"Hamilton," the groundbreaking hip-hop musical about the nation's Founding Fathers, has been nominated for 16 Tony Awards, the most in Broadway history.
Tony nominators singled out the show in every category of theatermaking — acting, writing, directing, dance, music and design. A whopping seven "Hamilton" performers received nominations; in two categories, "Hamilton" actors will be competing against one another.
"It's unbelievable — it's absolutely humbling and incredible," said the show's creator and star, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who watched a broadcast of the nominations early Tuesday from his apartment, where he gathered with his parents, wife, son and a fellow Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist, his longtime friend Quiara Alegría Hudes.
"When I had the idea, I did say to myself, 'I can't believe no one's done this yet,' because it felt to me like a good idea — Hamilton's life was uniquely suited to the things that are my strengths: hip-hop and musical-theater storytelling," he said. "What I'm really thrilled about is that the nominators spread the wealth among our amazing troupe of actors and our amazing design team."
The show is already the biggest success Broadway has seen in years, and has become the rare piece of theater to cross over into popular culture. Miranda has won not only the Pulitzer but also a MacArthur Foundation genius grant and many other prizes; the show's sold-out audiences are packed with dignitaries who are showering it with praise — Michelle Obama called it "the best piece of art in any form that I have ever seen in my life."
This season, led by "Hamilton," was the most diverse in Broadway history, and the Tony nominations reflected that: Of the 40 acting nominations, 14 went to black, Hispanic and Asian-American actors. The nominee diversity is a particular point of pride for Broadway this year, when Hollywood has been convulsed with controversy over the lack of Oscar nominations for nonwhite performers.
"When you look at Broadway and Hollywood, it's clear who's leading," said Michael Arden, who was nominated for his direction of a revival of "Spring Awakening" that featured deaf actors as well as an actress in a wheelchair.
"Hamilton" is the enormous favorite to win the most coveted Tony Award this year, the prize for best new musical. But four other musicals hope to benefit simply from also being nominated in that category: "Bright Star," "Waitress," "School of Rock — The Musical" and "Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed." Those shows will now market themselves as best-musical contenders, hoping the nominations will help them at the box office.
"We call it the HamilTonys, and we know this is as far as we can go, but it's great to have got this far," said Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer and lead producer of "School of Rock," which is an adaptation of the Jack Black film about a failed musician who lies his way into a job as a substitute teacher and then trains his pupils to perform rock music. (Alex Brightman was nominated for his exuberant lead performance.)
That musical is a significant comeback for Lloyd Webber, who is best known for his enormous successes in the 1980s, including "Evita," "Cats" and "The Phantom of the Opera."
"I haven't done a musical on Broadway for quite a while," he said in a phone interview from London. "It's fun to be able to do this."
The 16 Tony nominations for "Hamilton" broke the record shared by "The Producers" (2001) and "Billy Elliot" (2009), each of which was nominated for 15 prizes. With 12 Tonys, "The Producers" is the winningest show of all time. "Hamilton" is unlikely to surpass that, partly because it earned multiple nominations in two categories.
Among the day's biggest winners was the prolific producer Scott Rudin. Rudin had five shows on Broadway this season, and all five were nominated for the best in their category: In addition to "Shuffle Along" for best new musical, Rudin was nominated for producing a new play, "The Humans," and three revivals, "The Crucible," "A View From the Bridge" and "Blackbird."
Rudin had asked that "Shuffle Along" be considered a revival, not a new musical, so that it would not have to compete with "Hamilton," but it still did well, receiving 10 nominations, second only to the front-runner.
It was not a good year, at least in the view of the Tony nominators, for celebrity casting: Among the film and television stars who played major roles onstage this year but were snubbed by the nominators were Jim Parsons ("An Act of God"), Clive Owen ("Old Times"), Sam Rockwell ("Fool for Love"), James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson ("The Gin Game"), Keira Knightley ("Thérèse Raquin"), George Takei ("Allegiance"), Bruce Willis ("Misery"), Al Pacino ("China Doll), Jennifer Hudson ("The Color Purple"), Forest Whitaker ("Hughie"), Saoirse Ronan and Ben Whishaw ("The Crucible") and Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Fully Committed").
A handful of boldfaced names did get Tony nods, including Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, for her performance in "Eclipsed"; TV stars Jonathan Groff, for "Hamilton"; and Danielle Brooks, for "The Color Purple"; comedian Steve Martin and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, for the score of "Bright Star"; and singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, for the score of "Waitress."
"I've been working on this for so many years now," Bareilles said. "To have this validation is really, truly a dream come true."
The nominations were a blow to several shows that could have used some help, including the new musicals "American Psycho" and "Tuck Everlasting." On the other hand, they were a particular boon to "Bright Star," which has been faltering at the box office but won five Tony nods that it can try to use to fashion new marketing materials.
Among the day's biggest surprises: Audra McDonald, who has won six Tonys, was not nominated for her performance in "Shuffle Along." Also conspicuously snubbed: Benjamin Walker, for playing the lead role in "American Psycho," a show that has proved polarizing (as was the novel on which it was based) for both critics and audiences.
Beyond the race for best new musical, the other Tony categories are more competitive.
This was an excellent season for musical revivals, and four strongly reviewed shows will face off in that category: "The Color Purple," "Fiddler on the Roof," "She Loves Me" and "Spring Awakening."
The best new play nominees are "Eclipsed," by Danai Gurira; "The Father," by Florian Zeller; "The Humans," by Stephen Karam; and "King Charles III," by Mike Bartlett. The nominees for best play revival are "Blackbird," "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Noises Off" and two plays by Arthur Miller — "The Crucible" and "A View From the Bridge" — both given adventurous reinterpretations by Belgian director Ivo van Hove.
This year's nominees were selected by a panel of 47 theater experts, many of whom work at nonprofit organizations and in academia. They were expected to see all of the eligible shows, and voted by secret ballot on Monday.
The nominations will next be considered by 846 Tony voters — a mix of producers, performers and other theater industry professionals — who must submit ballots by June 10. The awards ceremony, presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing, will be on June 12, hosted by James Corden and broadcast on CBS.
The popularity of "Hamilton," intensified by social media, late-night television, music downloads and now a fast-selling behind-the-scenes book, is so great that it is expected to aid viewership of the broadcast.
The Tony Awards have already announced a number of noncompetitive prizes: lyricist Sheldon Harnick and director Marshall W. Mason will receive lifetime achievement awards; Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, will receive the regional theater award; actor Brian Stokes Mitchell will receive an award for volunteerism; and special awards will be given to the National Endowment for the Arts for its support of theater and to Miles Wilkin for his work in the business of touring Broadway shows.