“Hamilton”, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical about America’s founding fathers, wrote its own piece of history Tuesday morning by picking up 16 Tony Award nominations, breaking the record of 15 held by “Billy Elliot” in 2009 and “The Producers” in 2001.
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In the best actor category, the duel will be between Hamilton (Miranda) and Aaron Burr, played by the wonderful Leslie Odom Jr.
Three featured actors from Hamilton all got nominations-Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff, and Christopher Jackson.
Mr. Miranda was nominated for writing the show’s book and score-in the latter category he competes against heavyweights like Andrew Lloyd Webber (School of Rock), Sara Bareilles (Waitress) and Steve Martin (Bright Star).
It will be the biggest night kicks on June 12 on CBs from the New York Beacon Theater.
Any surprises with this year’s Tony nods?
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.
Vying for best lead actress in a play are two Oscar winners – Jessica Lange for “Long Day s Journey Into Night” and Lupita Nyong o for “Eclipsed”, which is set amid the chaos of civil war in Liberia. Booker T. Washington HSPVA alumni C.K. Walker and Britton Smith are swings alongside San Antonio’s Karissa Royster, the dance captain who also performs, in Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.
Best musical actress nominees included Laura Benanti for “She Loves Me”, Carmen Cusack in “Bright Star“, Cynthia Erivo for “The Color Purple” and Jessie Mueller for “Waitress“. While the show received mixed notices, critics roundly lauded Walker’s performance as the steely-eyed Patrick Bateman, and it looked like he might have a shot at a nomination. He says it “makes the story more immediate and more accessible to a contemporary audience”.
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Joan Marcus/The Roundabout Theatre Company “The Humans”, pictured, will compete for best play with “Eclipsed”, “The Father” and “King Charles III”. “Van Hove, whose “A View From the Bridge” comes to the Kennedy Center this fall, was nominated for his direction of that play, but both “Bridge” and his production of “The Crucible” received berths for best revival of a play”. Stars Daniel N. Durant and Austin P. McKenzie would probably have picked up nods in the Lead and Featured Actor categories, respectively. The other nominees are Alex Brightman of “School of Rock – The Musical”, Danny Burstein of “Fiddler on the Roof” and Zachary Levi of “She Loves Me”. “Hamilton” is the rare show that lives up to the hype.
