Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: James Seol of 'Maybe Happy Ending'

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Exclusive Interview: James Seol of 'Maybe Happy Ending' · The BSB Podcast

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  Tender, funny, and unexpectedly moving,
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  Maybe Happy Ending finds something extraordinary in the simplest human need
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  connection. The Tony Award winning musical takes audiences on
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  a charming journey through love,
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  loneliness, and the surprises that can make life feel a little less ordinary.
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  Today we're chatting with James Seol who is bringing this charming world
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  to life on the North American touring production of Maybe Happy Ending.
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  Thank you so much for being here,
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  James.
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  Thanks for having me, Brian. So excited to be here.
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  This is such an incredible show.
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  We were able to catch it in New York ~ the last time we went.
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  ~ and it's just one of those technical technological shows that is very astounding.
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  It's got a great message. But what was it about the show that initially drew
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  you to wanting to be part of Maybe Happy Ending?
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  I think the biggest part of it,
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  and especially in the tour form,
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  is that it's a show that features a predominantly AAPI cast.
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  And that is, you know,
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  for unfortunately, relatively uncommon for a Broadway musical,
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  commercial Broadway musical especially.
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  And so taking this particular show with that kind of representation across
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  the country was a big incentive for me,
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  big motivation to take part in this project.
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  And then it's just such a beautiful piece.
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  And it is, I think, ~ and I've said this before in other places,
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  but I think it is one of the best new musicals written within the last,
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  certainly within the last decade,
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  maybe even the last 20 years.
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  And the construction of it, the songs,
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  the integration of the book, lyrics,
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  and music, I mean, it is in every way a a perfect example of of a perfect musical.
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  And so there's that. And then of course the design team and the
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  way that the stagecraft. When I saw it in New York,
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  I mean it's it's thrilling. And so to just get to be a small part of
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  all of that together is just a thrill.
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  And so there's there's no way.
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  You know, I i I jumped at the opportunity to to be a part of it.
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  I
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  do think that something you said there that it definitely stands out about this show
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  is for months afterwards, I was talking about how technically advanced this show
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  felt. I mean, while it has a great story,
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  there's a lot of exploration of,
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  you know, kind of what love is and kind of grief and loss,
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  ~ which are all important. As a psychologist,
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  I'm like, yes, we need shows like that.
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  ~ but also
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  One hundred percent.
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  it's so you don't see a lot of shows that look like this either.
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  You know what I mean? When it comes to like how
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  Yeah.
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  the staging is and how it is. And like you said,
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  representation too. You don't see a lot of shows that have
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  Representation that maybe happy ending provides.
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  Yeah, on both fronts. I I think it's interesting to talk about the stagecraft too,
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  though, because you know, technology as far as set design and projection design
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  has advanced so exponentially.
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  I think, in my, you know, layman perspective of it all,
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  I'm obviously not you know adept at any of those particular skill sets.
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  So it it's it's the use of say projection and the use of
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  LED screens has just exploded on Broadway because I think it's just a
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  Great, another wonderful platform for those kinds of creatives to get
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  to explore and be able to expand on what they do.
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  I do think that the way that all of that stuff is integrated into the show
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  is very special and it's very unique.
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  It's not about showing off. It's not about,
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  and we certainly don't just rely on,
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  you know, a giant LED screen and that's all we've got.
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  You know, there's an integration of both like analog stage elements and
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  These technologically advanced stage elements.
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  And because the show is set a little bit in the future,
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  it all makes sense. And the way that the those components have been integrated,
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  I really think, and you know, I I I hesitate to use this word because
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  it gets thrown out so often, but it is brilliant bordering on genius,
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  how it it's all been it all is in service to the story,
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  and then it all integrates so beautifully together.
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  I know it sounds probably such like a small part,
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  but to I was geeking out after about the the way that the room boxes move
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  in and out, way the way the screens move.
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  Like it's just something so small and like but like it just it has such
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  a powerful effect to help tell the story and it's just so cool to watch,
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  you know?
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  Yeah, it's it's such a testament to our director and all the designers that there's
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  this I I read it somewhere, I'm stealing this from some review,
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  I think, but but this person commented on how the use of negative space
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  and and there's just
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  Yes.
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  such a thoughtful way of presenting and focusing in on on smaller moments like when
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  one of the helper bots is in their specific unit.
