Ruth Leon recommends… New York theatre

Maybe Happy Ending and Swept Away

I’ve seen two terrific plays this week which I would recommend to any New Yorkers or visitors to New York who might be after a wonderful evening in the theatre. Both musicals, they couldn’t be more different from one another.

Maybe Happy Ending is, and I don’t want to put you off because it’s 100% worth seeing, a romantic musical comedy about a pair of obsolete robots falling in love. You’ll have to trust me on this one, it’s the most charming production on Broadway, the songs are good, the performances are excellent and the premise, while weird, really works. Oh, did I mention that they’re Korean robots and the play is set in Seoul?

The other is Swept Away and it’s brilliant. If anything, its premise is even more strange than Maybe Happy Ending, and harder to love, but it may be the best thing I’ve seen all year. I’ll only tell you that it’s about shipwrecked whalers and that the songs, stunningly performed, are by the Avett Brothers. This is a dark, human and super-human tale and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

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