Interview: Claire Kwon & Steven Huynh of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING at CIBC Theatre

Maybe Happy Ending explores the world of connections and humanity through two helper bots in South Korea. The Tony-Award winning musical is soon embarking on a North American tour, coming to Chicago in January 2027. 

Before the Broadway in Chicago Summer Concert, BroadwayWorld sat down with Claire Kwon and Steven Huynh, who will star as Claire and Oliver on the Broadway tour. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

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Welcome back to Chicago, Claire! Can you tell us more about your time at Northwestern and how the Chicago arts scene here has played a role in your theater journey?

Kwon: Yes. Oh, my gosh, it's so pivotal and foundational to my arts journey. I went to Northwestern, graduated in 2022. I was a theater and international studies double major, and I also minored in integrated marketing communications. What I love about the school and what it's allowed me to do as an artist, and also just being in Chicago, is that Chicagoans really care about so many different things. There's people at Northwestern who had so many passions, and were able to bring that all together into lots of different multidisciplinary focuses. And I think Maybe Happy Ending as a show also kind of does that, right? It takes ideas of digital versus analog, and technology, and humanity, and puts it all in this beautiful package. And I feel very much that Northwestern made me a better artist in that way, as well, to care about what's going on in our world, and to have a point of view of that, and also bringing lots of different focuses together. I also did a show at Goodman Theatre my senior year called Life After, so I have just a really deep love for all the theater lovers in Chicago and the people creating art here. 

Claire, your Broadway debut was with Almost Famous, while Maybe Happy Ending is your Broadway debut, Steven. This show also marks both your Broadway principal debuts by taking on the leads in Maybe Happy Ending! How does it feel to go from being standbys on the Broadway company to leading the Broadway national tour?

Huynh: It's such a wonderful opportunity to be with the show from the beginning of its Broadway life, and to see how it has evolved and how our audiences have responded to it, and to be able to do it full time on tour across North America is something that's personally specifically special to me, to be a lot of people's first touch point with Maybe Happy Ending. I grew up in Cleveland, and I saw a lot of national tours going through there. That was my first experience with Broadway shows, so it does mean a lot to do that for other people across North America and to introduce them to Maybe Happy Ending, to introduce them to musical theater, and hopefully to inspire them to do anything they want. 

Kwon: It's a very unique experience because there are many times where standbys or understudies never get to go on tour or be the full time principals. It's been such a gift that the community of the Maybe Happy Ending fans and family has been so supportive from the beginning, even when we were standbys, really supported us. It's such a gift because we've been able to spend time with the show and really learn all the intricacies of what makes the show so special, and then being able to be representatives, like Steven said, of the show, and bring that to so many people all across America is so special. 

I want to talk to you about AAPI representation on Broadway and in the arts. I’m curious what it was like growing up as a fan of musical theater. Did you notice the lack of Asian American actors and Asian stories being told on stage, and how did that impact your decision to pursue musical theater and/or impact how you decide which shows you do? 

Kwon: For me, it means everything. I grew up with such a love for musical theater. My mom plays piano, and she loved musicals, so playing piano and singing and doing that together was one of our favorite things to do. I did community theater at the YMCA and all these things when I was a kid. I actually was very lucky, I grew up in New Jersey, so I auditioned for Broadway shows when I was a kid. I remember walking into those audition rooms and I'm 10 or 11 at this time, and I'm noticing that there are maybe five kids of color, and we're all going for the same role. There's one or two slots available, even just as kids. And so I realized this as a kid, and I was like, ‘Maybe musical theater is really — maybe there's no room for me.’ I don't want to be pursuing something that I feel like I can't succeed at at all. When I was in high school, I still continued to do theater, but then Hamilton came out. I was 16, and I saw Philipa Soo perform. At the time, everyone was talking about it. It made a contemporary musical theater statement, but also made a political statement, and it meant so much to so many people. To see her being elite in that cast was, for me, honestly, life altering, because then I was like, ‘Wow, maybe this is something that I can do, actually. And it doesn't need to be the King and I, and Miss Saigon, and Flower Drum Song,’ which are amazing shows, and has given so many opportunities to AAPI performers throughout the years, but it, for the longest time, was the only thing that Asian American performers could be in. So now, to represent just as ourselves being ourselves in a Broadway show that also highlighted a lot of Asian American talent — it's not something small.

Huynh: How do I piggyback off of that? I'm not fully sure. It was just so beautifully comprehensive. I was lucky growing up. I didn't get into musical theater until high school, but when I did, I had the most phenomenal drama teacher. Her name is Valerie Farschman, and she challenged me into seeing myself for roles that weren't specifically Asian because I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood school system. I was lucky to be Schroeder in Your A Good Man Charlie Brown and the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors. My parents have always instilled this belief in me that if you work hard and if you are grateful, then the things that are meant for you will come to you. Even now, my agents and I, we talk, and they challenge me to be, like, ‘It doesn't really matter too much, because no matter what happens, what role you play, it will always be an Asian story. because of who you are.’ Part of that removes the blinders of what roles are meant for me. Any role is meant for me, and I challenge all of our audiences and aspiring young actors to feel the same way — that if it resonates with you and you feel like you can tell that story, then you tell that story. And by nature of who you are, that is your story.

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Thank you to Claire Kwon, Steven Huynh, and Broadway in Chicago for this interview!

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