[K-Enter] K-Musical "Maybe Happy Ending" wins BIG at the Tony Awards

Time for K-Enter with Walter Lee.

Time to celebrate! Starting off with that K-musical news we've been eager to report on!

Park Chun-hue and Will Aronson's K-musical "Maybe Happy Ending", a love story between humanoid robots set in the near future, has won six Tony Awards.

It won the awards for "Best Musical", "Best Direction of a Musical", "Best Book of a Musical", "Best Original Score", "Best Scenic Design" and Darren Criss, who was best known for his role as "Blaine Anderson" in the American comedy-drama television series "Glee," won "Best Leading Actor in a Musical".

The Tony Awards is considered the most prestigious award ceremony when it comes to musical theatre.

"Maybe Happy Ending" has been wowing audiences since the show first premiered in South Korea in 2016 and made its official Broadway debut last November at the Belasco Theatre in New York.

"Maybe Happy Ending" was nominated in 10 categories altogether, including Best Costume Design. With its six wins, Park Chun-hue became the first Korean creator ever to win a Tony Award, marking a historic moment for Korean theatre on the global stage.

The "Best Musical" award is the final award presented at the ceremony it was exciting to follow the awards while getting ready for the show.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the production! Moving onto some K-pop news now.

According to a chart preview released on Sunday, SEVENTEEN's fifth studio album, "HAPPY BURSTDAY", made its debut at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the main U.S. album chart.

This marks SEVENTEEN's seventh entry into the Billboard 200's top 10. Beginning with their fourth full-length album, "Face the Sun", all seven of their most recent albums have consecutively reached the top 10.

During the latest tracking week, "HAPPY BURSTDAY" earned 48,500 album units. Of those, 46,000 came from physical album sales, making it No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.

Here is to the next ten years for SEVENTEEN. Lastly, another star who is still shining bright is Jennie. What news do you have on her?

BLACKPINK's Jennie is the ONLY K-pop artist to be featured on Rolling Stone's list of "The Best Albums of 2025 So Far" with her first solo album, "RUBY".

In a list published last Thursday on Rolling Stone's official website, "RUBY" was included alongside high-profile albums like Lady Gaga's "Mayhem."

The magazine praised "RUBY" for its "fascinating reinterpretation of the R&B-driven pop sound that defined the 2000s and 2010s."

Jennie produced the album herself, which includes songs like "JENNIE", "Mantra", "Love Hangover", and "ExtraL". All bangers, might I say!

Wow, with so many K-pop albums out there it just goes to show you how strong Jennie's influence is.

Thanks for the news Walter, stick around as we now move onto more culture news with our AI anchor Ari. Ari, take it away.