Korean Musical 'Maybe Happy Ending' Wins 6 Tony Awards Including Best Musical

The Korean original musical “Maybe Happy Ending” swept six categories at the Tony Awards—widely recognized as the “Oscars of theatre”—including Best Musical. This marks the first time an original musical that was created and premiered in Korea has won the Tony for Best Musical.

From left: Actor Marcus Choi, writer Park Cheon-Hyeu, actress Helen J. Shen, actor Darren Criss, and composer Will Aronson of the Broadway production team of the Korean musical Maybe Happy Ending smile as they hold their trophies at the 78th Annual Tony Awards, held on June 8 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Maybe Happy Ending, originally premiered in Korea, made history as the first Korean musical to win Best Musical and five other major awards at the Tonys. Photo: Reuters / Yonhap News

The musical was co-written and co-lyricized by American composer Will Aronson (44) and Korean writer Hue Park (42), with Aronson also composing the music.

On the evening of June 8 (local time), Maybe Happy Ending won six awards at the 78th Annual Tony Awards held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The awards included:

• Best Musical
• Best Direction of a Musical (Michael Arden)
• Best Book of a Musical (Hue Park & Will Aronson)
• Best Original Score (Music by Will Aronson, Lyrics by Hue Park & Will Aronson)
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Darren Criss)
• Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Dane Laffrey & George Reeve)

Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, lead actors in the Broadway adaptation of the Korean original musical “Maybe Happy Ending,” perform “Never Fly Away” during the 78th Annual Tony Awards ceremony. Photo: AP / Yonhap

Maybe Happy Ending is set in near-future Seoul and tells the touching story of Oliver and Claire, helper robots designed to assist humans but facing imminent obsolescence. Despite their fate, the two robots form a deep emotional connection and fall in love.

Originally premiered in December 2016 at a small 300-seat theater in Daehangno, Seoul, the musical ran for five seasons in Korea in similarly sized venues (300–400 seats). It opened last November at the 1,000-seat Belasco Theatre in New York.

The creative duo, nicknamed “Will-Hue,” first presented their work in New York in 2016 under the title “What I Learned from People,” supported by the Wooran Foundation. It was during the second reading performance that current lead producer Jeffrey Richards attended and proposed bringing the show to Broadway.

In an era where Broadway productions often rely on existing intellectual property (IP) and star casting, Maybe Happy Ending—a fully original musical featuring robots—initially struggled after opening. However, it received glowing critical acclaim and spread via word-of-mouth, leading to a box office turnaround. Tickets are now on sale through January of next year, and a U.S. national tour kicking off in Baltimore is scheduled for the fall of 2025.

The Tony Awards are the highest honor in American theater and are considered on par with the Academy Awards (film), Grammy Awards (music), and Emmy Awards (TV) in terms of cultural significance. Alongside Maybe Happy Ending, the Cuban-themed Buena Vista Social Club also took home four awards. The surprise comedy hit Oh, Mary!, centered on Abraham Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, captured public attention. Notably, Kara Young of the play Purpose became the first Black actress to win Best Actress in a Play.

Maybe Happy Ending had already built momentum ahead of the Tonys by winning six awards at the Drama Desk Awards, two at the Drama League Awards, and four from the Outer Critics Circle Awards.

Korean musical productions have steadily been building a presence at the Tonys. CJ ENM participated as a co-producer in past Tony-winning Broadway shows such as Kinky Boots (2013), Moulin Rouge! (2021), and MJ (2022). Last year, Shin Chun-soo of OD Company produced a Broadway adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which won Best Costume Design (Linda Cho). Lighting designer Kim Hana, a visual design graduate from Seoul National University, won Best Lighting Design last year for the musical The Outsider.

Professor Hyun Soo-Jung, a theater critic and adjunct at Chung-Ang University, stated:
“Maybe Happy Ending is unique in that its creators worked with a development producer to elevate the show’s quality and earnestly realized their dream of staging a musical in New York. This wasn’t a case of strategizing a Broadway debut—it was an authentic journey grounded in artistic growth. That it originated in Korea’s musical ecosystem makes this an extraordinary achievement.”

Performance columnist Park Byung-Sung added:
“The Wooran Foundation played a critical role by offering tailored support for these bilingual creators. Their precision in development directly contributed to this Broadway success. Moving forward, both public and private sectors need to invest in more nuanced and advanced support programs for the performing arts.”

By Soyeon Kim