Hue Park, cowriter of “Maybe Happy Ending,” the first original Korean musical to win six Tony Awards, said Tuesday he was overwhelmed by the honor and already feeling the pressure of heightened expectations.

“Now that I’ve received such great praise, I can’t help but think, ‘Expectations will be much higher now — what do I do?’” Park wrote on Instagram. “But then again, what can I do? I’ll just have to keep doing what I’ve always done.”

Park, who wrote the book for “Maybe Happy Ending,” said that winning awards was never the goal.

“Writing a musical means spending a very long time alone as a writer, building a world on paper,” he wrote. “And once that grueling task is done, you enter an equally long production process, like waiting for planets to align, which is a rare opportunity.”

He continued, “What sustains you through that long production process isn’t the idea of some award you might receive later. It’s the impulse to write this story and music, and the desire to see it realized on stage.”

The writer expressed deep gratitude to the production team, saying he was able to enjoy the Tony Awards “because of all the people who worked on this show.”

“It was moving to see how many people felt proud and celebrated the win by me and composer Will Aronson as if it were their own,” he wrote. “It filled me quietly, deeply.”

Since the ceremony, Park said he has received “an overwhelming number of messages — some surprising, some a bit scary.” But he pledged to keep going as he always has.

“When I have something I want to say, I won’t try to dress it up. I’ll just write it with sincerity,” he said. “I hope it resonates with someone. I hope it offers comfort. I’ll just keep doing what I’ve done — only with more effort.”

At the 78th Tony Awards held at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Sunday, “Maybe Happy Ending” won six awards, including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Direction, setting a new milestone in the history of Korean musicals.

Originally staged as a workshop in 2015 and premiered in Daehangno in 2016, the show opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre in November last year as an open run.

A special 10th-anniversary production is scheduled to run from Oct. 30 to Jan. 25, 2026, at the Doosan Art Center in Jongno District, central Seoul.


Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY LEE JI-YOUNG [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]