DEAD OUTLAW, STEREOPHONIC & More Lead in Nominations for 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards

The Outer Critics Circle, the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications, announced the nominees for the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2023-2024 Broadway and Off-Broadway season. The announcement was made by the stars of the hit revival of Merrily We Roll Along, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, and livestreamed by BroadwayWorld.com from the Museum of Broadway.

Leading the pack with the most honors of the season is the Off-Broadway musical Dead Outlaw, with nine nominations, followed by The Connector with seven nominations.  Stereophonic leads in the play categories with seven nominations, followed by Primary Trust, with five nominations.

Nominees for the annual John Gassner Award — for a new American play, preferably by a new playwright — are Job by Max Wolf Friedlich, Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle, Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola, The Apiary by Kate Douglas, and Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.

Winners of the 2024 Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards will be announced via press release on Monday, May 13, followed by an awards ceremony held on Thursday, May 23, 2024. 

Founded during the 1949-50 Broadway season by respected theater journalist John 
Gassner, The Outer Critics Circle is an esteemed association with members affiliated with more than ninety newspapers, magazines, broadcast stations, and online news organizations, in America and abroad. Led by its current President David Gordon, the OCC Board of Directors also includes Vice President Richard Ridge, Recording Secretary Joseph Cervelli, Corresponding Secretary Patrick Hoffman, Treasurer David Roberts, Cynthia Allen, Harry Haun, Dan Rubins, Janice Simpson and Doug Strassler. Simon Saltzman is President Emeritus & Board Member (Non-nominating) and Stanley L. Cohen serves as Financial Consultant & Board Member (Non-nominating). Lauren Yarger serves as the Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony executive producer.

2024 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Jaja's African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh
Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions by Paula Vogel
Patriots by Peter Morgan
Stereophonic by David Adjmi
The Shark Is Broken by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw

Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Days of Wine and Roses
Suffs
The Great Gatsby
The Outsiders
Water for Elephants

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Illinoise
Teeth
The Connector

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

Dig by Theresa Rebeck
King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein
King James by Rajiv Joseph
Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
Swing State by Rebecca Gilman

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)

Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle
Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola
The Apiary by Kate Douglas
Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Cabaret
Here Lies Love
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
Monty Python's Spamalot
The Who's Tommy

Outstanding Revival of a Play

An Enemy of the People
Appropriate
Doubt: A Parable
Mary Jane
Philadelphia, Here I Come!
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play

Jessica Lange – Mother Play
Rachel McAdams – Mary Jane
Sarah Paulson – Appropriate
Jeremy Strong – An Enemy of the People
Michael Stuhlbarg – Patriots

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play

Billy Eugene Jones – Purlie Victorious
Celia Keenan-Bolger – Mother Play
Alex Moffat – The Cottage
Jim Parsons – Mother Play
Sarah Pidgeon - Stereophonic
Kara Young – Purlie Victorious

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical

Ali Louis Bourzgui – The Who's Tommy
Brian d'Arcy James – Days of Wine and Roses
Casey Likes – Back to the Future
Kelli O'Hara – Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett – The Notebook

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical

Roger Bart – Back to the Future
Justin Guarini – Once Upon a One More Time
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer – Spamalot
Kecia Lewis – Hell's Kitchen
Bebe Neuwirth – Cabaret

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical

Jeb Brown – Dead Outlaw
Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw
Alyse Alan Louis - Teeth
Ben Levi Ross – The Connector
Ricky Ubeda - Illinoise

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical

Ben Cook – Illinoise
Hannah Cruz – The Connector
Julia Knitel – Dead Outlaw
Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale
Jessica Molaskey – The Connector
Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play

Cole Escola – Oh, Mary!
Mary Beth Fisher – Swing State
William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust
Marie Mullen – The Saviour
Paul Sparks – Waiting for Godot

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play

Gus Birney – Our Class
April Matthis – Primary Trust
Conrad Ricamora – Oh, Mary!
Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust
Bubba Weiler – Swing State

Outstanding Solo Performance

Eddie Izzard – Hamlet
Patrick Page – All the Devils are Here
Mona Pirnot – I Love You So Much I Could Die
Robert Montano – Small
John Rubenstein – Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury - Illinoise
Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson – Teeth
Itamar Moses – Dead Outlaw
Jonathan Marc Sherman – The Connector
Shaina Taub - Suffs

