Tony Award Winners 2016

On Sunday, June 12, the 70th annual Tony Awards made for a moving evening at the Beacon Theatre. Actor James Corden hosted Broadway’s biggest night; Lin-Manuel Miranda recited a sonnet honoring both his wife and the victims of the Orlando tragedy in lieu of an acceptance speech; and the event featured musical numbers from Hamilton, She Loves Me and The Color Purple, to name but a few. Surprising absolutely no one, Hamilton ran off with the most awards—11 in total—including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design. Read on for the major-category winners (shows whose titles are not linked have finished their Broadway run).

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Best Musical

Hamilton 
This multilayered hip-hop musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama and has achieved full-fledged phenomenon status. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the music, book and lyrics, plays the title character who goes from orphan child to war hero to political mastermind.  

Best Play

The Humans
Pulitzer Prize finalist (for Sons of the Prophet) Stephen Karam wrote this drama, in which one family’s longstanding resentments, secrets and grudges pour forth over the course of one Thanksgiving dinner.

Best Revival of a Musical

The Color Purple
This iteration of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 1982 novel features a star-studded ensemble cast—including Heather Headley—and a score with a rich array of music from the jazz era.

Best Revival of a Play

A View from the Bridge
This 1955 classic by Arthur Miller focuses on a Brooklyn longshoreman who’s obsessed with his 17-year-old niece, a situation that descends into jealousy and familial tragedy.   

Best Direction of a Musical

Thomas Kail, Hamilton 

Best Direction of a Play

Ivo van Hove, A View from the Bridge

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton
Odom plays the part of Hamilton’s adversary, Aaron Burr, who brings the house down with “The Room Where It Happens.” 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple
British singer-actress Erivo lends her powerful voice to the role of Celie, whose path to womanhood is at the center of the story.  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Frank Langella, The Father 
Langella portrays 80-year-old Andre, whose vision of the world has been warped by dementia, in French playwright Florian Zeller’s drama.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Jessica Lange, Long Day’s Journey into Night 
As drug-addicted Mary Tyrone, Lange is the matriarch of a family whose members struggles with one another and the world around them.