2015 pop culture is best summarized using four words: Star Wars. Adele. Hamilton.* With a cast recording that graced Billboard charts as the #1 rap album and #9 album for top sales, an indefinite sold-out run and multiple presidential visits, Hamilton is an unstoppable phenomenon. Sure, Book of Mormon, Wicked and the Lion King won over the hearts of theatre-going audiences, but it has been nearly 20 years since a show as culturally and socially significant as Hamilton has graced a Broadway stage** and challenged perceptions of what Broadway and musical theatre is (and could be).
However, 2015 also saw a new normal emerge on the professional New York theatre scene, to which Hamilton was but one contributor: an embrace of diversity in both story-telling and casting. In addition to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop infused vision of Revolutionary War-era America, Allegiance, with a predominately Asian-American cast, presented the story of Japanese Americans interned during WWII, the predominately Latin American cast of On Your Feet! celebrated Gloria Estefan’s successes in the music industry, the cast of Fun Home stunned audiences with a beautiful story of sexuality, self-discovery and family relationships, the creative team behind off-Broadway’s Eclipsed highlighted the horrors of war for African women, and the revival cast of Deaf West’s Spring Awakening proved that an ensemble can have a powerful and beautiful dialogue with audiences without making a sound.
In total, it was an exciting year on stage and this list of nominees is but a small glimpse of the tremendous work done both on and off-Broadway in 2015.***
*Sorry, Jurassic World. Ditch Bryce Dallas Howard’s high heels next time.
**That show was Rent. But you already knew that, right?
Please note that, in order to be nominated for a 2015 MyTheatre Awards, a show must have been seen by at least one staff writer for My Entertainment World. Productions that were previously nominated off-Broadway are not eligible for nomination if they transferred to Broadway in 2015.
Submit your vote for Fan Favourite in the comments section below, via Twitter or Facebook and be sure to check out our nominations for the MyTV Awards, MyCinema Awards and MyTheatre Awards in Toronto, London and Boston.
And, as always, all nominees are invited to contact us to sign up to be a part of our annual Nominee Interview Series. Email nyc@myentertainmentworld.ca for more information.
After careful consideration, here are the productions and actors in New York being considered for a 2015 MyTheatre Award…
Best Musical
Fun Home
Hamilton
On Your Feet!
School of Rock the Musical
Best Play
Constellations
The Audience
Wolf Hall
King Charles III
Eclipsed
Best Revival (Musical)
The King & I
Spring Awakening
The Color Purple
Fiddler on the Roof
Best Revival (Play)
Skylight
Old Times
Thérèse Raquin
A View from the Bridge
Best Actress (Musical)
Kelli O’Hara (The King & I)
Beth Malone (Fun Home)
Renèe Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton)
Phillipa Soo (Hamilton)
Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet!)
Best Actor (Musical)
Michael Cerveris (Fun Home)
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton)
Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton)
Daniel N. Durant (Spring Awakening)
Danny Burstein (Fiddler on the Roof)
Best Actress (Play)
Ruth Wilson (Constellations)
Helen Mirren (The Audience)
Mary Louise Burke (Ripcord)
Holland Taylor (Ripcord)
Lupita Nyong’o (Eclipsed)
Best Actor (Play)
Ben Miles (Wolf Hall)
Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III)
John Benjamin Hickey (Dada Woof Papa Hot)
Mark Strong (A View from the Bridge)
Sam Rockwell (Fool for Love)
Best Supporting Actor (Musical)
Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!)
Jonathan Groff (Hamilton)
Daveed Diggs (Hamilton)
Christopher Jackson (Hamilton)
George Takei (Allegiance)
Alex Boniello (Spring Awakening)
Best Supporting Actress (Musical)
Sydney Lucas (Fun Home)
Emily Skeggs (Fun Home)
Ruthie Ann Miles (The King & I)
Katie Boeck (Spring Awakening)
Treshelle Edmond (Spring Awakening)
Best Supporting Actor (Play)
Nathaniel Parker (Wolf Hall)
Oliver Chris (King Charles III)
Richard Goulding (King Charles III)
Gabriel Ebert (Thérèse Raquin)
Matt Ryan (Thérèse Raquin)
Best Supporting Actress (Play)
Lydia Leonard (Wolf Hall)
Judith Light (Thérèse Raquin)
Pascale Armand (Eclipsed)
Saycon Sengbloh (Eclipsed)
Zainab Jah (Eclipsed)
Lydia Wilson (King Charles III)
Best Ensemble
Hamilton
Fun Home
King Charles III
Spring Awakening
Eclipsed
Best Set Design
Hamilton
Wolf Hall
Thérèse Raquin
The King & I
John
Constellations
Best Lighting Design
Hamilton
Wolf Hall
A View from the Bridge
Constellations
King Charles III
Best Choreography
An American in Paris
The King & I
Hamilton
Spring Awakening
Best Costumes
Wolf Hall
Hamilton
The King & I
Amazing Grace
Eclipsed
Most Memorable Broadway Debut
Daveed Diggs (Hamilton)
Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple)
Ruthie Ann Miles (The King & I)
Phillipa Soo (Hamilton)
Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet!)
Mark Strong (A View from the Bridge)
Most Overrated Productions
On the 20th Century
John
Misery
China Doll
Play or Musical You Are Most Excited to See in 2016
American Psycho (musical)
The Humans (play – Broadway transfer)
Eclipsed (play – Broadway transfer)
The Crucible (play)
Waitress (musical)
Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (musical)