Maybe Happy Ending, Starring Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, Wins Tony Award for Best Musical

Maybe Happy Ending, the futuristic South Korean musical by Will Aronson and Hue Park starring Darren Criss and Helen J Shen, has won the 2025 Tony Award for Best Musical. The show came into the evening with 10 nominations and walked away with six wins. In addition to the big prize of Best Musical, it earned trophies for Score (Aronson and Park), Book (Aronson and Park), Direction (Michael Arden), Scenic Design (Dane Laffrey and George Reeve) and Lead Actor (Criss). The production also received nods for Orchestrations (Aronson), Costume Design (Clint Ramos), Lighting Design (Ben Stanton) and Sound Design (Peter Hylenski).

Criss leads the cast as Oliver, with Shen as Claire, two out-of-date Helperbots in late 21st-century Seoul, South Korea, who break from their programming and set out to find something real. Dez Duron and Marcus Choi round out the cast. At its core, the show is about the fragile, unexpected connection that unfolds and the messy beauty of being human.

In an interview with Broadway.com, Park explained that the story is deeply personal. “We’re not really talking about Helperbots,” he said. “We're talking about humans and relationships. When we in the future become more like robots emotionally, when we become more distant from each other, when we try to rely on technology to satisfy and distract ourselves—what is it going to be like to be a human being in that world?”

Maybe Happy Ending premiered in Seoul in 2016 at Lifeway Hall as part of the Wooran Cultural Foundation’s SEEYA STAGE program and received six Korean Musical Awards. It made its English-language debut at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2020 and opened on Broadway in November 2024.

The musical will embark on a North American tour in fall 2026.