Did You Know... Fun Facts About the 2016 Tony Nominees!

The 2016 Tony nominations were announced this morning. If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for?! CLICK HERE to check out a full list of this year's nominees, and HERE for reactions from the lucky few! The American Theatre Wing's 70th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Tony Award winner James Corden, will air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 12, 2016 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Below, check out some fun facts about this year's nominees!

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With her nomination for ECLIPSED, Danai Gurira could become the first African-American woman playwright to win the Tony for Best Play. Previous African-American woman playwrights nominated were Lorraine Hansberry for A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1960), Ntozake Shange for FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF (1977), Anna Deavere Smith for TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 (1994) and Suzan-Lori Parks for TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (2002).

Fresh new blood is dominating the Best Play category with all four nominated playwrights, Gurira, Florian Zeller, Stephen Karam and Mike Bartlett making their Broadway debuts and being under 40.

The above post has been fixed on top of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Twitter page since the 18th of February, 2015. Today HAMILTON garnered ten more Tony nominations than all Broadway productions of HAMLET combined.

This is the first season since 1960, when THE SOUND OF MUSIC and FIORELLO! tied, when there have been five Tony nominees for Best Musical. The only other years there have been that many were 1955, when THE PAJAMA GAME was awarded, and 1958, when the prize went to THE MUSIC MAN.

Aside from a producing credit for THE ELEPHANT MAN, nominee Steve Martin is making his Broadway debut this season. There are 17 others this season nominated for their first Broadway credit: Florian Zeller, Stephen Karam, Mike Bartlett, Edie Brickell, Sara Bareilles, Mark Strong, Lupita Nyong'o, Carmen Cusack, Cynthia Erivo, Phillipa Soo, Richard Goulding, Daveed Diggs, Danielle Brooks, Jan Versweyveld (3 noms), Liesl Tommy, Ivo van Hove and Hofesh Shechter.

Though HAMILTON has set a new record in Tony Award nominations, because of multiple nods for Best Actor and Best Featured Actor categories, it was nominated in just 13 categories. A perfect score, or perhaps a tie or two, will be required to overcome the record of twelve Tony wins set by THE PRODUCERS.

This season costume designer Jane Greenwood picked up her 19th Tony nomination. Though she has never won a Tony for Best Costume Design, she was honored with a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

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