How to win the Tony for best musical in 5 simple steps

Even if "Hamilton" lacked the music, lyrics and script by Lin-Manuel Miranda or the compelling story and extraordinarily talented multi-ethnic cast, it still has many of the hallmarks of a Tony Award winner for best musical.

It's a period piece with a one-word title that features a man and is directed by a male. Such characteristics are very common among the Broadway musicals that have captured the coveted best musical prize over the last 20 years, according to research by Davenport Theatrical Enterprises. For example, 55 percent of winners take place in a previous era, while 85 percent of the productions were directed by a man

Still, not all "Hamilton"attributes scream winner: Only 15 percent of the shows crowned best musical the past 20 years were based on actual events.

Puppets, by the way, can also boost a musical's chance of reigning supreme. Yet even without them, "Hamilton" is widely expected to win many of the record 16 Tonys for which it was nominated, including best musical.

The 70th annual Tony Awards air on CBS this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.

1. Consider adding puppets to the cast

Nineteen years after opening, audiences still gasp when the graceful, part-person, part-puppet animals emerge on "The Lion King" stage. Audiences still laugh at the foul-mouthed, Muppet-like creatures at the center of "Avenue Q," though the show has been moved to off-Broadway. And probably someone is still having nightmares featuring the positively fiendish-looking representations of Margaret Thatcher in "Billy Elliot The Musical."

All totaled, puppets played prominently in 15 percent of the shows that won the Tony Award for best musical in the past 20 years.

That may not sound like much. However, puppets and marionettes aren't exactly staples on Broadway stages, so they get attention when they arrive. "War Horse," which featured life-size wiry stallions, won best play in 2011. Hmm. Wonder why Disney isn't staging "Pinocchio"?

2. Turn a movie into a musical

It's hard to believe they don't sell popcorn in Broadway theaters. Forty percent of the Tony winners for best musicals since 1996 were based on movies.

The last production to fit that bill was "Kinky Boots," which tells the story of a struggling shoe factory that changes its fortunes by making footwear for transvestites. The 2013 winner made a much bigger splash than the 2005 movie ever did.

"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," a delightful concoction about an Englishman who kills eight relatives standing in the way of his earldom, won the year after "Kinky Boots." Although "Gentleman's Guide" has much in common with the 1949 movie "Kind Hearts and Coronets," the show's lead producer has said the musical actually was based on the book that was the basis for the movie. Among other screen-to-stage winners are "Once," "Hairspray" and "The Producers."

3. Focus on a male protagonist

Thank goodness for "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Fun Home"-- both shows put some much needed estrogen into the best musical winner's circle. "Millie" is about a girl from Kansas who comes to New York City in search of a rich husband. "Fun Home" breaks ground as a musical on Broadway because its central story is about a lesbian: A girl realizes that not only is she gay but her father is a closeted homosexual.

Otherwise, it's a pretty macho group composed of shows like "Jersey Boys," "The Producers," "Monty Python's Spamalot" and "Billy Elliott." Indeed, 90 percent of the 20 previous best musicals featured a male protagonist.

Female directors are practically invisible, too. Only three shows that won the award for best musical were directed by women (and one of those ladies was at the helm of two shows): "Contact" and "The Producers" were directed by Susan Stroman, and "The Lion King" was directed by Julie Taymor.

It's a strange situation, considering nearly 70 percent of Broadway theatergoers have two "X" chromosomes.

4. Set the story in the past

Broadway has a funny relationship with decades past. Few best musicals are based on actual historical events, but the Tony Awards voters seem to love historical eras. More than half -- 55 percent -- of best musical winners are period pieces.

Some are based on real events, like "Titanic" and "Memphis," about one of the first white DJs to play music by African-Americans in the 1950s. But most of them simply capture the flavor of an era: The Roaring 20s as the backdrop for "Thoroughly Modern Millie," even though the small-town girl-comes-to-big city story is timeless, or the 1980s AIDS epidemic in bohemian New York for "Rent," although the tragic story of its struggling artists is universal (and based on the classic opera "La Boheme").

5. Give it a one-word title

A good sign for "Hamilton": Seven out of the last 20 winners of the Tony for best musical have one-word titles:-- "Rent," "Titanic," "Fosse," "Contact," "Memphis," "Hairspray" and "Once."

The longest title in the last 20 years? A "Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder."

And beyond your best musical bragging rights...

How fun it must be to walk into one of the after-Tony parties clutching the award. What makes the victory even sweeter? Making money.

The Tony Award for best musical greatly increases the odds that the production will actually turn a profit -- a claim only about 20 percent of Broadway shows can ever make. Yet, 80 percent of Tony-award winning best musicals have recouped their investment.

Break a leg!