(AllHipHop News) Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically-acclaimed musical Hamilton has broken the record for the most Tony Award nominations.
The production, about America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton, became a record-breaker with 16 nods on Tuesday morning when the shortlist was announced by Andrew Rannells and Nikki M. James.
It scored nominations in many categories, including Best Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations and Best Direction of a Musical, while Miranda achieved mentions for Best Book, Best Score, and leading actor in a musical.
Actors Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, and featured stars Jonathan Groff, Daveed Diggs, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Christopher Jackson also landed acting nominations.
The Best Musical prize will also be a competition between School of Rock, Bright Star, Waitress and Shuffle Along, while nominees for Best Play include Eclipsed, written by The Walking Dead actress Danai Gurira, King Charles III, The Father, and The Humans.
The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, Blackbird, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and Noises Off are all shortlisted for Best Revival of a Play, while the musical equivalent is between The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, and Spring Awakening.
Lupita Nyong’o scored a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her run in Eclipsed, and will be up against Michelle Williams, for Blackbird, Jessica Lange, for Long Day’s Journey Into Night, British actress Sophie Okonedo for Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible, and Laurie Metcalf for the stage adaptation of horror movie Misery.
Williams’ Blackbird co-star Jeff Daniels also lands a spot on the leading actor shortlist, alongside Gabriel Byrne (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Frank Langella, (The Father), and Brits Mark Strong (A View From the Bridge) and Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III).
The Best Score prize will be a tough battle between Miranda, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater (School of Rock), Steve Martin and Edie Brickell (Bright Star) and Sara Bareilles (Waitress).
The winners of the 70th annual Tony Awards will be revealed at the Beacon Theater in New York on 7 June. Talk show host James Corden will host.