The 2016 Tony Awards: After Orlando

For more than a year now, any half-conscious prognosticator could have told you that the 2016 Antoinette Perry Awards would unofficially be the “Hamilton” Tonys. Mostly, they were. Nominated for a record-breaking sixteen awards, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical juggernaut won in eleven categories, including Best Musical, all while expanding the audience that even cares about the Tonys. But this year’s ceremony was also, inescapably, the Orlando Tonys, coming hours after the deadliest gun massacre in U.S. history, at the Florida gay club Pulse. In the wake of such horror, what good is an awards show?