Hamilton Takes Best Musical Honors At Historic Tony Awards

Hamilton, the Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, won the award for Best Musical at the 70th annual Tony Awards. In his acceptance speech, producer Jeffrey Seller described Hamilton as promoting "inclusiveness, generosity, ingenuity, and the will to work hard to make our dreams come true." He added, "Look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now." The hip-hop musical, created by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, cleaned up throughout Sunday night's ceremony. It was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards in 13 categories and won a whopping 11, including: Best Original Score Written for the Theatre, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, and Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, according to Entertainment Weekly. This was the first time that all four musical acting awards went to people of color.

Believe it or not, despite this impressive winning streak, Hamilton hasn't broken a record for the most wins at the Tonys. That honor still goes to The Producers, which was nominated for 15 awards and won 12 in 2001, according to The Los Angeles Times. The award for Best Play went to The Humans, which centers on a tense Thanksgiving dinner among a family in Manhattan. The other Best Musical nominees were Bright Star; School of Rock: The Musical; Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed; and Waitress. All the nominees gave performances at the awards. During Hamilton's performance, the cast forwent the prop guns typically used in the musical to show support for the victims of the shooting that took place at a gay nightclub in Orlando, FL, on Sunday morning. Earlier in the ceremony, Miranda addressed the Orlando shooting with an eloquent poem, reciting, "This show is proof that history remembers."