From Seoul to Broadway — and back: 2025 redefines musical exchange, sets records for originals

In 2025, the relationship between Korea’s musical theater scene and Broadway shifted in a way that felt less like export and more like exchange. For years, the flow had largely moved in one direction: Korean producers imported proven Broadway titles, while domestic originals focused primarily on the local market. This year, that structure began to change. “Maybe Happy Ending,” the Broadway adaptation of the Korean original whose origins go back to 2014 in a small theater in Seoul, swept the Tony