Tony Awards 2016: James Corden addresses Orlando nightclub shooting, leads into ‘Hamilton’ inspired opening

We knew that originally, the 2016 Tony Awards probably had some sort of grand opening planned in order to commemorate what may have been one of the best years Broadway has seen in quite some time; but, after the horrific events of Orlando overnight, we weren’t quite sure if the show would go on exactly as it was planned.

In the end, what we saw was the familiar mantra of “the show must go on,” at least after host James Corden came on the stage to say that the hearts and minds of everyone in the audience were with the people who were suffering or grieving following the tragedy. He also reminded the audience that the theater community is one that celebrates diversity regardless of age, gender, race, or sexual orientation.

From here, we of course moved on to “Hamilton.” This musical has reinvigorated the stage, and of course Corden kicked off the performance portion of the show by doing a little bit of a spoof courtesy of the way he was introduced. From there, he gave a brief monologue, proclaiming that the show is like “the Super Bowl for people who don’t know who the Super Bowl is.” He also said that there was so much diversity that Donald Trump was going to try to build a wall around the theater.

Ultimately, we feel like the Tonys handled this in as pitch-perfect way as possible in the opening. They were aware that many people would of course be somewhat distracted, and they want to ensure that the night still as fun and celebratory as possible.

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