Broadway musical phenomenon “Hamilton” broke another record when the Tony Award nominations were announced today, picking up 16 nominations in 13 categories at theater’s equivalent of the Oscars. It seamlessly meshes a number of different musical styles, from hip hop to classic Broadway show tunes, and much of the dialogue is rapped.
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The previous Tony nominations record holders were “Billy Elliot” in 2009 and “The Producers” in 2001 with 15 nominations.
The category of lead actress in a musical also saw perhaps the biggest snub of the day: Audra McDonald, lauded for her performance as the diva Lottie Gee in the newly opened “Shuffle Along“, was left off the list.
The 70th Annual Tony Awards ceremony will be held June 12 at the Beacon Theatre in uptown NY with host James Corden of “The Late Late Show”.
The actors who are nominated for best featured actor in a play are Reed Birney for “The Humans”, Bill Camp for “The Crucible”, David Furr for “Noises Off”, Richard Goulding for “King Charles III”, and Michael Shannon for “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. Meanwhile, Orange Is The New Black’s Danielle Brooks scored a nomination for Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for the revival of The Color Purple.
Notable stars who nabbed acting nominations included Academy Awards victor Lupita Nyong’o for her role in the play “Eclipsed”, and Jeff Daniels of the HBO hit show “Newsroom” for the play “Blackbird“.
The top nominee among plays was the revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, which garnered seven selections, including for best actress, Jessica Lange, and best actor, Gabriel Byrne.
I bring this up not to dampen the musical’s historic showing-another well-deserved honor, after its Grammy Award, Pulitzer Prize, Michelle Obama endorsement, and surround-sound hype. (The other leading Broadway nonprofit, Manhattan Theatre Club, came up with two, both for The Father, starring Langella.) But the biggest haul went to Scott Rudin, whose five productions (The Crucible, Blackbird, A View From the Bridge, The Humans, and Shuffle Along) netted a whopping 28 nominations.
“The Color Purple” competes against “Fiddler on the Roof”, “She Loves Me” and “Spring Awakening”.
Phillipa Soo, and featured stars Jonathan Groff, Daveed Diggs, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Christopher Jackson also landed acting nominations.
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It’s more than a month before the Tony Awards are presented.
