There are a million things Hamilton hasn’t done, just you wait. And that includes winning a Tony award. Judging by the hit musical’s record-setting performance today, you won’t have to wait long.
The Tony Awards—the Oscars of Broadway—announced this year’s nominations today (May 3) at the Diamond Horseshoe in the Paramount Hotel in New York City. Hamilton earned a whopping 16 nominations including best musical, beating the record set by The Producers and Billy Elliot, which had each earned 15 nods in 2001 and 2009, respectively. One might say the musical is passionately smashin’ every expectation.
Hamilton creator-writer-actor and genius extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda was nominated for best performance by a leading actor in a musical for his role as Alexander Hamilton, the titular American Founding Father. Also nominated in the category was Leslie Odom, who plays Hamilton’s political rival Aaron Burr. Burr notoriously killed Hamilton in a duel—we assume the fight for this acting award will not have come to that.
Most of the other main performers were nominated, including Daveed Diggs in a dual role as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Jackson as George Washington, and Phillipa Soo as Hamilton’s wife Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.
See the full list of nominations here. Hamilton also got nods for best original score, best costume design, best directing, and best choreography, among others.
A smash hit since it opened on Broadway in July of 2015, Hamilton has already won a multitude of awards, including a Grammy and a Pulitzer. Tickets are extremely tough to get—the show is basically sold out until forever, but tickets can be bought on sites like Ticketmaster or StubHub if you have about $500 to spare.
Notable for its diverse cast, Hamilton tells the story of the US founding fathers, all of whom were white, with actors who actually look like America today, according to Miranda. It seamlessly meshes a number of different musical styles, from hip hop to classic Broadway show tunes, and much of the dialogue is rapped. It is an exceptional and exhilarating work of art fully deserving of its praise, but you probably know that already, especially if you have a friend who has seen it. US first lady Michelle Obama called it “the best piece of art in any form that I have ever seen.”