This Sunday, the 70th Tony Awards will take place at the Beacon Theater where the best productions in Broadway, season 2015 to 2016, will be recognized. The gala will be brought home by CBS with James Corden serving as the host. The producers of the ceremony expressed themselves saddened by the events from Saturday at Pulse, a gay, nightclub in Orlando. Broadway has shown a very inclusive politic in recent years, and it continues to do so, by dedicating tonight’s ceremony to the Orlando shooting victims and their relatives.
Lin-Manuel Miranda shocked Broadway’s scene when he presented his musical “Alexander Hamilton”. This show broke the nomination records and tonight, at the 70th ceremony of the Tony Awards, it will compete in 16 categories. The musical is based on the life of one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. Miranda said he started reading a Biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, and after he had finished a couple of chapters, he could see how a musical was taking form.
He started working on the play first known as the Hamilton Mixtape in 2012. Many experts say there are some categories where the game is not strong enough to win, but if the masterpiece manages to win most of its nominations, it would also break the record for more awards in one gala. “Waitress” and “American Psycho” are also among the favorites to take an award home.
Shuffle along follows “Hamilton” with ten nominations. Roundabout Theatre Company revived two plays “She Loves Me” and “Long Day’s Journey into Night”, and they are competing in eight and seven categories respectively. The new kids on the block are “Eclipsed” and “The Humans” which received six nominations. This year is the first time in almost six decades that five shows are nominated for “Best Musical”. This has happened only four times in its 70 years of existence.
A night to honor the fallen
In contrast with the racial controversy around the Oscars, Broadway has established an inclusive culture where everybody has a chance as long they have talent. The producers of the event joined the long list of personalities blaming the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Florida. The 70th Tony Awards will be dedicated to the 50 fatal victims and all their relatives. They are not the only ones raising their voices against violence. In fact, the Hamilton cast won’t use Muskets in their performances, instead of that they are going to use pantomime to protest against this kind of events.
Prominent voices joined to protest the pulse shooting including Pope Francis, Hillary Clinton, and the president of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama. He gave a touching speech in which he condemned the attack and praised the efforts of the people at the place that worked hard to save as many lives as they could.
“So this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American—regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation—is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.” Obama said.
The Empire State will go dark in honor of the victims of the deadliest shootings in the history of the United States.
Source: Tony Awards