This afternoon (Tuesday, June 24), at the legendary Sardi’s restaurant (234 West 44th Street, NYC), an awards presentation and meet-and-greet event of the Off Broadway Alliance – an organization of Off-Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing professionals – celebrated the previously announced winners of the 14th Annual Off-Broadway Alliance Awards, honoring commercial and non-profit productions that opened Off Broadway during the 2024-2025 season. Along with the awards presented in five competitive categories (Best Musical – All the World’s a Stage; Best Play – Becoming Eve; Best Revival – Hold On To Me Darling; Best Solo Performance – I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan; and Best Unique Theatrical Experience – Odd Man Out), were this year’s Off Broadway Alliance Awards honorees (Legend of Off Broadway – David Greenspan and Scott Morfee; Off Broadway Hall of Fame – William Finn, Morgan Jenness, and Linda Lavin; and Friend of Off Broadway – Helen Shaw).
Peter Breger, President of the OBA, served as host, introduced the recipients and their “gloriously unconventional” contributions to and belief in Off Broadway theater, and presented them with their awards. Among the special guests in attendance were Jim Caruso (performer, recording artist, and host of Birdland’s Cast Party), David Greenspan (Strange Interlude; The Patsy; Go Back to Where You Are), Adam Gwon (composer and lyricist, Ordinary Days, Scotland, PA, Unknown Soldier), Taylor Mac (Pulitzer Prize Finalist; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music), Michelle Noh (13 Reasons Why; The Resident; Broadway’s Straight White Men), Mona Pirnot (I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire; Private), Helen Shaw (Theater Critic, The New Yorker), David Stone (Producer, Wicked, Kimberly Akimbo, Next to Normal), Jonathan Silverstein (Artistic Director, Keen Company; Director, Tick, Tick . . . BOOM!, Ordinary Days), Elizabeth Stanley (Tony nominee, Jagged Little Pill; On the Town; Company), Abby Chava Stein (trans activist, rabbi of a progressive synagogue in Park Slope, and author of the memoir on which Becoming Eve was based), and Billy Stritch (Music Director, Liza Minnelli, 42nd Street revival, Billy Stritch Sings Mel Tormé).
Representatives from each of the winning productions graciously received the awards, collectively lauding the daring, challenging, and risky shows that have found a home Off Broadway, and expressing their appreciation to the Off Broadway Alliance, their advocates and nurturers, and the creative opportunity Off Broadway offers to find their voice and to present their groundbreaking work.
Billy Stritch, who accepted the posthumous Off Broadway Hall of Fame Award for the late Linda Lavin (for whom Jim Caruso was also there – “of course!”), told me that he has a great deal of respect for what the OBA does, and knows that his dear friend would have been very proud to receive this honor. And Taylor Mac accepted the award for Morgan Jenness, his drama coach of 20 years, who passed away last year but “made Off Broadway happen,” so he was there to express his support for her and all that she did, for both him and the community.
Congratulations to all the awards recipients and honorees, and thanks to the Off Broadway Alliance for its recognition of their significant contributions to Off Broadway theater!
