NYBT TOP 50 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN: #4 – HAMILTON

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RISE UP BROADWAY FANS! It’s getting closer by the days and the hours. The 74th Annual Tony Awards is in 4 MORE DAYS!!! To continue celebrating Broadway’s biggest night and Live Theater’s triumphant return after this rough 18 1/2 month intermission, our TOP 50 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN continues. More of your favorite legendary performances coming your way.
At # 4 on countdown, we take you back in time to New York City in the year 1776-1800 to meet one of our most famous founding fathers who traveled from the Caribbean to America. Thanks to this musical, we know him today as our first ever Secretary of the Treasury. You love him or you hate him. We know him as the dude on the 10 DOLLAR BILL. This is of course… Hamilton. Inspired from Ron Chernow‘s biography, the show features a book and score by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
From the 2016 telecast, Tony winners Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role, Leslie Odom Jr. as “Aaron Burr”, Daveed D. Diggs as “Marquis de Lafayette”, and members of the original cast perform the high energy number about the Battle of YORKTOWN (THE WORLD TURNS UPSIDE DOWN).
FUN FACT: For this particular performance, the cast did not use their prop guns to have their moment honoring the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting (that happened that very same day).
HAMILTON was first conceived by Lin Manuel Miranda while he was on vacation from his first big Broadway hit In The Heights. For something to read during his trip laying on the beach, he picked up Ron Chernow’s 818 page book about Alexander Hamilton at the airport. He was so inspired and moved about this man, he thought the story of our founding father would fit really well with Hip-Hop music. Miranda initially wrote the musical as a mixtape concept album entitled THE HAMILTON MIXTAPE. In 2009 while writing the score, Miranda got a call from President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama to perform at the White House Poetry Jam. He originally was going to perform a song from IN THE HEIGHTS but decided to try his new material in front of an audience. In his opening speech, Miranda talked about the new Alexander Hamilton musical he was writing which the audience laughed. However, as soon as he opened his mouth to rap out the opening number of the show, the crowd fell in love. In addition, the performance went viral. Following that performance, Miranda continued to work on the new show with numerous readings and a workshop at the Vassar College Reading Festival in 2013 (which was mostly majority of the first act and only 3 songs from the second act).
Following a set of rewrites and a new name, HAMILTON officially had it’s world premiere run Off Broadway at The Public Theater in January 2015. The response during it’s opening week was insane, it was extended twice. With everyone wanting to see the show, the producers of the show and Miranda announced that the show was transferring to the Great Bright Way a few months later.
HAMILTON officially arrived on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (where Miranda previously had his Broadway debut with IN THE HEIGHTS) becoming a groundbreaking phenomenon… it was the hottest show in New York City (and even today) you still couldn’t get a ticket. Today, the show continues to sell out and play to packed houses 8 times a week…. that was until March 12th, 2020 when Broadway was shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, the Broadway production reopened on September 14th, 2021 and back playing once again to sold out crowds. Under the direction of Thomas Kail and choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, the cast featured…
Lin-Manuel Miranda (later Javier Muñoz, Michael Luwoye, Austin Scott, and Miguel Cervantes) as “Alexander Hamilton”,
Leslie Odom Jr. (later Brandon Victor Dixon, Daniel Breaker, and Jin Ha) as “Aaron Burr”,
Daveed Diggs (later Seth Stewart and James Monroe Iglehart) as “Marquis De Lafayette” / “Thomas Jefferson”,