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  And then the moments where the the stage expands out and we get to see
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  a much larger picture. And that there's such intentionality behind the use
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  of all of that. And and I think,
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  you know, number one, testament to the skill of all the creatives and the director,
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  of course, Michael Arden and Dane Laffrey and and everyone on the the team.
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  ~ but also like it it connects to the heart
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  of the show in in a lot of ways too.
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  Yeah.
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  nothing there's just for show.
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  Sure,
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  everything has a purpose. And that is something that I love.
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  And it's something about the show,
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  too. When you talk about the kind of the heart of it,
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  you know, you mentioned about the helper bots.
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  There's, you the main story is about two helper bots,
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  but your characters, I think, are some of the most integral parts of the story.
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  And at least the ones that I felt myself really.
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  I hope so.
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  But but it's really like, I think it's one of the most ~ I think it was
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  the one I was connected to the most because I feel like your,
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  I mean, both of your characters,
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  and I'm gonna kind of have you dive into it a little bit,
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  it's just they are the ones that are kind of
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  catalyst for a lot that happens in the show.
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  So we'll we'll kind of start off with what is it like kind of playing
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  two different characters that are kind of at the different ends of
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  the spectrum when it comes to the story?
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  I am gonna add ~ a little bit to that.
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  I actually play more than two characters.
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  I play ~ like three or four other small parts.
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  But yes, primary of which are the characters James and Junseo James is Oliver,
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  help the helper one of the helper bots former owner,
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  and then Junseo is James's son.
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  So number one, I was having a conversation with Marcus Choi,
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  who plays the the the role on Broadway.
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  And he was saying he said something brilliant about how we're,
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  you know, because Helperbots don't cry in this show,
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  Sure.
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  you know,
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  they're technically unable to do that.
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  James and Junseo the human characters,
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  are sort of the proxy for the audience.
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  And so we get to have, I mean,
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  there's beautiful pathos for Oliver and Claire,
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  the the Helperbots. And it's it's a beautifully sort of rendered and resolved story.
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  But we get to sort of be the human component that that reacts in the sort
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  of typical traditional human emotional ways to to the to the to
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  the things that happen in the story.
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  So there's that that I love. And then this idea that I'm playing both
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  the father and the son in a relationship in a father-son relationship.
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  That was very appealing to me because this idea of trying to get
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  Into the why from both sides of what can be ~ you know,
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  and what typically is a very complicated relationship,
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  right? Father and son, parents and and children.
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  And so to be able to try to understand the why from the the parent perspective,
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  but also the why from the the child's perspective is just a really great,
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  it's a fun exploration. Has it been somewhat therapeutic even?
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  Is it
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  Yeah.
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  even therapeutic on a night-to-night basis?
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  One hundred percent.
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  I will say that I
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  think that it is some even from the audience,
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  it's very therapeutic. I think that as somebody who had
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  a complicated relationship with his dad,
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  you know, like I watched it and I was like,
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  yeah, like it's it's hard. It was like it was like hard to see,
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  but also important to see, you know,
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  of just like sometimes
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  Yeah.
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  we don't understand the motives of our dad or why they do things.
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  ~ but also the fact that you get to see him kind of heal from his dad's actions
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  and kind of get to understand it through
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  Yes.
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  Oliver and Claire kind of showing up is is truly
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  It is very cathartic, I think,
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  for the audience. So I
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  Yeah.
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  can only imagine how cathartic it is as as an actor on stage as well.
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  Yeah, and and the beginnings of healing.
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  Absolutely. By the time the show,
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  you know, things start to wrap up towards the end.
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  And it yeah, it's a it is a it is a wonderful.
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  I was saying this to a ~ a colleague last night too.
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  This is a testament to the quality of the writing,
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  that even though, you know, it's Oliver and Claire's story,
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  I'm like the B plot in a i in a way.
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  And what's what's so great though is that the writers
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  are so careful, not careful, excuse me,
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  thoughtful and and and intentional,
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  where they provide even these sort of smaller roles
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  a a satisfying resolution, a satisfying ~ to your point about,
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  you know, by the end we get a sense that there's some sort of beginnings of healing,
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  right? ~ a a
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  Yeah.
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  after after having experienced a very complicated relationship with
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  a parental figure.
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  And so yeah, the fact that, you know,
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  I get a little bit of a resolution or the beginnings of a resolution is really,
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  really gratifying as an actor.
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  Yeah, 'cause you don't always necessarily see that when it comes,
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  you know, especially 'cause it is a very focused story.
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  But then to be able to have
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  Yeah.
