Kiki,” which played 600 performances from Nov. 29, 1921, through May 5, 1923.
Prior to “Maybe Happy Ending,” only seven shows had run for over a year at the Belasco: the three aforementioned plays as well as the original Broadway production of the play “Lulu Belle,” which ran from Feb. 9, 1926, through March 19, 1927 (461 performances), the 1946 revival of the play “Burlesque,” which ran from Dec. 25, 1946, through Jan. 10, 1948 (439 performances), the Fats Waller revue “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” which ran from Jan. 26, 1981, through Feb. 21, 1982, and the original Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” which ran from April 22, 2014, through Sept. 13, 2015 (507 performances).
The Belasco has historically been home to limited engagements, including, in recent years, “Good Night, Oscar” and “Appropriate.”
The current cast of “Maybe Happy Ending” stars new cast members Hannah Kevitt and Zachary Noah Piser, along with original cast members Marcus Choi and Dez Duron. A national tour is also planned for this year, launching at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre on September 13.