Renee Elise Goldsberry (later Mandy Gonzalez) as “Angelica Schuyler”,
Phillipa Soo (later Lexi Lawson, Denée Benton, and Krystal Joy Brown) as “Eliza Schuyler”,
Jasmine Cephas Jones (later Alysha Deslorieux, Joanna A Jones, and Aubin Wise) as “Peggy Schuyler” / “Maria Reynolds”,
Christopher Jackson (later Nicholas Christopher, Bryan Terrell Clark, Carvens Lissaint, and Tamar Greene) as “General George Washington”,
Okieriete Onaodowan (later Quinton J. Johnson, Wallace Smith, and Fergie L. Phillipe) as “Hercules Mulligan” / “James Madison”,
Anthony Ramos (later Anthony Lee Medina and Daniel Yearwood) as “John Laurens” / “Philip Hamilton”,
and
Jonathan Groff (later Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley, Brian D’Arcy James, Taran Killam, and Euan Morton) as “King George III”.
The show made history for a record breaking 16 Tony Awards nominations in 2016 winning 11 including BEST MUSICAL, BEST LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL (for Leslie Odom Jr.), BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL (for Daveed Diggs), BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (for Renee Elise Goldsberry), BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL, BEST SCORE (both for Lin Manuel Miranda), and more.
During his speech for BEST SCORE, Miranda did not rap his speeches like he did for IN THE HEIGHTS but instead paid tribute to the victims of the Orlando Nightclub shooting with his now well famous sonnet featuring the quote “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love; Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Along with the Tonys, HAMILTON also made history for being one of the few Musicals ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It also went on to win glory at the Grammy Awards winning for BEST MUSICAL THEATRE ALBUM for it’s acclaimed cast album which also made history as the first cast album ever to make it to # 1 on the Billboard Rap Charts.
Also, before HAMILTON officially opened on the Great Bright Way, the show had a multimillion-dollar advance in ticket sales, reportedly taking in $30 million before its official opening. It also got huge attention for its popular #Ham4Ham Lottery Rush for $10 in the front row. The Live Lottery itself was so popular, 46th Street would be jam packed. It caused a huge fire hazard, they were forced to change to becoming the first Broadway show to create a Digital Lottery.
HAMILTON has already gone on to become a huge global phenomenon with productions all around the world. Along with our Broadway backyard in New York, other companies included….
a 4 year sit-down Chicago company which ran for 1,341 performances in the Windy City’s CIBC Theatre,
it’s current 3 US National Touring productions (the ANGELICA, PHILLIP, and AND PEGGY companies) which have been still playing across North America which are now back as well,
West End (where it took home glory at the Olivier Awards winning 8 including BEST NEW MUSICAL) and recently returned to playing to packed houses at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre,
Australia (being one of the first productions to open since the shutdown),
and more.
Upcoming productions will include the first Non-English speaking production of the show debuting in Hamburg, Germany – With the entire score translated in German.
and more.
In addition to its success on stage, HAMILTON has already been so popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Summer of last year, Disney+ released the filmed performance of the Broadway production starring the original cast. Filmed from the stage of the Richard Rodgers Theatre, it was originally recorded in 2016 during the final weeks before Lin Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., and Phillipa Soo departed.
The filmed adaptation recently also won a Primetime Emmy Award for OUTSTANDING VARIETY SPECIAL (PRE-RECORDED).
Also if you enjoyed HAMILTON, be sure to join us on our Gilbert and Sullivan to Hamilton Walking Tour. We will take you on a fun adventures to some of key noted places mentioned and where the real Alexander Hamilton walked on the face of this earth.
How groundbreaking is this show?!