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  all these different pieces. I think what's brilliant about it is that it is
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  a such a tight cast, it's such a small cast that you do get to spend
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  so much time with so many people because there's only th at any time four of you,
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  five of you on s I think there's only four,
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  There's only there's only four of us.
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  correct? Yeah.
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  Although five
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  if you count Hwabun.
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  True. Well who who's just as important as the rest of that to the story?
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  One hundred percent, one hundred percent.
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  Has the biggest dressing room always.
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  yeah.
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  A little
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  bit of a Diva no.
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  Yeah, one
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  hundred percent. Just between the two of us and and all the listeners.
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  Yeah.
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  ~
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  but it's but that does you know,
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  when you have a show that's just under two hours and you get to only
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  you only have four people on stage,
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  you get to s really develop who everybody is and you get a sense of that there
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  is a lot of ~ that it's not just like a like a facade,
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  but it's actually like a lived in person,
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  you know?
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  Yeah, and and even at that relatively brisk time frame,
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  you know, a hundred minutes, I I still feel like it's a very satisfying show.
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  Meaning th there, you know,
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  the audience I I think walks away like satiated.
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  Do you know what I mean? Like as far as,
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  For sure.
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  ~ we not only got a story, but there's a lot of questions to sort of you know,
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  live with for the next, you know,
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  however many
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  days after to think about and consider based on what we experienced.
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  Yeah,
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  I think that one of the things that always stood with me is after is like
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  the how you choose to continue loving somebody when it gets difficult.
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  I don't want to give too much way I people to see the ending,
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  but there's some choices that maybe our helper bots have to make about just
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  Yeah.
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  like what happens when you still do you choose to continue loving somebody
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  and what is that like
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  Yeah.
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  and what does love kinda look like?
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  And I think that is something that s does stick with you,
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  besides everything else. I mean,
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  there's so many different themes in the show,
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  but that is one that definitely sits with you.
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  but that is such
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  that is such a big part of it.
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  And I I love that.
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  I love that it it is at its core a romantic musical comedy.
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  Beautifully written, beautifully constructed romantic musical comedy.
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  And so it inevitably,
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  or rather necessarily explores the romance and the euphoric
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  nature of what it means to be in love and the passion.
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  And it also raises these questions and tackles
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  and explores this idea that love is also hard.
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  Like, you know, no matter what kind of relationship you're in with someone,
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  it's going to end you know one way or another.
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  And so is it worth taking that leap?
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  That risk, knowing that it's going to be wonderful,
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  but also that it could be potentially painful and challenging.
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  So that is a that is a central thing that the show explores so beautifully,
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  without getting overly sentimental,
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  while also having lots of funny jokes and and humor
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  Yes.
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  and beautiful
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  Right.
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  music.
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  And ~ I've said this in other places too,
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  but it's worth it bears repeating.
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  My favorite thing, and this is why I love say Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown.
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  My favorite thing is when a show tune.
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  So a song that has to be integrated within a story,
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  lyrics have to be sophisticated,
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  but still, you know, relatively easy on the ear to be understood by
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  an audience for the first time hearing,
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  but also says something.
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  profound and deep and smart about what it is to be human.
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  And I yeah, I think that's why we love these the great composers,
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  right? The great lyricists, the great ~ musical theater writers,
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  because they they're able to do that.
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  And that's my favorite thing is to have a a showtune that can say something
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  so smart about life. And you know,
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  that's what this show has.
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  Yeah.
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  All the songs, all the songs, you know,
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  and I listen to a lot of them
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  All the songs.
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  because I'm backstage usually doing a quick change.
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  And I hear everything, you know,
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  over the speakers backstage.
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  You know, mention kind of bring going along the line of the quick change,
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  you mentioned that you play quite a few different parts in this show,
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  and as we kind of talked about,
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  what has been the biggest challenge of having to juggle quite a few?
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  And also at the same time, I know that you also played and come from away,
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  and so you also had to juggle quite a few different roles in that one.
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  Did that kind of prepare you for this one,
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  or is there kind of a challenge to step into this role having to juggle quite
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  a few different pieces?
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  I mean, in a way, yeah. I you know,
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  that show, Come From Away, was an amazing experience.
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  And it is these lightning quick shifts where you might put on a different hat or,
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  you know, just kind of shape your body in a in a slightly different way.
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  And and so, you know, on on the ~ quick turns,
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  right, into into a completely different character.
