The 64th annual Drama Desk Awards were celebrated tonight, honoring excellence in Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway artists and shows of the 2018-19 season. The star-studded event, which began at 8:00 pm at The Town Hall, was hosted again, for the fourth time, by award-winning stage and screen actor Michael Urie.
Although the Drama Desk makes no categorical distinction between on and off Broadway (all productions are considered together), going into the live ceremony, the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! was in the lead with nominations in twelve categories, and the new Broadway musical stage adaptation of Tootsie followed closely with eleven. At the end of the evening, Broadway’s Tootsie, The Ferryman, and Hadestown each took home four awards, with the remainder split among a variety of plays and musicals, the majority of which were on Broadway.
Below is the list of nominees by category, with the winners highlighted in bold red:
Outstanding Play – Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury; The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth; Lewiston/Clarkston by Samuel D. Hunter; Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer; What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck
Outstanding Musical – Be More Chill; The Hello Girls; The Prom; Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Tootsie
Outstanding Revival of a Play – Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts; Our Lady of 121st Street; Summer and Smoke; The Waverly Gallery; Uncle Vanya
Outstanding Revival of a Musical – Carmen Jones; Fiddler on the Roof; Kiss Me, Kate; Merrily We Roll Along; Oklahoma!
Outstanding Actor in a Play – Jeff Biehl, Life Sucks; Edmund Donovan, Lewiston/Clarkston; Raúl Esparza, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; Russell Harvard, I Was Most Alive With You; Jay O. Sanders, Uncle Vanya
Outstanding Actress in a Play – Midori Francis, Usual Girls; Zainab Jah, Boesman and Lena; Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery; Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton; Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me
Outstanding Actor in a Musical – Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom; Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Damon Daunno, Oklahoma!; Santino Fontana, Tootsie; Steven Skybell, Fiddler on the Roof
Outstanding Actress in a Musical – Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show; Beth Leavel, The Prom; Rebecca Naomi Jones, Oklahoma!; Anika Noni Rose, Carmen Jones; Stacey Sargeant, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play – Charles Browning, Fairview; Arnie Burton, Lewiston/Clarkston; Hampton Fluker, All My Sons; Tom Glynn-Carney, The Ferryman; Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Harriett D. Foy, The House That Will Not Stand; Megan Hill, Eddie and Dave; Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill A Mockingbird; Ruth Wilson, King Lear; Alison Wright, Othello
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical – Corbin Bleu, Kiss Me, Kate; André De Shields, Hadestown; Sydney James Harcourt, Girl from the North Country; George Salazar, Be More Chill; Patrick Vaill, Oklahoma!
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical – Stephanie Hsu, Be More Chill; Leslie Kritzer, Beetlejuice; Soara-Joye Ross, Carmen Jones; Sarah Stiles, Tootsie; Ali Stroker, Oklahoma!; Mary Testa, Oklahoma!
Outstanding Director of a Play – Sarah Benson, Fairview; Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, The Jungle; Sam Mendes, The Ferryman; Tyne Rafaeli, Usual Girls; Taylor Reynolds, Plano; Jeff Wise, Life Sucks
Outstanding Director of a Musical – Noah Brody, Merrily We Roll Along; Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown; Scott Ellis, Tootsie; Daniel Fish, Oklahoma!; Joel Grey, Fiddler on the Roof
Outstanding Choreography – Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy; Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me Kate; Denis Jones, Tootsie; Lorin Latarro, Twelfth Night; Rick and Jeff Kuperman, Alice by Heart; David Neumann, Hadestown
Outstanding Music – Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Joe Iconis, Be More Chill; Peter Mills, The Hello Girls; Mark Sonnenblick, Midnight at the Never Get; Shaina Taub, Twelfth Night; David Yazbek, Tootsie
Outstanding Lyrics – Chad Beguelin, The Prom; Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Joe Iconis, Be More Chill; Peter Mills, The Hello Girls; David Yazbek, Tootsie
Outstanding Book of a Musical – Scott Brown and Anthony King, Beetlejuice; Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Robert Horn, Tootsie; Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, The Prom; Dominique Morisseau, Ain’t Too Proud
Outstanding Orchestrations – Larry Blank, Fiddler on the Roof; Simon Hale, Girl from the North Country; Daniel Kluger, Oklahoma!; Charlie Rosen, Be More Chill; Daryl Waters, The Cher Show
