Nominations for the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced at a news conference on April 27 and after weeks of anticipation, the ceremony is tonight, June 3, at The Town Hall and BroadwayWorld will be bringing you the full spectrum of coverage, of course! The special night begins at 8pm EST so be sure to check back right here as we update the winners list LIVE!
The festivities will be presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James.
The awards will be presented by award winning dramatists including Doug Wright and Rick Elice; legendary composers: Maury Yeston, William Finn; heralded directors: Roger Rees, Alex Timbers; celebrated designers: Peggy Eisenhauer; revered orchestrators: Jonathan Tunick; valued members of the New York theater scene: Oskar Eustis, Jenny Gersten; and, of course, popular performers: Martha Plimpton, John Larroquette, Julie Halston and Bernadette Peters.
This year's show will feature performances by Miche Braden, Jessie Mueller, Kevin Earley, Marin Mazzie, and Mollie Ranson from Drama Desk recognized productions including The Devil's Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Death Takes a Holiday, and Carrie with a special performance by the Drama Desk winning cast of Newsical.
The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be streamed live from the red carpet (7:15-7:45PM) as well as inside the Town Hall (beginning at 8PM) at www.DramaDeskAwards.com.
In keeping with the Drama Desk's mission, nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the 2011-2012 New York theater season in the same competitive categories. The Board also decided to eliminate the category of Orchestrations.
And, once again, the nominees are...
Outstanding Play
David Henry Hwang, Chinglish
Dan LeFranc, The Big Meal
Members of the Plastic Theatre, Unnatural Acts
Ita mar Moses, Completeness
Lynn Nottage, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Nina Raine, Tribes
Nicky Silver, The Lyons
Outstanding Musical
Bonnie & Clyde
Death Takes a Holiday
Leap of Faith
Newsies The Musical
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once
Queen of the Mist
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Carrie
Evita
Follies
Jesus Christ Superstar
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess
The Threepenny Opera
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Bill Camp, Oeath of a Salesman
Jim Dale, The Road to Mecca
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Bill Irwin, King Lear
Jefferson Mays, Blood and Gifts
Will Rogers, Unnatural Acts
Morgan Spector, Russian Transport
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Stephanie J. Block, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Anna Camp, All New People
Kimberly Hebert Gregory, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Lisa Joyce, The Ugly One
Joaquina Kalukango, Hurt Vii/age
Angela Lansbury, Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Outstanding Director of a Play
Jo Bonney, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
David Cromer, Tribes
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, These Seven Sicknesses
Sam Mendes, Richard III
Mike Nichols, Death of a Salesman
Tony Speciale, Unnatural Acts
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Leap of Faith
Jack Cummings III, Queen of the Mist
Doug Hughes, Death Takes a Holiday
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Eric Schaeffer, Follies
John Tiffany, Once
Outstanding Choreography
Rob Ashford, Evita
Warren Carlyle, Follies
Breandan de Gallal, Noctu
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies The Musical
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Sergio Trujillo, Leap of Faith
Outstanding Music in a Play
Mark Bennett, An Iliad
Mark Bennett, Richard III
Tom Kitt, Ail's Well That Ends Well
Gina Leishman, Septimus and Clarissa
Grant Olding, One Man, Two Guvnors
Suzanne Vega and Duncan Sheik, Carson McCullers Talks About Love
Outstanding Revue
Newsical the Musical: End of the World Edition
The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Quentin Chiappetta/mediaNoise, The Navigator
Gregory Clarke, Misterman
Gareth Fry, Richard III
John Gromada, Gore Vidal's The Best Man
Stowe Nelson, Samuel and Alasdair: A Personal History of the Robot War
Shane Rettig, She Kills Monsters
Outstanding Solo Performance
Baba Br inkman, The Rap Guide to Evolution
Suli Holum, Chimera
Jeff Key, The Eyes of Babylon
Cilli an Murphy, Misterman
Denis O'Hare, An Iliad
Stephen Spinella, An Iliad
Unique Theatrical Experience
Give Me Your Hand
Gob Squad's Kitchen (You've Never Had It So Good)
Noctu
The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Vol. 1: Early
Plays/Lost Plays
The Ryan Case 1873
White
Outstanding Ensemble Performance
This year the nominators chose to bestow a special ensemble award for acting to the cast of Sweet and Sad. Jon Devries, Shuler Hensley, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, and J. Smith-Cameron are among New York's best actors, who came together as one unforgettable stage family. Therefore, the individual cast members were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories. members were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.
Special Awards
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2011-2012, these awards are:
This year's award show is being written by cast album producer, playwright, and two-time Drama Desk Award winner Bill Rosenfield and directed by multi-award winning director Mark Waldrop (Divine Miss Millennium Tour, When Pigs Fly, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends). Executive Producer Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania, will present the awards ceremony with Robert R. Blume and David S. Stone in association with Renee McCurry. Joey Parnes Productions will produce and manage the event.
The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. For more information, visit www.dramadeskawards.com.
Videos