Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, stars of the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, announced the 2024 nominations for the Outer Critics Circle Awards for outstanding achievements in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions at 3:30 this afternoon (Tuesday, April 23), in a live event at the Museum of Broadway that was also livestreamed by BroadwayWorld. Founded by theater critic and historian John Gassner in the 1949-50 Broadway season as the official organization for writers on NYC theater for out-of-town publications, the Outer Critics Circle (of which I am an active voting member) returned to the live press conference format for the first time since the pandemic.
For this year’s 73rd annual awards, the OCC continues with its newly reconstructed 27 categories, which have removed gender specifications from the acting honors and include separate awards for Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, which were previously nominated together. The eligibility cut-off date for nominators to have attended a show in the 2023-24 season was Friday, April 19. Due to its Broadway timeline, Illinoise was viewed during its Park Avenue Armory run and considered in Off-Broadway categories.
Broadway that productions that were considered in full are 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, and Mother Play.
Only new elements of the following Broadway productions were considered, due to their previous Off-Broadway eligibility: Just for Us; Here Lies Love; Merrily We Roll Along; Harmony; Prayer for the French Republic; and Mary Jane. The Broadway production of Suffs was determined to be at least 50% different than its original Off-Broadway iteration last season and has been deemed eligible in all production categories and select acting categories. Nominators were not invited to the Off-Broadway runs of Here We Are, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, and Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, and therefore were not in consideration for awards this season.
Leading with the most OCC honors of the season is the Off-Broadway musical Dead Outlaw with nine nominations, followed by The Connector with seven. Stereophonic leads in the play categories with seven nominations, followed by Primary Trust, with five.
And the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards nominations are:
John Gassner Award for New American Play: Job by Max Wolf Friedlich; Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle; Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola; The Apiary by Kate Douglas; Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.
Outstanding New Broadway Musical: Days of Wine and Roses; Suffs; The Great Gatsby; The Outsiders; Water for Elephants
Outstanding New Broadway Play: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh; Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions by Paula Vogel; Patriots by Peter Morgan; Stereophonic by David Adjmi; The Shark Is Broken by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical: Buena Vista Social Club; Dead Outlaw; Illinoise; Teeth; The ConnectorÂ
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play: Dig by Theresa Rebeck; King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein; King James by Rajiv Joseph; Primary Trust by Eboni Booth; Swing State by Rebecca Gilman
Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway): 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 Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway): Cabaret;Â Here Lies Love; I Can Get It for You Wholesale;Â Monty Python’s Spamalot; The Who’s Tommy
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 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 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: 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: 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 New 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 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 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: 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 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 Scenic Design (Play or Musical): Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage; Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby; Dots – Appropriate; David Korins – Here Lies Love; David Zinn – Stereophonic
Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical): 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 (Play or Musical): 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 (Play or Musical): 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 or Projection Design (Play or Musical): 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.
Our congratulations to all the nominees for their outstanding contributions to NYC theater. The winners of the 2024Â Outer Critics Circle Awards will be announced on Monday, May 13, and celebrated at an awards ceremony held on Thursday, May 23, at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC.
