Prince, Dale Announce Nominations For Drama Desk Awards 4/27

Nominations for the 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be announced on Monday, April 27, 2009, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. A continental breakfast will be available at 9:00 AM. Multi-award-winning stage actors Faith Prince and Jim Dale will announce the nominations in the various categories. In addition, there will be remarks by Drama Desk President William Wolf, Drama Desk Awards Executive Producer Robert R. Blume, Nominating Committee Chairperson Barbara Siegel and Randie Levine-Miller, Drama Desk Director of Special Events, who has produced this event at the Friars Club for the past 13 years.

Tony Award winner Faith Prince, who will be joining the cast of Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID as the villainess, Ursula the Sea Witch, on April 7, won Drama Desk and Tony Awards as the perennially unwed Miss Adelaide in the 1992 Broadway production of GUYS AND DOLLS. In 2008, she garnered Drama Desk and Tony nominations co-starring opposite Harvey Fierstein in A Catered Affair. She also received Drama Desk and Tony Award nominations for Jerome Robbins' BROADWAY and the revival of BELLS ARE RINGING.

British-born Jim Dale made his Broadway debut in the smash hit SCAPINO, winning the first of his four Drama Desk Awards. His second Drama Desk Award came in 1981 when he created the flamboyant title role in Cy Coleman's Broadway musical, BARNUM, for which he also won a Tony. Dale also received Drama Desk Awards for his starring roles in TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT and THREE PENNY OPERA. In addition to his many film and TV credits both in the US and Great Britain, Dale is one of the world's most prolific Audio Book actors, whose distinctive voice is recognized worldwide on the audio recordings of all seven Harry Potter novels, among others.

The Drama Desk, which was organized in 1949 and presented its first awards in 1955, is the only organization of professional theater critics, writers and editors that bestows awards with Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway productions competing in the same categories.
The 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be held Sunday, May 17, 2009 in the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. The awards show will be webcast live for the seventh year in a row by TheaterMania.com.

Drama Desk nominees will receive their Official Nomination Certificates at a Cocktail Reception on Tuesday, May 5, 4:00 to 7:00 PM, at a location TBA.

The 2008/2009 Nominating Committee for the Drama Desk Awards is composed of: Barbara Siegel (Chairperson) TalkinBroadway.com, TheaterMania.com; Dan Bacalzo, TheaterMania.com; Christopher Byrne, Gay City News; Patrick Christiano, TheaterLife.com, Dan's Papers; Jason Clark, Entertainment Weekly, TheaterOnline.com; Gerard Raymond, Back Stage, The Advocate; and Richard Ridge, Broadway Beat TV.

Robert R. Blume is Executive Producer of the 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards 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 (alphabetically) are Margot Astrachan, Jacki Barlia Florin, Joseph Callari, Corine Dana Cohen, and Les Schecter, who is also Director of Publicity and Promotions. Felicia M. Lopes is the General Manager; Ellis Nassour is Press Liaison and Randie Levine-Miller is Special Events Director for the Drama Desk organization.