Darren Criss chats with USA TODAY about the new Broadway musical "Maybe Happy Ending," where he's a robot in search of love and belonging.

Darren Criss and Helen J Shen star in a moving new musical about two robots whose emotional story touches on very human themes.

Oliver, played by Darren Criss, is a lonely, nerdy apartment dweller with a love of Chet Baker, a plant as his sole companion and a persistent air of melancholy. Claire, played by Helen J. Shen, is the smart,

Helen J. Shen, left, and Darren Criss in a scene from Broadway's "Maybe Happy Ending." The show opens with the fastidious android Oliver (Darren Criss), who patiently waits for his owner, James (Marcus Choi), to come retrieve him from a lofty apartment ...

A tenderhearted meet-cute rom-com tinged with poignance, laughs and break-your-heart melancholy , Maybe Happy Ending just might be this season’s answer to Kimberly Akimbo. A near-perfect little fable of set-for-the-scrap-heap robots learning to love and knowing whatever happiness they find will be short-lived,

Meet Claire (Helen J Shen) and Oliver (Darren Criss), two isolated and retired robots who have come not to save us, but to teach—or perhaps to remind—us what it is to love and be human. There is no “maybe” about it when it comes to the brilliance and winning charm of Maybe Happy Ending (Belasco Theatre,

Shen and Darren Criss star in the new musical production, about two robots who develop an unexpected friendship.