[Musical. Photo Credit to Unsplash]

On June 8th, Korean lyricist and writer Hue Park, alongside American composer Will Aronson, won six Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall for his musical Maybe Happy Ending.

Set in a futuristic Seoul, the story follows two outdated helper robots who discover love and human connection, a theme that resonated with audiences worldwide for its blend of science fiction and heartfelt emotion.

With this remarkable achievement, he made history as the first Korean to ever win a Tony Award.

According to Broadway World, as of August 24, 2025, Maybe Happy Ending’s Broadway run had a total gross of $42,003,432 and an attendance of 334,442 over 328 performances, proving the ongoing popularity and cultural impact of the musical.

On top of that, Maybe Happy Ending was named Best Musical of the 2024-25 season by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, securing 18 votes in the first ballot, an achievement that set it apart, as most of the other categories required several rounds of voting. 

Park, on a Korean variety show program, You Quiz on the Block, revealed his unforgettable interaction with American filmmaker Steven Spielberg, during which he personally praised Park’s musical.

“The most moving moment was when he said, ‘The Korean setting was truly captivating, and it felt as if I were actually in Korea of the future.’” Park recalled.

During his childhood years, Park had always loved reading books. 

As he confessed on a Korean reality show, I Live Alone, “When I was in elementary school, I couldn’t go to the bathroom without a book in my hand.” 

Fittingly, he studied creative writing at Dongguk University in Korea while also working as an in-house lyricist in Music Cube, producing popular Korean ballads such as Park Sang-Min’s Tough Life. 

He then moved to New York in 2008 to study visual arts at New York University, where he met with composer Will Aronson.

The two’s collaboration started when they decided to work together on a musical adaptation of the movie “Bungee Jumping of Their Own,” where Aronson composed the music and Park wrote the lyrics.

Recognizing the extraordinary chemistry they shared during the production of “Bungee Jumping of Their Own,” Park requested Aronson to once again collaborate on his original project in February, 2014, which would eventually become Maybe Happy Ending.

In 2016, their original project Maybe Happy Ending debuted and premiered in Seoul’s Daemyung Cultural Factory and was staged several times following its initial success.

After four years, in 2020, the English-language version of the show ran at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Four years later, on October 16th, 2024, Maybe Happy Ending opened on Broadway with its first performance. 

As the show earned more recognition, it had received numerous awards prior to the Tony Awards, such as the Drama Desk Awards’ Outstanding Book of a Musical and the Outer Critics Circle Awards’ Outstanding New Broadway Musical, which paved their way to the grand award.

Park’s journey from Seoul to Broadway with Maybe Happy Ending stands as a historic achievement, inspiring Asian artists and demonstrating the global reach of Korean musical theater.