NYBT TOP 50 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN: # 10 – RENT

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HOW’S IT GOING BROADWAY FANS?! The celebration of Live Theater’s return continues. We are only 10 DAYS till Broadway’s biggest Night of the year – The 74th Annual Tony Awards. This is the moment we are about to reach our TOP 10 portion of our TOP 50 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN. We have an incredible lineup of legendary performances from previous telecasts in this lineup.
At # 10 on our countdown, we take you downtown to New York City’s bohemian lifestyle in the Alphabet City part of the East Village filled with struggling artists, drag queens, drug dealers, and people dying from serious diseases including HIV/AIDS in the late 80’s. This is Rent. An updated version of Puccini’s opera La Boheme, the show features a score and book by the late Jonathan Larson along with Billy Aronson.
From the 1996 telecast, here is the original Broadway cast performing a medley of 2 of the show’s anthems SEASONS OF LOVE & LA VIE BOHEME.
RENT was first conceived in the 80’s when a young aspiring composer by the name of Jonathan Larson met up with writer Billy Aronson who wanted to create an updated version of Puccini’s opera LA BOHEME set in present day New York City. Originally the story was set in SoHo but Larson knew that the show should be set in the area he was living at the time… New York’s East Village in the gritty area at the time of Bohemian Alphabet City. They began working on the project with Jonathan helping him out doing most of the work. From there, Larson and Aronson made a deal that if the show becomes a massive hit, Aronson would also share some of the credit. From there, Jonathan went to work on the show for many years while still working as a waiter at the Moondance Diner in SoHO. Larson was inspired by what was happening including his friends dying from serious conditions including AIDS which no one knew about at the time. He recorded many hours of cassette tapes and sent them out to numerous Theaters. Some approved and several rejected it. However his life changed when he came across a new Off Broadway house that just moved into the village at the time…. the New York Theatre Workshop. He got more information about the place before sending his demos to Jim Nicola (the artistic director) who replied really fast and accepted the piece. Nicola decided to give this new original rock musical a try. It went through many years of readings, workshops, and revamping before officially planning to launch a full scale production in 1996. Under the direction of Michael Grief, the team went to work on making the show a reality on stage.
Unfortunately for RENT’s road to the stage was very bittersweet and Jonathan Larson never lived to see RENT in it’s worldwide success. In the wee hours of the show’s first public preview performance at the New York Theatre Workshop, he unexpectedly died of an aortic aneurysm. Due to the emotional loss of their friend, the cast and creative team came together and decided to cancel the first preview to the public and instead invited all of Jonathan’s friends and family for a special memorial edition of the show. At the end of the show, there was a moment of silence and what broke it was a person in the audience cried out THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON before erupting into a standing ovation.
RENT originally premiered downtown in a sold out run at the New York Theatre Workshop the next day before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre playing a total of 5,124 performances. Under the direction of Michael Grief, the original cast featured…
Tony nominee Adam Pascal as “Roger”,
Anthony Rapp as “Mark”,
Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega as “Mimi”,
Taye Diggs as “Benny”,
Jesse L Martin as “Tom Collins,
Tony winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia as “Angel”,
Freddi Walker Browne as “Joanne”,
and
Tony winner Idina Menzel as “Maureen”.
The show went on to win 4 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score (for Jonathan Larson received by his sister Julie Larson). It also became one of the few musicals ever to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The show also brought more younger Theatergoers into the world of Theater. It also went on to play on 6 continents and translated into every major language.
Rent was later revamped as an Off Broadway revival in 2011 playing New World Stages for only 482 performances. The original revival cast featured…
Matt Shingledecker as “Roger”,
Adam Chanler-Berat as “Mark”,
Arianda Fernandez as “Mimi”,
Ephraim M. Sykes as “Benny”,
Nicholas Christopher as “Tom Collins”,
MJ Rodriguez as “Angel”,
Corbin Reid as “Joanne”,
and
Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford as “Maureen”.
Along with its success on stage, RENT became a massive hit on screen 3 times. The original film was released in 2005 featuring members of the original Broadway cast and new newbies consisting of…
Tony nominee Adam Pascal as “Roger”,
Anthony Rapp as “Mark”,
Rosario Dawson as “Mimi”,
Taye Diggs as “Benny”,
Jesse L Martin as “Tom Collins,
Tony winner Wilson Jermaine Heredia as “Angel”,
Tracie Thoms as “Joanne”,
and Tony winner Idina Menzel as “Maureen”.
In 2008, the original production was filmed during his historical final Broadway performances. It was released for a limited engagement and later released on DVD. The filmed performance consisted of…
Will Chase as “Roger”,
Adam Kantor as “Mark”,
Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry as “Mimi”,
Original Ensemble member Rodney Hicks as “Benny”,
Michael McElroy as “Tom Collins,
Justin Johnston as “Angel”,
Tracie Thoms reprising her role from the film as “Joanne”,
and
Eden Espinosa as “Maureen”.
Most recently in 2019, a new generation got to experience RENT like never before as a live televised musical event for FOX. The cast featured…
Brennin Hunt as “Roger”,
Jordan Fisher as “Mark”,
Tinashe as “Mimi”,
Mario as “Benny”,
Brandon Victor Dixon as “Tom Collins”,
Valentina as “Angel”,
Kiersey Clemons as “Joanne”,
and
Vanessa Hudgens as “Maureen”.
FUN FACT: 90% of FOX’s RENT LIVE was actually pre-tapped. During the dress rehearsal, Brennin Hunt injured his foot during the end of WHAT YOU OWN. Despite his injury, the show still went on. However luckily the crew were prepared and used the archival dress rehearsal footage for most of the airing. During the actually technically live, the cast performed the 90% as a concert with Hunt in a wheelchair. The only parts where the show went live on the air was the entire final scene of the show and the encore of SEASONS OF LOVE (featuring the live TV production cast performing alongside the original Broadway cast). However, it received so much criticism from viewers and critics saying they should have used an understudy.
In addition, RENT opened the door for many of Broadway’s current acclaimed Tony Award winning and nominated writers including…
and
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal and If/Then).
Today, RENT is still performed on tour across America, in schools, community, and regional theaters everywhere.
If you want to learn more about RENT and it’s road to Broadway. Be sure to join us on our INSPIRATION OF RENT WALKING TOUR where we’ll take you to some of the key locations in the East Village where Jonathan got RENT on its feet as well as places he was inspired by that he wrote about for the show.
Doesn’t this musical make you want to celebrate life?