Outstanding Music in a Play – Paul Castles and Jongbin Jung, Wild Goose Dreams; Justin Ellington, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie; Justin Ellington, The House That Will Not Stand; Nick Powell, The Lehman Trilogy; Jason Michael Webb and Fitz Patton, Choir Boy
Outstanding Set Design of a Play – Miriam Buether, The Jungle; Es Devlin, Girls & Boys; Maruti Evans, The Peculiar Patriot; Mimi Lien, Fairview; Matt Saunders, “Daddy”
Outstanding Set Design for a Musical – Rachel Hauck, Hadestown; Laura Jellinek, Oklahoma!; Laura Jellinek, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; David Korins, Beetlejuice; Rae Smith, Girl from the North Country
Outstanding Costume Design for a Play – Dede M. Ayite, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Dede M. Ayite, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka; Ásta Bennie Hostetter, Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie; Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet; Nicole Slaven, Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts
Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical – William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice; William Ivey Long, Tootsie; Bobby Frederick Tilley II, Be More Chill; Michael Krass, Hadestown; Bob Mackie, The Cher Show; Paloma Young, Alice by Heart
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play – Amith Chandrashaker, Boesman and Lena; Amith Chandrashaker, Fairview; Jiyoun Chang, Slave Play; Jon Clark, The Jungle; Simon Cleveland, Spaceman; Yi Zhao, The House That Will Not Stand
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical – Adam Honoré, Carmen Jones; Bradley King, Hadestown; Jamie Roderick, Midnight at the Never Get; Barbara Samuels, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future; Scott Zielinski, Oklahoma!
Outstanding Projection Design – Peter England, King Kong; Katherine Freer, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Luke Halls, The Lehman Trilogy; Alex Basco Koch, Be More Chill; Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice; Joshua Thorson, Oklahoma!
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play – Tyler Kieffer, Plano; Fitz Patton, Choir Boy; Nick Powell, The Ferryman; Jane Shaw, I Was Most Alive with You; Mikaal Sulaiman, Fairview
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical – Simon Baker, Girl from the North Country; Drew Levy, Oklahoma!; Brian Ronan, Tootsie; Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown; Mikaal Sulaiman, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future
Outstanding Wig and Hair Design – Campbell Young Associates, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus; Cookie Jordan, Eddie and Dave; Paul Huntley, Tootsie; Charles G. LaPointe, Beetlejuice; Charles G. LaPointe, The Cher Show
Outstanding Solo Performance – Mike Birbiglia, The New One; Carey Mulligan, Girls & Boys; Liza Jessie Peterson, The Peculiar Patriot; Erin Treadway, Spaceman; Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Unique Theatrical Experience – All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Theater Latté Da/Laura Little Theatrical Productions/The Sheen Center; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shake & Bake; The B-Side: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons”, The Wooster Group; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Company
Outstanding Fight Choreography – U. Jonathan Toppo, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar; Claire Warden, “Daddy”; Claire Warden, Slave Play
Outstanding Puppet Design – Michael Curry, Beetlejuice; Sonny Tilders, King Kong; Tschabalala Self, “Daddy”
In addition to the above categories, special awards and recognition were given to the following:
Ensemble Award – Dance Nation (Purva Bedi, Eboni Booth, Camila Canó-Flaviá, Dina Shihabi, Ellen Maddow, Christina Rouner, Thomas Jay Ryan, Lucy Taylor, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu)
Sam Norkin Award – Montana Levi Blanco (Costume Designer for Fairview, The House That Will Not Stand, Fabulation, Or the Re-Education of Undine, Eddie and Dave, “Daddy,” and Ain’t No Mo’
Mia Katigbak – for her Off-Broadway performances this season in Henry VI: Shakespeare’s Trilogy in Two Parts, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Peace for Mary Frances, and Recent Alien Abductions, as the Artistic Director of NAATCO, and as a mentor in the theater community
Repertorio Español – for presenting a year-round rotating repertory of new and classic Spanish-language plays in its intimate Gramercy venue.
Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners, and kudos to the Drama Desk for its annual recognition of outstanding achievements in New York theater!
The Drama Desk Awards were presented on Sunday, June 2, 2019, at The Town Hall – 123 West 43rd Street, NYC.
