NEW YORK CITY — The revolutionary musical “Hamilton” on Sunday swept the Tony awards — taking home 11 of the 16 awards it was nominated for including best musical — but fell just shy of the record for most awards for a Broadway show.
While the show retains the record for most nominations, the 2001 Mel Brooks musical "The Producers” retains the record for most trophies, with 12. In addition, 11 awards wasn’t too bad considering several nominated “Hamilton” actors were pitted against fellow cast members in the same categories.
Lin-Manuel Miranda won awards for best book of a musical and for best original score. And while he was nominated for playing Alexander Hamilton, just like in the real-life duel, he lost to Aaron Burr, played by Leslie Odom, Jr., who walked away with the Tony for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical.
Miranda's acceptance speech for one of his awards was a sonnet he wrote for his wife, with a reminder of Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando.
It read, in part: “When senseless acts of tragedies remind us that nothing here is promised, not one day, this show is proof that history remembers. We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger. We rise and fall and light from dying embers remembrance that hope and love last forever. And love is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love and cannot be killed or swept aside."
Renee Elise Goldsberry, who plays Angelica Schuyler, won for featured actress in a musical while Daveed Diggs, who plays both Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, took the Tony for best featured actor in a musical.
Other "Hamilton" musical awards went to Thomas Kail for best direction; Paul Tazewell for best costume design; Howell Binkley for best lighting design; Alex Lacamoire for best orchestration; and Andy Blankenbuehler for best choreography.As the show opened at the Beacon Theatre on Sunday night, host James Corden said the Tony Awards broadcast was dedicated to the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, which took place earlier in the day.
Frank Langella's acceptance speech for his award for best lead actor in a play, for "The Father" was also devoted to memorializing the Orlando shooting.
“'When something bad happens we have three choices we let it define us, we let us destroy us or we let it strengthen us,'" Langella said. "Today in Orlando we had a hideous dose of reality and I urge you, Orlando, to be strong because I'm standing in a room full of the most generous human beings on earth and we will be with you every step of the way."
Other big winners included "The Humans" for best play; "The View From The Bridge" won best revival of a play and "The Color Purple" won for best revival of a musical.
See the full list of Tony award winners.
