For all the talk about diversity and inclusiveness this season (absent at the Oscars, present at the Tonys), nothing could beat one powerful image: All four of the musical acting winners were black actors.
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Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t only express gratitude in his speeches.
The event’s host, late night TV personality James Corden, opened the awards with a solemn speech to the viewers at home on behalf of the theater community.
“Hate will never win”, he continued.
“On a day marked by such tragedy to get to celebrate such works of art”, he said, “I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else”. Hamilton won 11 Tony Awards on the night including Best Musical. Then Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs was recognized as the Best Featured Actor in a Musical. “Keep the faith”, he said. “This tragedy in Orlando wasn’t the first one this week…my daughter is 22”, she said, referencing Grimmie’s age at the time of her death earlier in the weekend. “Today in Orlando we had a disgusting dose of reality”.
Dutch visionary Ivo Van Hove won his first Tony for directing an imaginative revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge“. That’s one shy of the record set by Mel Brooks’ “The Producers“. In addition, 11 awards wasn’t too bad considering several nominated “Hamilton” actors were pitted against fellow cast members in the same categories.
Want more stuff like this? There was also a joke about Trump starring in “The Book of Moron”.
Lin-Manuel Miranda cleaned up at the 70th Annual Tony Awards. But by far the biggest news of the night?
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Actor Frank Langella accepted the award for Best Lead Actor in a Play for “The Father” and used his speech, which he admitted in the press room following his win to writing before the broadcast, to offer encouraging words to Orlando. Among them should be Corden, who was an excellent host, even if the show felt a bit overstuffed-which is to be expected, as the program is a way for Broadway to entice people to buy tickets to their shows. In 2014, it reached 7.02 million and captured 7.24 million in 2013.
