Hamilton gets record 16 Tony nominations

The rap-based musical debuted off-Broadway in 2015

Hit musical Hamilton is set to dominate this year's Tony Awards after gaining a record-shattering 16 nominations.

The previous record was 15 nominations, held jointly by The Producers and Billy Elliot.

The show, created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, tells the story of America's birth and founding father Alexander Hamilton in rap and R&B style.

The Tony Awards, which celebrate the best of Broadway, take place in New York on 12 June.

Hamilton will compete in the best musical category against Bright Star, School of Rock, Shuffle Along and Waitress.

Shuffle Along - a musical about the staging of a famous musical revue bearing that name in 1921 - is the second most nominated show, with 10 nods in all.

The current Broadway revival of She Loves Me earned eight, while Long Day's Journey Into Night, starring Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange, has seven.

The Eclipsed, The Father, The Humans and King Charles III are all up for best play.

The shortlist for best leading actor in a play sees Byrne pitted against Jeff Daniels (Blackbird), Frank Langella (The Father), Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III) and Mark Strong (A View from the Bridge).

The lead actress in a play field sees Lange up against Laurie Metcalf (Misery), Lupita Nyong'o (Eclipsed), Sophie Okonedo (The Crucible) and Michelle Williams (Blackbird).

A number of other big Hollywood names did not make the cut, including Al Pacino, Bruce Willis, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and George Takei.

Tony nominations by production

Actors Nikki M James and Andrew Rannells announced the nominations on Tuesday

• Hamilton - 16

• Shuffle Along, Or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed - 10

• She Loves Me - 8

• Long Day's Journey Into Night - 7

• Eclipsed - 6

• The Humans - 6

• Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge - 5

• Bright Star - 5

• King Charles III - 5

• Noises Off - 5

• Arthur Miller's The Crucible - 4

• The Color Purple - 4

• School of Rock - 4

• Waitress - 4

Full list of nominations

Hamilton gained seven acting nods and is also up for best original score and best book, as well as several technical awards.

Both Miranda, who plays Hamilton, and Leslie Odom Jr, who plays his political rival Aaron Burr, are up for best leading actor in a musical.

Phillipa Soo, who plays Hamilton's wife Eliza, is nominated in the best actress in a musical category.

The show has a strong presence in the featured acting categories, with nominations for Renee Elise Goldsberry, Daveed Diggs, Christopher Jackson and Jonathan Groff.

Jackson and Groff play George Washington and King George III respectively, while Diggs appears as both Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette.

Thomas Kail's direction and the show's choreography have also been shortlisted.

The show, inspired by a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow, has been a runaway success since it opened off-Broadway in February 2015.

It transferred to Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre last August and has grossed more than $60m (£41.9m) in advance ticket sales.

The musical won the 2016 Grammy Award for best musical theatre album and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama last month.

It is only the ninth musical to win the prize in its 100-year history.

Hamilton's cast is notably multi-ethnic, with its principal roles written for non-white actors.

The show has been watched by the likes of President Barack Obama, Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Paul McCartney.

Miranda tweeted after the announcement: "Congrats to EVERYONE this season. You got your show up. You get to do what you love. You're in the play."

Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose School of Rock musical earned four nominations, said: "This is fantastic. We have just had Jack Black see our show and proclaim it 'a Broadway masterpiece'. Now we get these nominations! We are thrilled."

Britain's James Corden will host the 70th Annual Tony Awards on 12 June at New York's Beacon Theatre.