NEW YORK – Maybe Happy Ending, a stirring Broadway musical about two discarded robots who go on a road trip and forge a relationship, won the coveted Tony for best musical on June 8. The win capped a remarkable journey for a show that faced long odds, but won over both critics and fans.

The triumph of a show with a puzzling title and tough-to-explain themes was a vote of confidence in originality by an industry often dominated by big-brand intellectual property and big-name Hollywood stars.

The musical’s prize capped a night in which Broadway rewarded adventurous newcomers: Sarah Snook, the Succession (2018 to 2023) star who played 26 roles in a technologically complicated adaptation of The Picture Of Dorian Gray (2025); Nicole Scherzinger, the former member of The Pussycat Dolls who, barefoot and bloodied, delivered a scorching performance in a revival of Sunset Boulevard (2024 to 2025); and Cole Escola, an alt-cabaret performer who imagined Mary Todd Lincoln as an alcoholic who longs to be a chanteuse and turned that zany idea into the hit play Oh, Mary! (2024).

The awards were spread out among a diverse array of shows. Maybe Happy Ending, set in a futuristic South Korea, won a night-leading six awards, and Buena Vista Social Club (2025), a musical set in Cuba, finished with four competitive prizes.

The awards show took place as Broadway seems finally to be rebounding after a damaging pandemic shutdown. The season that just ended was the highest-grossing on record when the figures are not adjusted for inflation. But attendance remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels and very few musicals are achieving profitability.

The season’s success was attributable in large part to three starry plays whose runs are now ending: Good Night, And Good Luck (2025), Othello (2025) and Glengarry Glen Ross (2025). NYTIMES

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