STEREOPHONIC, SUFFS & More Win Outer Critics Circle Awards

The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications, today announced the winners of the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2023-2024 Broadway and Off-Broadway season.

The awards ceremony for the winners will be held on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for The Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC).

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.

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2024 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNERS

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions
Patriots
**Stereophonic**
The Shark Is Broken

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
King of the Jews
King James
**Primary Trust**
Swing State

John Gassner Award for New American Play (preferably by a new playwright)

Job
Manahatta
**Oh, Mary! **
The Apiary
Wet Brain

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 (tie)

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 (tie)

**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

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

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

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

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

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 (tie)

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

Outstanding Costume Design

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

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

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

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

Shows with Multiple Award Wins

4: Stereophonic
3: Dead Outlaw, Primary Trust, Suffs
2: The Great Gatsby, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Oh, Mary!

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

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.