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The Broadway musical blockbuster "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda's audacious and iconoclastic chronicle of the life of Alexander Hamilton, is the odds-on favorite to prevail during The 70th Annual Tony Awards, airing live in most markets Sunday (June 12), on CBS.

From New York's Beacon Theater, CBS late-night host James Corden hosts the ceremonies, which will include performance highlights from nominated musicals and plays.
Since it opened on Broadway last August, "Hamilton," which stars Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo and Jasmine Cephas Jones, has become a pop-culture reference point, shorthand for the kind of theatrical megahit everyone wants to see but few can get tickets for. The show racked up a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, including best musical, with three nods for Miranda as the title star as well as the creator of the book, music and lyrics.

Counting Miranda, seven members of the "Hamilton" cast are up for Tonys. Among them, the most familiar face to many Tony viewers probably will be Goldsberry, who played devious assistant State's Attorney Geneva Pine on "The Good Wife" for much of its run. In the Tony race, she's up for best featured actress in a musical for her performance as Alexander Hamilton's sister-in-law, Angelica Schuyler. Angelica and her sister Eliza Hamilton often don't merit even a footnote in some history books, but the musical celebrates their quick wit and keen intellectual curiosity.

"I think sometimes, especially with young girls, there is an assumption of a shallowness or superficiality to their motivations," Goldsberry tells Zap2it. "These women are out looking to be challenged by a powerful mind that would match them. I don't know that we have heard that story told about our founding mothers."

"Hamilton" has managed to reach across demographic lines to connect with both older, more traditional Broadway audiences and younger theatergoers who are fans of hip-hop and rap, chiefly because Miranda's score embraces multiple styles, as musically varied as its cast is ethnically diverse. Goldsberry says she likes to think of "Hamilton" as a blend of opera and mix-tape.

"This score is a compilation of all the music that Lin grew up listening to," she explains. "There's a lot of rap and hip-hop, but there's also a lot of musical theater and a lot of R&B. There's a British pop tune that harkens back to the Beatles. There are very traditional moments, and others that sound much more 'forward.' It runs the gamut in the way that our stories can and should at this point in the world."

The propulsive rhythms of the score keep the historical saga moving at a brisk clip, but when the situation requires it, Miranda also can craft a song like "It's Quiet Uptown," a haunting ballad that follows a devastating personal loss for Alexander and Eliza.

"It's just so beautiful," says Goldsberry, whose character sings most of this number. "I was so blown away by Lin's ability to perfectly capture moments that I didn't know how he understood so well. He's a father now, but he wasn't when he wrote that song. He so perfectly describes those kinds of moments in our lives, with that lyric that goes 'There are moments that the words don't reach.' When I read that, I just kept thinking, 'How are you able to do this?' "

Goldsberry already has won a Drama Desk Award and a Lucille Lortel Award for playing Angelica, as well as a Grammy Award as a member of the principal cast on the "Hamilton" recording. Many Tony pundits consider her the favorite in her category, but she faces formidable competition from two other familiar TV faces: Jane Krakowski ("30 Rock") in a revival of "She Loves Me" and Danielle Brooks ("Orange Is the New Black") for a revival of "The Color Purple."

The actress chooses her words with care when asked about how much longer she plans to stay with the Broadway production or if she wants to be a part of the inevitable London transfer that will happen at some point.

"We haven't spoken about other companies in any detail," she says. "At the moment, we are talking about what is best for the Broadway company. That's something I am excited about being a part of, as it transitions eventually beyond the Tonys, which we have looked forward to for so long. I'm almost sure that I will stay with the show into that next stage, post its inaugural year on Broadway."