The question was never whether Hamilton would dominate this year’s Tony Award nominations, but to what extent. Miranda’s hip-hop dramatization of the life of Alexander Hamilton is a veritable pop culture sensation, inspiring parodies, bringing in massive box office receipts on Broadway, and earning Miranda the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Advertisement
The 70th annual Tony Award nominations are in, and, as most expected, Hamilton led the way, landing 16 nods and breaking the record for the most nominations ever captured by a single show.
Three other actors from the show were submitted for featured actor. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, shared the secret in his secretary of the treasury sauce. “Hamilton’s life was uniquely suited to the things that are my strengths: hip-hop and musical-theater storytelling”.
The awards will be handed out June 12, with James Corden playing host from the Beacon Theatre.
Beyond the race for best new musical, the other Tony categories are much more competitive. “What I’m really thrilled about is that the nominators spread the wealth among our incredible troupe of actors and our wonderful design team”. Broadway veteran Alysha Deslorieux, a Booker T. Washington alumna, and Elizabeth Judd, a graduate of Collin College, are in the cast of Hamilton, with this marking Judd’s Broadway debut.
Among the Tony nominees for best actress in a musical are LauraBenanti (“She loves Me”), Carmen Cusack (“Bright Star”), CynthiaErivo (“The Color Purple), Jessie Mueller (“Waitress”), andPhillipa Soo (“Hamilton”)”.
Taking on the “Hamilton” juggernaut for best musical are “Shuffle Along”, with 10 nominations; “Waitress”, “Bright Star” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “School of Rock – the Musical”.
After the fiasco the film industry went through with #OscarsSoWhite, it’s promising to see theater pay respect to a diverse range of talent with the 2016 Tony nominees.
Advertisement
Two-time Oscar-winner Jessica Lange was nominated for her portrayal of morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, which won nominations for co-stars Gabriel Byrne and Michael Shannon and for best play revival. Also among most-nominated shows: “She Loves Me” (directed by Scott Ellis, who was at the Globe last summer with “The Comedy of Errors”), with eight; the revival of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night“, with seven; and the new plays “The Humans” and “Eclipsed”, with six. The band got multiple nominations especially for actors, Miranda and Leslie Odom, Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff and Christopher Jackson. The actresses nominated for best featured actress in a play are Pascale Armand for “Eclipsed“, Megan Hilty for “Noises Off”, Jayne Houdyshell for “The Humans”, Andrea Martin for “Noises Off”, and Saycon Sengbloh for “Eclipsed“.