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  I I will say that, yeah, it's a challenge.
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  Like you know, rehearsals can sometimes be a little bit
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  messy because sometimes just you realize very quickly,
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  that's not gonna work. Yeah, that that was not a,
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  you know, I I took a swing, it didn't quite land.
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  Okay, fine.
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  Sure.
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  What else? What else is there?
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  And it's also my favorite part.
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  I I like, you know, it's a thing of like actors kind of wanting to show up.
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  That weird thing that actors do,
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  they like to show off in certain ways and and it is one of the ways that
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  I get to kind of show off ~ some kind of
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  Virtuosity, right? It's like how how quickly can I shift into the next character
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  and give an give the audience enough of some kind of vocal or physical shift where
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  they're willing to take the ride with me and suspend their disbelief and say,
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  Sure.
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  yeah,
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  even though it's the same actor,
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  obviously, there's enough there for me to,
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  as an audience member, say, that's a completely different person.
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  And figuring out what what those elements are is
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  is fun. It's the fun part of being an actor.
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  It it's the thing of being a little kid and,
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  you know, playing dress up and playing pretend and,
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  you know,
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  Sure.
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  putting on the bed bed spread sheet and it's a cape,
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  you know.
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  I think that again, maybe Happy Ending does it so well where when I
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  saw it on Broadway, you don't almost notice that one person's playing
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  so many different pieces, you know.
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  Like I said, I even forgot to add the others earlier and others earlier.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  So like because
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  you almost you do the way you pop in and you pop out,
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  it does it it's very easy to buy into it because it just matches the story so well.
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  Yeah, and and you know, look, our amazing costume designer,
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  Clint Ramos, and we have an amazing hair and makeup and
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  ~ crew of dressers backstage, both you know,
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  on the tour and the locals that are in the various theaters that we work in,
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  and obviously they are integral to to all of that.
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  Ha ha ha.
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  I I will say that it is funny sometimes where I I think cause I I have one of those
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  I I didn't know this before because I've never done a ton of shows where
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  I haven't done a ton of shows where I've had to be wigged and you know mustached
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  or whatever. And I guess I have one of those faces where if I put
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  on a different wig, for instance,
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  I do look very different. Different enough,
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  especially from you know the stage.
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  And so it is funny when I see people afterwards,
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  like, you know, at the stage door,
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  and ~ they'll name the other two characters,
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  or they'll name James and Junza.
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  But like all these other characters,
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  they're like, Where is where's the other actor that or the other actors that played
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  You're like that's me.
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  those parts? So that's my that's
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  ~
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  my way of saying I'm really good at my job.
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  ~ no.
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  I mean, but but you are though,
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  because you're able to sell and people don't even realize that it's you.
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  ~ you you have what we'll call Clark Clark Kenton face,
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  you you can put on glasses and you just nobody will know.
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  Yeah, right. That's a totally different essence.
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  ~
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  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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  you know, since you've just recently the show just recently began on
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  the road in September. are there moments in the show that hit differently
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  for you now that you're
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  Performing it than maybe when you first started rehearsals?
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  ~ gosh. Actually, that's a really good question.
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  Yes, you know, I at one point I play a hotel clerk.
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  And that scene in the rehearsal studio was
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  it it was a little bit of an albatross around my neck.
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  Actually, I've never said this to anyone.
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  It just because, you know, sometimes as an actor you can and especially because this
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  there's a production already.
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  Had been a production of this,
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  the the whole show in New York playing for a long time,
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  and I'd seen that show and I'd seen this particular scene played out.
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  In my mind, I thought, my gosh,
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  I have to be funny. I gotta figure out a way to be funny.
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  It's it's a comedic scene. And,
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  you know, what if I ended up what if I end up turning into a tragic scene?
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  You know, so so there was this,
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  so there's this period in rehearsals where some of it wasn't quite working.
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  You know, so as an actor, you think like,
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  okay, I've got try some things,
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  and the things that I was trying weren't quite landing,
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  and and there's already a rhythm and tempo to the scene on the page and
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  the way that it's staged. So, you know,
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  it it's it's sort of how do I fit within those parameters,
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  make it something, you know, organically
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  ~ character driven funny. So I you know,
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  for a while I was hanging on to that.
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  Obligation of like, my God, it has to be funny.
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  And ~ once we actually started having audiences,
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  ~ I, you know, so I would I I would dread it in rehearsals,
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  you know,
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  Sure.
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  because again, all these things that I've just described to you.
