“The megahit musical ‘Hamilton’ has grabbed a record-breaking 16 Tony Award nominations, the biggest haul in Broadway history and another notch in the show’s march into theatrical history.”
“It was early last year that Hamilton first launched its revolution, opening off-Broadway at the Public Theater. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical has since nabbed pretty much every prize it could, including the Pulitzer — save for the Tony Awards. Hamilton only became eligible after moving uptown last summer.
So surely, Miranda couldn’t have been too surprised when it was announced Tuesday morning that the smash Broadway hit is up for 16 Tony Awards — a record number for a single production. And that he, as the show’s composer/lyricist, librettist and star, was up for three individually.
“Let’s put this in perspective,” says Miranda, 36, who won a Tony in 2008 for his score for In the Heights. “I’ve been lucky to have had years when having one nomination was an incredible thing. To have 16? That’s almost too much to frigging process.”
Miranda is similarly modest in assessing Hamilton‘s marriage of two great American traditions, musical theater and hip-hop, that mainstream audiences had not previously viewed as ideal bedfellows.
“There have been amazing musicals that have utilized hip-hop in the past — just as there were amazing musicals that utilized rock before Rent,” Miranda tells USA TODAY. “What Rent did was end the conversation. Now we don’t even question it when rock is used in musicals. Hopefully, Hamilton will do the same for hip-hop….”
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