'Hamilton' Gets Ready to Sweep the Tony Awards on Sunday

Theater fans, set your DVRs! The 2016 Tony Awards air this Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS, and it’s going to be huge. This year, Hamilton—the unlikely rap/hip-hop musical about the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton—made Broadway history with a staggering 16 nominations, the most of any musical. Ever.

Produced by Hamptonite Jeffrey Seller, Hamilton is the latest hit by writer/composer/star Lin-Manuel Miranda, inspired by the Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton. The show, with powerful rap lyrics and stunning hip-hop choreography, has already won many awards, from the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album to the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. Hamilton is also the recipient of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making it the ninth musical in to win the award.

Miranda is nominated for Best book of a musical; Best original score; Best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical, where he’ll compete with co-star Leslie Odom, Jr. (Aaron Burr); Phillipa Soo, who plays Hamilton’s wife Eliza, is nominated for Best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical; Renée Elise Goldsberry, who plays Hamilton’s sister-in-law Angelica, is nominated for Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a musical; Daveed Diggs (Thomas Jefferson), Christopher Jackson (George Washington) and Jonathan Groff (King George) are all competing for Best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical. Other nominations include Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Best Costume Design of a Musical, Best Lighting Design of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical (Thomas Kail).

Good luck to Seller, Miranda and the cast and crew of Hamilton! And good luck to all the other musicals that had the misfortune of opening the same year as this juggernaut…