The musical finally beat the record set by “The Producers” in 2001 and “Billy Elliot the Musical” in 2009 with 15 in Tony Awards. The show’s other nominations include Best Original Score, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (2 nominations) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.
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Lin Manuel-Miranda’s “Hamilton” received sixteen Tony nominations, including for Best Musical.
But the blockbuster hip-hop musical about the founding father Alexander Hamilton still dominated the nods for the Broadway theater honors in a suitably revolutionary way, earning 16 – the most in Tonys history.
It will be interesting to see if the show can break the winning record, which is now 12 wins, and the show to break that record was “The Producers”.
The nominations are not surprising, The Washington Post said, because of the growing audience since the play opened last August.
The first “Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play ” award is also a tie, between Jose Ferrer for “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Fredric March for “Years Ago”.
Contenders for best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical are Adrienne Warren for “Shuffle Along“, “Disaster!” actress Jennifer Simard, Jane Krakowski for “She Loves Me”, Danielle Brooks for “The Color Purple”, and Renée Elise Goldsberry for “Hamilton”. Best play revival nods went to “Blackbird”, “The Crucible”, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, “Noises Off” and “A View from the Bridge”.
Williams’ Blackbird co-star Jeff Daniels also lands a spot on the leading actor shortlist, alongside Gabriel Byrne (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Frank Langella, (The Father), and Brits Mark Strong (A View From the Bridge) and Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III). A whopping seven “Hamilton” performers received nominations; in two categories, “Hamilton” actors will be competing against one another.
Up against “Hamilton, ‘ which is considered a shoo-in for best musical, are ‘Shuffle Along, ‘ ‘Waitress, ‘ ‘Bright Star” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘School of Rock’.
Deadline reports “Hamilton” has earned $80 million in advance ticket sales and shows continue to sell out. The band got multiple nominations especially for actors, Miranda and Leslie Odom, Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff and Christopher Jackson. Phillipa Soo, who plays Eliza Hamilton, has been deemed eligible for best actress.
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Beyond the race for best new musical, the other Tony categories are much more competitive. You can see the entire slate of 2016 Tony nominations on the award ceremony’s web site, here, or get “My Shot” stuck in your head for the billionth time by clicking on the YouTube video below.
