The Broadway cast recording of Buena Vista Social Club has won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, delivering one of the night’s biggest surprises and denying heavily favoured Maybe Happy Ending what many expected to be a decisive victory.
The award was presented on February 1, with producers Marco Paguia, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek accepting on behalf of the Buena Vista Social Club cast album. The recording, released in June 2025 ahead of the Tony Awards, prevailed over a competitive field that also included Gypsy, Death Becomes Her, and Just in Time.
The result marked an unexpected turn for Maybe Happy Ending, which entered the Grammys as the presumptive frontrunner after dominating the Tony Awards in 2025. The robot rom-com musical collected six Tony wins, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, establishing itself as the season’s most decorated Broadway production.
Despite that momentum, Recording Academy voters ultimately favoured Buena Vista Social Club, a decision that underscores the Grammys’ long-standing emphasis on musicianship, cultural legacy, and recording artistry rather than theatrical awards performance alone.
The Grammy win carries added historical weight. The original Buena Vista Social Club album, recorded in 1997 by a collective of veteran Cuban musicians assembled by Ry Cooder and Juan de Marcos González, won the Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album in 1998. It went on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling world music album of all time.
In the decades since, the recording has been inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry and later the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Broadway adaptation brings that legendary recording session to life, transforming a landmark album into a theatrical narrative rooted in history.
Opening in March 2025 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Buena Vista Social Club uses a book by Marco Ramirez to explore the lives of the Cuban musicians behind the album. Set in 1950s Havana, the story unfolds against the cultural vibrancy and political upheaval surrounding the Cuban Revolution.
The production earned five Tony Awards in June 2025, including Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Natalie Venetia Belcon, Best Choreography for Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, Best Orchestrations for Paguia, and Best Sound Design of a Musical for Jonathan Deans. The onstage band also received a rare Special Tony Award, recognising the musicians as central to the production’s artistic vision.
Maybe Happy Ending brought formidable credentials to Grammy night. The Korean-language musical, with an entirely original score by Will Aronson and Hue Park, tells the story of two helper-bots who find love in Seoul. Its cast album featured principal vocalists Darren Criss, Helen J. Shen, Marcus Choi, and Dez Duron.
A Grammy win would have placed Criss three-quarters of the way to an EGOT, following his previous Emmy and Tony victories. However, Buena Vista Social Club’s connection to an already Grammy-honoured album, combined with its authentic Afro-Cuban instrumentation and live onstage musicianship, likely resonated more strongly with Recording Academy voters.
The Grammy victory gives Buena Vista Social Club fresh momentum as it prepares for a national tour launching in Buffalo in September 2026, with planned stops in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and additional cities yet to be announced. The show is also set to continue its Broadway run at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre through at least September 2026.
In a Broadway landscape crowded with jukebox musicals, Buena Vista Social Club stands apart. Rather than repurposing familiar hits, it uses its source material to tell the true story of the artists who created it. The Grammy win affirms that approach, recognising the cast album not just as a theatrical recording, but as a work of cultural preservation that honours Cuban musical heritage while introducing it to new audiences.
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards aired live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on CBS and Paramount+.
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