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jason Robert Brown – The Connector
Will Butler – Stereophonic
Adam Guettel – Days of Wine and Roses
David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna – Dead Outlaw
Shaina Taub - Suffs

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Timo Andres - Illinoise
Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence – Days of Wine and Roses
Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Starobin – Suffs
Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

David Cromer – Dead Outlaw
Michael Greif – Days of Wine and Roses
Daisy Prince – The Connector
Leigh Silverman - Suffs
Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants

Outstanding Direction of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Knud Adams – Primary Trust
Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic
Robert Falls – Swing State
Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious
Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate 

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll – Water for Elephants
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman – The Outsiders
Lorin Latarro – The Who's Tommy
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck – Buena Vista Social Club
Justin Peck — Illinoise

Outstanding Scenic Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) 

Paul Tate DePoo III – The Cottage
Paul Tate DePoo III – The Great Gatsby
Dots – Appropriate
David Korins – Here Lies Love
David Zinn – Stereophonic

Outstanding Costume Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Dede Ayite – Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Enver Chakartash – Stereophonic
Enver Chakartash – Teeth
Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby
Sydney Maresca – The Cottage

Outstanding Lighting Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Bradley King – Water for Elephants
Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders
Justin Townsend – Here Lies Love
Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone – Back to the Future
Amanda Zieve – The Who's Tommy

Outstanding Sound Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Tom Gibbons – Grey House
Gareth Owen – Back to the Future
Gareth Owen – The Who's Tommy
Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer – Here Lies Love

Outstanding Video/Projections (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

David Bengali – Water for Elephants
Paul Tate DePoo III — The Great Gatsby
Peter Nigrini – The Who's Tommy
Finn Ross – Back to the Future
Ash J. Woodward - Patriots

Broadway Productions Considered in Full

Grey House, Once Upon a One More Time, The Cottage, Back to the Future, The Shark Is Broken, Purlie Victorious, Melissa Etheridge: My Window, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Gutenberg! The Musical!, I Need That, Monty Python's Spamalot, How to Dance in Ohio, Appropriate, Days of Wine and Roses, Doubt, The Notebook, An Enemy of the People, Water for Elephants, The Who's Tommy, The Outsiders, Lempicka, The Wiz, Suffs, Stereophonic, Hell's Kitchen, Cabaret, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Patriots, Uncle Vanya, The Great Gatsby, Mother Play

Only New Elements of the Following Productions Were Considered 

Just for Us, Here Lies Love, Merrily We Roll Along, Harmony, Prayer for the French Republic, Mary Jane

Additional Eligibility Considerations

Due to its Broadway timeline, Illinoise was viewed during its Park Avenue Armory run and considered in off-Broadway categories, where applicable.

The Broadway mounting of Suffs was determined to be at least 50% different than its original off-Broadway iteration. Therefore, it has been deemed eligible in all production categories and select acting categories. 

Nominators were not invited to the off-Broadway runs of Here We Are, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice. Therefore, those productions were not in consideration for awards this season.

Artists with Multiple Nominations

Paul Tate DePoo III – 3 (scenic: The Great Gatsby & The Cottage; projection: The Great Gatsby)
Justin Peck – 3 (book: Illinoise; choreography: Illinoise and Buena Vista Social Club)
Cole Escola – 2 (Gassner Award & Lead Performance Off-Broadway Play for Oh, Mary!)
Enver Chakartash – 2 (costume design: Stereophonic and Teeth)
David Yazbek and Eric Della Penna – 2 (score and orchestrations for Dead Outlaw)
Adam Guettel – 2 (score and orchestrations for Days of Wine and Roses)
Gareth Owen – 2 (sound design: Back to the Future and The Who's Tommy)
Shaina Taub – 2 (book and score for Suffs)

Shows with Multiple Nominations

9: Dead Outlaw
7: The Connector, Stereophonic
6: Days of Wine and Roses, Illinoise, The Who's Tommy
5: Back to the Future, Suffs, Primary Trust, Water for Elephants
4: Appropriate, The Great Gatsby, Here Lies Love, Mother Play, Purlie Victorious, Swing State, Teeth
3: Buena Vista Social Club, Oh, Mary!, Patriots, The Cottage, The Outsiders
2: Cabaret, An Enemy of the People, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, Mary Jane, Monty Python's Spamalot
 

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!