Lin-Manuel Miranda (left) as Hamilton and Jonathan Groff as King George III. Photo: Joan Marcus
Lin-Manuel Miranda (left) as Hamilton and Jonathan Groff as King George III. Photo: Joan Marcus

When Hamilton won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama on Monday, it became the ninth musical in the award’s 100-year history to earn the honor. Here’s a roll call of its predecessors:

  • Next to Normal (2010)
  • Rent (1996)
  • Sunday in the Park With George (1985)
  • A Chorus Line (1976)
  • How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962)
  •  Fiorello! (1960)
  •  South Pacific (1950)
  • Of Thee I Sing (1932)

Now you know.

In honoring Hamilton and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Pulitzer judges called the work “a landmark American musical about the gifted and self-destructive founding father whose story becomes both contemporary and irresistible.”

In July 2008, the story of Hamilton‘s creation goes, Miranda was vacationing in Mexico, where he read Ron Chernow’s 800-page New York Times best-selling biography, Alexander Hamilton, chronicling the life of the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. Hamilton’s story, Miranda says on his website, captivated him and demonstrated how the very human struggles of the American Revolution continue to manifest themselves in today’s society.

The Chicago cast of "The Humans." Photo: Johmmy Oleksinski / Chicago Tribune
The Chicago cast of “The Humans.” Photo: Johmmy Oleksinski / Chicago Tribune

Hamilton‘s Pulitzer is no surprise — the show is widely expected to sweep this season’s top theater awards — but it wasn’t alone in earning Pulitzer praise. The Humans by Stephen Karam and Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins were recognized as finalists.

Ryan Spahn and Jennifer Kim in "Gloria" off-Broadway. Photo: Carol Rosegg
Ryan Spahn and Jennifer Kim in “Gloria” off-Broadway. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Look for both in a regional theater near you in the next two or three seasons. Hamilton, while still selling out on Broadway, has announced plans for an open-ended run to begin Sept. 27 in Chicago. A separate national tour will start in March 2017 in San Francisco (a 21-week run), and then move to Los Angeles (Aug. 11-Dec. 30, 2017) before visiting other cities. A London tour is also possible.

When might Atlanta see Hamilton? Broadway in Atlanta has announced that it will play the Fox Theatre sometime in the 2017-18 season.

About Kathy Janich

Kathy Janich is a longtime arts journalist who has been seeing, working in or writing about the performing arts for most of her life. She's a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Americans for the Arts and the National Arts Marketing Project. Full disclosure: She’s also an artistic associate at Synchronicity Theatre.

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