Theatre News

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama

The show becomes the ninth musical to win the prestigious award

Ben Hewis
London
Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as the musical's title character with Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler) and Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton)
Hamilton star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as the musical's title character with Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler) and Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton)

© Joan Marcus
The smash hit musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda has been awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, presented at a ceremony in the USA yesterday.

Reacting on twitter the writer and lead actor – whose show In the Heights won three Oliviers this year – said: "PULITZER?!"

— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) April 18, 2016

Inspired by Ron Chernow's biography Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton explores the life of the American founding father and first Secretary of the Treasury. It opened on Broadway in August last year and is largely tipped to sweep the board at the Tony Awards next month.

Miranda leads the cast as Alexander Hamilton, alongside Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Angelica Schuyler), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), Jonathan Groff (King George), Daveed Diggs (Marquis De Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson), Christopher Jackson (George Washington), Anthony Ramos (John Laurens, Phillip Hamilton), Okieriete Onaodowan (Hercules Mulligan, James Madison), and Jasmine Cephas Jones (Peggy Shuyler, Maria Reynolds).

Miranda's win makes Hamilton the ninth musical to win the coveted award, joining such seminal work as South Pacific, Sunday in the Park With George and Rent.

It was recently announced that the musical will embark on a European tour, with Cameron Mackintosh hopeful that he will bring the piece to London in 2017.