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  And then once we started playing in Baltimore,
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  and I got a little bit more comforta comfortable in the scene,
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  and we were getting some audience reactions,
• 19:36
  I I thought, okay,
• 19:40
  I I can release some of these.
• 19:44
  Sort of self-imposed obligations.
• 19:46
  I mean, the the director and the associate director,
• 19:49
  everyone was so supportive and kind and about all of it.
• 19:52
  And and I actually received very little direction on it.
• 19:57
  And I think that was
• 19:58
  Okay.
• 19:58
  probably intentional, because in some ways it was something that
• 20:03
  I had to navigate and figure out on my own
• 20:07
  Sure.
• 20:07
  and and sort of figure out what the turns are,
• 20:11
  what the nuances are.
• 20:13
  A little bit of the science of comedy,
• 20:15
  not not too much. I don't want to intellectualize it.
• 20:17
  But as we played through Baltimore,
• 20:19
  through Greensboro, through Greenville,
• 20:21
  I I've I've I've sort of settled into it ~ much more
• 20:27
  and so comfortable in it, and I can now sort of just react off
• 20:32
  of Claire and Stephen, who play Claire and Oliver.
• 20:36
  ~ and it's turned out to be, I look forward to it every night now.
• 20:43
  That's awesome.
• 20:43
  yeah, and it's
• 20:43
  a it's a really fun scene to play,
• 20:46
  and it's a really fun scene to night to night gauge audience reactions
• 20:52
  on on what you know what they're getting and what what they're what they're finding
• 20:58
  funny. And and not to say that I'm doing it expressly for,
• 21:01
  you know, just to get laughs, but you know,
• 21:04
  it's it is a conversation and and that night to night conversation
• 21:07
  has become more palpable. And yeah,
• 21:10
  and as a result of that, I like.
• 21:12
  I really love doing it now.
• 21:15
  I
• 21:15
  that's awesome. And that's glad that you were able to kind of find that
• 21:17
  to find that footing 'cause I I would not I'm not an actor,
• 21:19
  so trying to get laughs sometimes or like I would I you I would feed
• 21:23
  off the energy very easily and so it it does probably make it a little bit easier.
• 21:27
  Yeah. And ~ e everyone says this and it's true,
• 21:30
  comedy is very hard. And yeah,
• 21:34
  so I I did not expect that it would now be the thing that I look forward
• 21:38
  to every night, but it is.
• 21:40
  Awesome. One final question then for you is just what are you hoping audiences take
• 21:44
  away from the North American touring production of Maybe Happy Ending?
• 21:48
  ~ it's these it's these broad questions,
• 21:50
  Brian, that ~ that are always No,
• 21:52
  I'm sorry.
• 21:53
  it's always challenging for me
• 21:55
  to answer. Look, I I I go back to something that I've already mentioned,
• 22:00
  which is the representation that this show w it's
• 22:05
  an all-POC cast, and that includes all of our standbys,
• 22:10
  predominantly API. And I think without having
• 22:18
  Any sort of grandiose message,
• 22:21
  quote unquote, I I I hope that what happens
• 22:26
  is that all audience members of all demographics,
• 22:30
  not just ethnic demographics, but all demographics,
• 22:33
  watch this show, see the show,
• 22:36
  and just recognize that, ~ okay,
• 22:39
  people who don't look the way I do or are different from me in some
• 22:43
  way experience love,
• 22:46
  heartache.
• 22:48
  joy, pain, suffering,
• 22:52
  you know, you know, love,
• 22:55
  ~ and you know,
• 22:58
  that that that sort of cliche of it's a specific story set in a specific place with
• 23:05
  you know very specific groups of people,
• 23:08
  but we are all,
• 23:12
  you know, it is a universal story.
• 23:14
  And
• 23:16
  Again, this is the cliche part.
• 23:18
  W we are ~ are are ~ we're more connected and similar than
• 23:24
  we are different.
• 23:27
  I mean, absolutely, that's so true.
• 23:28
  Well, thank you so much for being here and chatting with me,
• 23:30
  James. It's been such a pleasure to learn about maybe Happy Ending from
• 23:33
  you and I we're so excited for to arrive in Detroit.
• 23:36
  Yeah, same, same. Thanks for having me,
• 23:38
  Brian.
• 23:40
  So maybe happy ending opens at the Fisher Theater on October 20th
• 23:42
  and runs through November 1st.
• 23:43
  So get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.