The Pulitzer Prize for Drama race for 2016 can be summed up in one word: Hamilton.
Just as theatere-observers assume that the critically lauded Lin-Manuel Miranda musical has had the 2016 Tony Award for Best Musical in the bag since the day the show opened on Broadway last August, so do stage prognosticators believe that the musical juggernaut basically has no competition for this award, either.
“I don't see who or what could stop Hamilton!” remarks Elisabeth Vincentelli, the drama critic for the New York Post.
“Is there anyone out there who honestly doesn't think Hamilton will win the Pulitzer?” echoes Matt Windman, longtime theatre critic for am New York. “I image we’d see chaos and bloodshed in Shubert Alley if it was somehow passed over, the likes of which New York hasn’t witnessed since the Astor Place Riot of 1849, with Lin-Manuel Miranda pleading with his fans for some sanity.”
For a year when the Pulitzer winner seemed such a foregone conclusion, you’d have to go back to 2008, when few questioned Tracy’s Lett’s August: Osage County would emerge victorious.
Still, given the lock, the enormously popular musical has on the prize, some critics suggested there were equally worthy candidates out there. Stephen Haram’s The Humans, Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed, Lucas Hnath's The Christians and Annie Baker’s John were all suggested multiple times as likely finalists.
“Given the inevitability of a Hamilton win,” suggests David Cote, drama critic for Time Out New York, “it would be nice to see the Pulitzer folks add a second category: Musical theatre. That way they can reward big, important musicals such as Hamilton but also smaller non-musical dramas such as Stephen Karam’s The Humans, Taylor Mac’s Hir or Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed. They award various areas of journalism and book genres—nonfiction, biography and the like—so why not acknowledge more diversity among theatrical forms?”
If Hamilton does win, as many expect, it will be the first musical to take home the prize since the surprise victory of Next to Normal in 2010.
The Pulitzer Prize is administered by Columbia University. The Drama prize is "for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." The recipient gets $10,000.
The 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner will be announced April 18 at 3 PM. Check back on Playbill.com for the story and other breaking news at that time.
The complete list of Pulitzer Prize in Drama winners is listed below:
015: Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Giurgis
2014: The Flick by Annie Baker
2013: Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar
2012: Water By the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría paraba Hudes
2011: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
2010: Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey
2009: Ruined, by Lynn Nottage
2008: August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts
2007: Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire
2006: No award
2004-05: Doubt, a parable, by John Patrick Shanley
2003-04: I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright
2002-03: Anna in the Tropics, by Nilo Cruz
2001-02: Topdog/Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks
2000-01: Proof, by David Auburn
1999-00: Dinner with Friends, by Donald Margulies
1998-99: Wit, by Margaret Edson
1997-98: How I Learned To Drive, by Paula Vogel
1996-97: No award
1995-96: Rent, by Jonathan Larson
1994-95: The Young Man From Atlanta, by Horton Foote
1993-94: Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee
1992-93: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, by Tony Kushner
1991-92: The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan
1990-91: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon
1989-90: The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson
1988-89: The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
1987-88: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry
1986-87: Fences, by August Wilson
1985-86: No award
1984-85: Sunday in the Park With George, by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
1983-84: Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
1982-83: ‘night, Mother, by Marsha Norman
1981-82: A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller
1980-81: Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
1979-80: Talley’s Folly, by Lanford Wilson
1978-79: Buried Child, by Sam Shepard
1977-78: The Gin Game, by Donald L. Coburn
1976-77: The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer
1975-76: A Chorus Line, by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban
1974-75: Seascape, by Edward Albee
1973-74: No award
1972-73: That Championship Season, by Jason Miller
1971-72: No award
1970-71: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds, by Paul Zindel
1969-70: No Place To Be Somebody, by Charles Gordone
1968-69: The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler
1967-68: No award
1966-67: A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee
1965-66: No award
1964-65: The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy
1963-64: No award
1962-63: No award
1961-62: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows
1960-61: All the Way Home, by Tad Mosel
1959-60: Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick
1958-59: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish
1957-58: Look Homeward, Angel, by Ketti Frings
1956-57: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, by Eugene O’Neill
1955-56: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
1954-55: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams
1953-54: The Teahouse of the August Moon, by John Patrick
1952-53: Picnic, by William Inge
1951-52: The Shrike, by Joseph Kramm
1950-51: No award
1949-50: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
1948-49: Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
1947-48: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
1946-47: No award
1945-46: State of the Union, by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
1944-45: Harvey, by Mary Chase
1943-44: No award
1942-43: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder
1941-42: No award
1940-41: There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood
1939-40: The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan
1938-39: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, by Robert E. Sherwood
1937-38: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
1936-37: You Can’t Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
1935-36: Idiot’s Delight, by Robert E. Sherwood
1934-35: The Old Maid, by Zoe Akins
1933-34: Men in White, by Sidney Kingsley
1932-33: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson
1931-32: Of Thee I Sing, by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and Ira Gershwin
1930-31: Alison’s House, by Susan Glaspell
1929-30: The Green Pastures, by Marc Connelly
1928-29: Street Scene, by Elmer L. Rice
1927-28: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O’Neill
1926-27: In Abraham’s Bosom, by Paul Green
1925-26: Craig’s Wife, by George Kelly
1924-25: They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard
1923-24: Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, by Hatcher Hughes
1922-23: Icebound, by Owen Davis
1921-22: Anna Christie, by Eugene O’Neill
1920-21: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale
1919-20: Beyond the Horizon, by Eugene O’Neill
1918-19: No award
1917-18: Why Marry?, by Jesse Lynch Williams
1916-17: No award
For more information, visit Pulitzer.org.
