2014 Drama Desk Award Nominations - GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE Leads with 12; Followed by BRIDGES, FUN HOME, ALADDIN, ROCKY & More

Nominations for the 2014 Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced this morning at 54 Below by Academy Award winners Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and two-time Emmy and Golden Globe Nominee Fran Drescher.

In keeping with Drama Desk's mission, nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the 2013-2014 New York theater season in the same competitive categories.

Eligibility and award category designations for the productions under consideration this season were determined by the Drama Desk board of directors with recommendations from the nominating committee. Because of the abundance of great work throughout the season, the Board also authorized the increase in the number of nominees allowed in select categories.

As the current revival of Cabaret replicates the 1998 production, the Board deemed the show ineligible in the Outstanding Revival of a Musical category, as were performers, creative team members, and technical personnel associated with the earlier incarnation in their respective categories. Soul Doctor was considered for its Off-Broadway production in the 2012-13 season. Under Drama Desk rules, only new elements in its transfer to Broadway were eligible this season. Finally, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays was deemed ineligible because it was a return engagement of the 2005 Drama Desk winning show.

Outstanding Play
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
Robert Schenkkan, All the Way
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar

Outstanding Musical
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love's Labour's Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Revival of a Play
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man's Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment
Twelfth Night - Shakespeare's Globe Production

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
LES MISERABLES
Violet

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man's Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Rory O'Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Outstanding Director of a Play
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All the Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Outstanding Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett, Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love's Labour's Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O'Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home

Outstanding Lyrics
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Michael Friedman, Love's Labour's Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Orchestrations
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

Outstanding Music in a Play
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Duncan Sheik, A Man's a Man

Outstanding Revue
After Midnight
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

Outstanding Set Design
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll's House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club

Outstanding Costume Design
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent

Outstanding Lighting Design
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth

Outstanding Projection Design
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Shawn Sagady, All the Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn
Ben Rubin, Arguendo

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
Brian Ronan , Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All the Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information
Matt Tierney, Machinal

Outstanding Solo Performance
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned
John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf

Unique Theatrical Experience
Charlatan
Cirkopolis
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill Vol. 2

Special Awards
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2013-2014, these awards are:

- To Soho Rep.: For nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection.

- To Veanne Cox: For her ability to express the eccentricities, strengths, and vulnerabilities of a range of characters, and notably for her comedic flair as evidenced in this season's The Old Friends and The Most Deserving.

- To Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For his visionary directorial excellence. This season's The Golden Dragon and The Mysteries exemplify his bold and strikingly original imagination.

- To the ensembles of Off-Broadway's The Open House and Broadway's The Realistic Joneses and to the creator of both plays, Will Eno: For two extraordinary casts and one impressively inventive playwright.

- The Open House: Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy, and Carolyn McCormick

- The Realistic Joneses: Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts, and Marisa Tomei

PRODUCTIONS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS:

12 - A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
9 - The Bridges of Madison County
8 - Fun Home
7 - Aladdin
7 - Rocky
6 - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
6 - Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
5 - All the Way
4 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
3 - After Midnight
3 - Big Fish
3 - Domesticated
3 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
3 - London Wall
3 - Love's Labour's Lost
3 - The Glass Menagerie
3 - Twelfth Night*
3 - Violet
2 - A Raisin in the Sun
2 - Cirkopolis
2 - Heathers: The Musical
2 - I Remember Mama
2 - If/Then
2 - Machinal
2 - No Man's Land
2 - Nutcracker Rouge
2 - Of Mice and Men
2 - Outside Mullingar
2 - Tamar of the River
2 - The Cripple of Inishmaan
2 - The Explorers Club
2 - The Model Apartment

The winner of the Sam Norkin Off Broadway Award will receive a $1,000 honorarium, a gift from Mrs. Francie Norkin.

The 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Laura Benanti, will take place on Sunday, June 1, 2014, at 8:00 PM at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

The 2013-2014 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Barbara Siegel, Chairperson, (Author and Freelance Critic); Morgan Jenness (Dramaturg; Columbia & Pace University Professor); Samuel L. Leiter (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theatre, CUNY); Sandy MacDonald (freelance; TheaterNewsOnline.com); Chad McArver (Lighting and Set Designer; Professor, Fordham University); Martha Wade Steketee (Editor and Contributor, Chance Magazine; UrbanExcavations.com); and James Wilson (Theatre Professor, CUNY; Co-Editor of JADT).

Gretchen Shugart is Managing Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards. Joey Parnes Productions will produce and manage the show. The President of Drama Desk is Isa Goldberg and Randie Levine Miller is Director of Special Events.