lifestyle TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2016 Awards Producer of “Hamilton” Jeffrey Seller and cast accepts the award for best musical at the Tony Awards at the Beacon The cast of “Hamilton,” winners of the 2016 award for best musical, performs at the Tony Awards. Theatre on Sunday. — AP/AFP photos ‘HAMILTON’ WINS BIG AT TONYS BUT FAILS TO BREAK RECORD amilton,” the hip-hop stage biography of Alexander Hamilton, won the 2016 Tony Award for best new “Hmusical, capping an emotional night in which many in the Broadway community rallied to embrace the LGBT com- munity after a shooting at a gay Florida nightclub. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-flavored biography about the first US treas- ury secretary won 11 Tonys, just short of breaking the 12-Tony record held by “The Producers.” Jeffrey Seller, producer of “Hamilton,” quoted the show’s lyrics when accepting the award. “Look around, look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now,” he said. “Hamilton” went into the night with 16 nominations and, in addition to tak- ing the musical award, won best score, best book, direction, orchestration, choreography and best featured actor and actress statuettes for Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed Diggs. Leslie Odom Jr, who plays Aaron Burr, won best actor and thanks Miranda for “a new vision of what’s possible.” He thanked his wife, actress Nicolette Robinson and his parents. The show earlier won awards for costume and lighting but lost scenic design to “She Loves Me,” meaning “Hamilton” could- n’t break the 12-statuette record haul by “The Producers.” Still, few shows get introduced by a sitting president, as Barack and Michelle Obama did for the performance by the show’s cast. The awards show unspooled with a heavy heart a night after a The cast of “Hamilton” performs at the Tony Awards. gunman killed 50 people at a gay Florida nightclub, prompting a Broadway tribute to the victims at the top of the show and a smattering of references to tolerance throughout it. ‘love and love and love’ winner said: “This is a dream come true and it fills me with such Leslie Odom Jr accepts the Host James Corden, his back to the audience, spoke to view- happiness, even on such a sad day as this.” Frank Langella won award for leading actor in a ers when he dedicated the night to celebrating the diversity of his fourth Tony for playing a man who has begun his slide down musical for “Hamilton.” Broadway. “Hate will never win. Together we have to make sure the slippery slope of dementia in “The Father.” He almost teared of that. Tonight’s show stands as a symbol and a celebration of up when he mentioned his brother’s struggle with dementia. that principle,” he said. But for much of the telecast, the mood He also had a message for the people of Orlando: “We will be was light and typical of an awards show. Miranda, the star and with you every step of the way.” creator of “Hamilton,” won for best score and book, and read from onstage a sonnet, referencing tragedy and urging “love Fictional show and love and love....” Thomas Kail won the Tony for directing Dutch visionary Ivo Van Hove won his first Tony for directing “Hamilton.” He thanked Miranda, a frequent collaborator, and an imaginative revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” celebrated the diversity of Broadway this season. “Let’s continue Under his helm, the barefoot cast warily circled one another to tell stories,” he said. under bright lights in a set that resembled a boxing ring. The English actress Cynthia Erivo won the Tony for best actress show was also named best play revival. The show opened with for her Broadway debut in “The Color Purple.” She thanked her the cast of “Hamilton” performing their opening number with cast for “making me a stronger woman on that stage.” Her show, the lyrics altered to have them all wondering why Corden - which failed to beat “Jersey Boys” for the best musical Tony “chatting with Hollywood phonies” - had earned the honor of Award in 2006, won the best musical revival award in 2016. hosting the show. Jayne Houdyshell, a mainstay of the New York stage, won her The “The Late Late Show” host had some quips for the the- first Tony Award at 62 for playing a gossipy, gently needling ater-loving audience: “This is like the Super Bowl for people mom in “The Humans.” Her stage husband, Reed Birney, won who don’t know what the Super Bowl is,” he said at one point. Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, and the cast of “Hamilton” perform at the Tony Awards. best featured actor in a play. An actor for almost 42 years, he At another: “Think of tonight as the Oscars, but with diversity,” acknowledged that 35 of them were “pretty bad.” He thanked and made a dig at Donald Trump for wanting to build a wall the theater community for keeping him going. around the theater. He later flirted with Oprah Winfrey. Donald The play, about a fractious family’s get-together, won the Trump was a frequent target. Nathan Lane made a crack about best play statuette and playwright Stephen Karam dedicated Trump University and Emilio Estefan insisted that his all-Latin his award to all the struggling writers. “Keep the faith,” he said. cast for “On Your Feet!” were all in the US legally. In response to the shooting Sunday that left at least 50 people Corden at one point suggested there were so many diverse dead in a crowded nightclub in Orlando, Florida, “Hamilton” performers on the show that the Republican candidate would dropped its use of muskets in its performance. Many stars also want to put a wall around the theater. There was also a joke wore a silver ribbon to show solidarity. “My heart is saddened about Trump starring in “The Book of Moron.” To be fair, Glenn by it,” Seller said on the red carpet before the show. “The cele- Close mocked Hillary Clinton in the fictional show “A Clinton Line.” bration tonight is tempered by it.” “Hamilton” and the 38 new productions this season helped The shooting was close to home for Christopher Fitzgerald, Broadway’s attendance figures hit a record high, up 1.6 percent who was nominated for his role in “Waitress” and went to school to 13.3 million ticket buyers. The season also was rich in diversity in Orlando. “I’m heartbroken. I think everybody is feeling it, so among actors: Fourteen of the 40 Tony nominees for acting in we are at least all coming together to celebrate and not live in plays and musicals - or 35 percent - were actors of color. — AP fear,” he said on the carpet. Jessica Lange won her first Tony for playing a drug-addled mother in the revival of the monumental “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.” The two-time Academy Award Cynthia Erivo accepts the award for leading Renee Elise Goldsberry, winner of the Heather Headley, standing, and the cast of “The Color Purple” perform at the Tony Awards. actress in a musical for “The Color Purple”. award for featured actress in a musical for “Hamilton”..