RENT | 1996 Tony Awards Performance – YouTube

HISTORY IS HAPPENING! HAMILTON celebrates triumphant return back to inaugural ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS; Cast throws on-stage dance party at curtain call!!

VIDEO: HAMILTON Celebrates Its Broadway Reopening with a Curtain Call Dance Party!

RAISE A GLASS TO FREEDOM!! Last night, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s groundbreaking Award winning phenomenon Hamilton reopened at its inaugural ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Check out footage below of the cast taking their history making comeback bows IN THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!!!
WELCOME BACK HAMILTON!!!
How incredible was that?!!

 

New York Broadway Tours set to relaunch Walking Tours this Fall!!!

Along with Broadway re-opening TONIGHT , we at New York Broadway Tours are starting to prepare in RELAUNCHING OUR WALKING TOURS THIS FALL!
Prepare to BOOK YOUR TICKETS!!!
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HAMILTON to relaunch its #Ham4Ham Digital Lottery for its Broadway return!!

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RAISE A GLASS and get ready to return to THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS! Next week, HISTORY IS HAPPENING for the inaugural Broadway company of Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Hamilton as it relaunches its run here in THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD. With all of this in mind, the show will be re-launching its popular #Ham4Ham Lottery Rush. This is your chance to NOT THROW AWAY YOUR SHOT to the hottest phenomenon of them all.
It will be done once again as a DIGITAL LOTTERY raffling off a limited amount of $10 tickets for each and every performance through the show’s official AP. Starting now through tomorrow September 9th, 2021, they are raffling off tickets for the show’s historical RE-OPENING WEEK.
The official rules of the lottery will run like this….
1. Subsequent digital lotteries will begin on each Friday at 10am and close the following Thursday at Noon for the upcoming week’s performances.
2. Both winner and looser notifications will be sent between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM every Thursday for the upcoming week’s performances via email and mobile push notification. If you win, you have only 2 hours to claim and pay your tickets.
3. No purchase or payment necessary to enter or participate.
4. Each winning entrant may purchase up to 1 or 2 tickets.
5. You may enter every week only ONCE. Repeat entries and disposable email addresses will be discarded.
6. Winners can pick up their tickets at the Richard Rodgers Theatre Box Office beginning 30 minutes prior to the scheduled performance.
7. Patrons must be 18 years or older and have a valid, non-expired photo ID that matches the name used to enter. Tickets are non-transferable. Ticket limits and prices displayed are at the sole discretion of the show and are subject to change without notice.
8. Lottery prices are not valid on prior purchases. Lottery ticket offer cannot be combined with any other offers or promotions. All sales final – no refunds or exchanges. Lottery may be revoked or modified at any time without notice. A purchase will not improve the chances of winning.
9. Since we are still coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, all patrons will be required to show proof they are fully vaccinated. If you haven’t gotten the shot, you need to show proof of a PCR COVID-19 test with a NEGATIVE result taken within 72 hours.
HAMILTON’s popular #Ham4Ham Lottery has been getting the buzz since the show’s triumphant success downtown at The Public Theater. When the show made its UPTOWN move, over 700 screaming #HamilFans gathered outside the Richard Rodgers to get their hands on entering the show’s lottery rush for a limited amount of $10 tickets….. 21 FRONT ROW ORCHESTRA SEATS!!! The lottery obviously is well known as #Ham4Ham because of HAMILTON being about the 10 DOLLAR FOUNDING FATHER himself….. Alexander Hamilton.
At that first preview, the show’s creator and original star Lin-Manuel Miranda was super overwhelmed by the response knowing for a fact the show will be a LONG RUNNING SHOW IN BROADWAY HISTORY indeed. At the same time, he and the entire HAMILTON family all came together to create a fun preshow tradition in not letting the #HamilFans feel empty handed. There, The #Ham4Ham Show was born.
Before every drawing of the lottery ticket winners, Miranda (serving as the Emcee) and members of the cast began preparing and hosting outdoor mini-performances allowing lottery participants to experience a part of the show….. even if they lost. Later on during their run, Miranda and the cast would sometimes invite special surprise guests from Broadway favorites, cast members from other Broadway shows, and so much more.
With the response of HAMILTON’s popularity, the live lotteries would draw humongous crowds of people that created a fire hazard on West 46th Street (where the Richard Rodgers Theatre is located). With the crowds being insane, HAMILTON immediately switched and became the first Broadway show to do a now popular DIGITAL LOTTERY in January 2016. However on the first day of the Digital #Ham4Ham, more than 50,000 people entered and caused the show’s website to crash.
While the site crashing situation was being sorted out, the LIVE #Ham4Ham shows continued but was done before the Wednesday Matinee performances only. However those pre-Wednesday matinee crowds (especially when Spring and Summer 2016 came around) continued to grow even TITANIC sized crowds causing 46th Street to shut down.
Miranda continued hosting the #Ham4Ham show till the day he departed the Broadway production of HAMILTON on July 9th, 2016. Following his departure, Tony nominee Rory O’Malley (who succeeded Tony nominee Jonathan Groff in the role of “King George III” fulltime at the time) took over as the #Ham4Ham Emcee.
With the TITANIC sized 46th Street crowds being out of control, the Live Lottery was forced to end on August 31st, 2016. It moved online ever since. For the Pre Raffle Entertainment, the cast ended up posting virtual live performances on the show’s social media.
An Encore edition of the Live #Ham4Ham show happened on August 16th, 2017 in celebration of the official Opening Night launch of The 1st National Touring company (a.k.a THE ANGELICA TOUR) in Los Angeles. Upon Thousands of fans camped and gathered around LA’s Hollywood Pantages Theatre with Miranda serving as the Emcee and a special performance from that original 1st National Touring cast.
HAMILTON will inspire the world once again to RISE UP starting September 14th, 2021 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Who is excited?

HAMILTON Announces the Return of #HAM4HAM Lottery on Broadway (broadwayworld.com)

Broadway League launches THIS IS BROADWAY initiative!!! Short film released featuring Oprah!!

This Is Broadway
This week is a very exciting week as many of Broadway’s hottest tickets officially start to return!!!! To get us in the mood, our wonderful friends at The Broadway League have released a brand new initiative which is set to welcome tourists back to the Great Bright Way after 18 months of being shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. THIS IS BROADWAY!!!
Check out this powerful new short film featuring narration by the legendary Oprah Winfrey!!!!
Who is excited?!!!