The hip-hop take on the life of United States (and New York Post!) Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first treasury secretary, was nominated for best musical, while best-actor nominations went to Miranda as Hamilton and Leslie Odom Jr.as Aaron Burr. An astonishing seven cast members – including the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda – made the Tony cut as well.
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“Hamilton” was nominated in virtually every category it could compete in, from acting to scenic design. The show s main actresses also earned nominations. The Target is to get more than twelve awards as in 2001 The Producer got 12 awards out of fifteen nominations.
Best Musical: “Bright Star”; “Hamilton”; “School of Rock The Musical”; “Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed”; “Waitress”.
Up against Lange in the category of best actress in a play are Laurie Metcalf in “Misery“, Lupita Nyong’o in “Eclipsed“, Sophie Okonedo for “The Crucible” and Michelle Williams in “Blackbird”.
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 stellar reviews it has received, among other things, means that wins at the Tony Awards are viewed as all but a sure thing. Charles’ Olivier Award-winning Tim Pigott-Smith will face competition from Father’s NY star, Frank Langella, as well as Gabriel Byrne (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Jeff Daniels (Blackbird) and Mark Strong, star of a U.K.-based, five-times-nominated revival of Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge.
Hamilton began as an off-Broadway production, but after praise by everyone from the Obamas to Beyonce, it quickly became the hottest ticked on Broadway, selling out shows months in advance.
What could put “Hamilton” over the top is its deep bench of candidates for featured actor and actress awards, including Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica Schuyler, Daveed Diggs as Thomas Jefferson/Marquis de Lafayette, Christopher Jackson as George Washington and Jonathan Groff as King George III.
The extremely competitive Best Revival of a Musical category includes The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me and Spring Awakening.
The musical was also nominated for best score, best book and lead actress, Phillipa Soo.
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Inevitably, when a mega-show like “Hamilton” comes along, other nominees are overshadowed. In addition, there were nominations for “Hamilton’s” set design, costume design and lighting design.
