Patti LuPone To Host 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards 5/23

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk. Ms. LuPone will host the ceremony from the stage of the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.

The Drama Desk, an organization of theater critics, writers and editors that honors excellence in all areas of New York theatre, including Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway and not-for-profit theater was organized in 1949. The organization presented its first awards in 1955.

Patti LuPone swept the 2008 theater awards winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance for her memorable performance as Rose in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical Gypsy.

She also received a Tony Award as Best Actress in a Musical for her performances in Evita, a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical for Anything Goes, an Outer Critics Circle Award for her one-woman show, Patti LuPone On Broadway, and Olivier Awards as Best Actress in a Musical for her West End performances in Les Miserables and The Cradle Will Rock. She also created the role of Norma Desmond in the West End production of Sunset Boulevard (1993), for which she won an Olivier nomination, as Best Actress in A Musical.

Ms LuPone‘s recent stage credits include her debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Weill-Brecht's Mahagonny (the CD recording of that production won two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Recording and Best Opera Recording), the world premiere of Jake Heggie's new opera To Hell and Back with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Mrs. Lovett in John Doyle's award-winning Broadway production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, for which she garnered Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Actress in a Musical, Fosca in a concert version of Sondheim's Passion, which was also broadcast on PBS' Live From Lincoln Center, and a multi-city tour of her theatrical concert Matters of the Heart. 

The Nominations Ceremony for the 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place at a news conference to be held in the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, on Monday, May 3, 2010 at 9:30 AM. A continental breakfast will be served at 8:45 AM.

The 2009/2010 Nominating Committee for the Drama Desk Awards includes: Barbara Siegel (Chairperson) TalkinBroadway.com, TheaterMania.com; Christopher Byrne, Gay City News; Patrick Christiano, TheaterLife.com, Dan's Papers; David Kaufman, freelance and author; Gerard Raymond, Back Stage, The Advocate; Richard Ridge, Broadway Beat TV; and PaulAnne Simmons, CurtainUp.com, NY Theatre-wire.com.

Robert R. Blume is Executive Producer of the 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards, which will be co-presented by Theatermania.com, and Blume Media Group Ltd is the producing company. Lauren Class Schneider is Producer and Jeff Kalpak is Director of the Awards ceremony. For the production, the Associate Producers are Joseph Callari, Ellis Nassour and Les Schecter, who also serves as Director of Publicity and Promotions. Randie Levine-Miller is Special Events Director for the Drama Desk.

The Board of Directors of the Drama Desk is composed of William Wolf, President; Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Vice President; Charles Wright, Treasurer and 2nd Vice President; Richard Ridge, Secretary, Randy Gener, Isa Goldberg, Susan Haskins, John Istel, David Kaufman, Ellis Nassour and Sam Norkin.