|
The musical, which tells the story of the ill-fated Hamilton
with a deft musical melding of hip-hop and rap, R&B, ballads and
traditional Broadway showstoppers, also won for featured actress
and actor and several technical awards.
A somber note was cast over the festivities by the attack on a
gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida early on Sunday that killed 50
people and wounded 53. Several winners spoke of the tragedy in
their acceptance speeches.
Jessica Lange, winning her first Tony as morphine-addicted Mary
Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night, said the honor "fills
me with such happiness, even on such a sad day as this."
Host James Corden opened the usually ebullient show with a
statement to victims and others affected: "Your tragedy is our
tragedy ... hate will never win."
"Tonight's show stands as a symbol and a celebration of that
principle," he said.
Miranda, accepting best score for a musical, delivered a sonnet
for his acceptance, done in the style of verse heard in
"Hamilton".
"Senseless acts of tragedy ... times of hate," he said, his
voice breaking as he ended with "love is love is love, cannot be
killed." Miranda also won best book of a musical.
Backstage, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber said: "No child is ever born
to hate."
Frank Langella, who won his fourth Tony for best actor in a play
as an Alzheimer's-afflicted patriarch in "The Father," said the
theater community stood in support.
"I urge you, Orlando, to be strong," Langella said.
"The Humans" won the Tony for best play, while Jayne Houdyshell
and Reed Birney were named best featured actress and actor in a
play for the family drama. It also won for scenic design.
[to top of second column] |
"The Color Purple" took best revival of a musical, while star
Cynthia Erivo took the Tony for best actress in a musical.
Other winners included Ivo van Hove, best director of a play for
"A View from the Bridge," which also won best revival of a play.
Miranda, who plays Hamilton, lost best actor in a musical to
co-star Leslie Odom Jr. as his nemesis Aaron Burr. "God bless you,
you've given us a new vision," he told Miranda. Backstage, Odom
spoke of the U.S. shootings, saying "something like this happens and
all of this seems pretty silly."
However, he said at the matinee earlier that the cast realized
people who had tickets for months were counting on seeing the show.
"We can't let them (the killers) take that away from those people,"
Odom said.
"Hamilton" also won awards for Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed
Diggs as best featured actress and actor in a musical, best director
Thomas Kail, and for best lighting, costumes, choreography and
orchestrations.
But it fell short of the 12 Tony wins by "The Producers" in 2001.
Barbra Streisand, making her first Tonys appearance in 40 years,
presented the best musical award to the show.
In a year when the Oscars drew criticism for lacking non-white
nominees, the Tonys, led by the multicultural cast of "Hamilton,"
stood rich with diversity. Corden joked that the Tonys were "like
the Oscars - but with diversity."
(Additional reporting by Frank McGurty; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli,
Bill Trott and Michael Perry)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
