This evening (Sunday, May 17), winners of the 70th Annual Drama Desk Awards, honoring outstanding achievements of the 2025-26 season of NYC theater, were announced at The Town Hall, marking the Awards’ first return to NYC’s historic venue since the 2020 Broadway shutdown, in a star-studded event hosted by Titaníque‘s Marla Mindelle. Past Drama Desk Award winners and nominees returning as presenters included Raúl Esparza, Norbert Leo Butz, Christopher Fitzgerald, Donna McKechnie, Beth Leavel, BD Wong, Doug Wright, Bess Wohl, Robin de Jesús, Jenn Colella, Ethan Slater, Javier Muñoz, Nikiya Mathis, Daniel Breaker, Helen J Shen, Whitney White, Toni-Leslie James, Alex Brightman, Hunter Foster, Lea DeLaria, Zhailon Levingston, and John Ortiz, with additional presentations by Constance Wu, Whitney Leavitt, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Liisi LaFontaine, Solea Pfeiffer, Ann Harada, and David Zayas.
In addition to the honors in 32 competitive non-gendered categories, in which Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions were considered together, the recipients of special awards were recognized, and Tom Schumacher, former President of Disney Theatrical Productions, was previously named the recipient of the Harold S. Prince Award.
Because the performance categories are gender-free and have twice as many nominations, two winners in each were named. Leading this year’s awards are Ragtime with five, followed by Death of a Salesman and Oedipus with four each.
And the winners of the 70th Annual Drama Desk Awards are:
Outstanding Play: The Balusters
Outstanding Revival of a Play: Death of a Salesman
Outstanding Musical: Schmigadoon!
Outstanding Revival of a Musical: Ragtime
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play: John Lithgow, Giant; and Lesley Manville, Oedipus
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical: Joshua Henry, Ragtime; and Caissie Levy, Ragtime
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play: Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw; and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical: Judy Kuhn, The Baker’s Wife; and Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime
Outstanding Solo Performance: Jack Holden, Kenrex
Outstanding Direction of a Play: Joe Mantello, Death of a Salesman
Outstanding Direction of a Musical: Lear deBessonet, Ragtime
Outstanding Choreography: Christopher Gattelli, Schmigadoon!; and Omari Wiles & Arturo Lyons, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Outstanding Music: Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus
Outstanding Lyrics: Jim Barne & Kit Buchan, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Outstanding Book of a Musical: Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus
Outstanding Orchestrations: David M. Lutken, Morgan Morse, Lisa Helmi Johanson, and Sherry Stregack Lutken, The Porch on Windy Hill
Outstanding Music in a Play: John Patrick Elliott, Kenrex
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play: Chloe Lamford, Death of a Salesman
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical: Dane Laffrey, The Lost Boys
Outstanding Costume Design of a Play: Paul Tazewell, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical: Qween Jean, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play: Jack Knowles, Death of a Salesman
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical: Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, The Lost Boys
Outstanding Sound Design of a Play: Tom Gibbons, Oedipus
Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical: Mikhail Fiksel, Mexodus (includes looping systems architecture)
Outstanding Projection and Video Design: Tal Yarden, Oedipus
Outstanding Wig and Hair Design: Nikiya Mathis, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Outstanding Puppetry: Axtell Expressions, Amaze
Outstanding Fight Choreography: Gerry Rodriguez, The Monsters
Outstanding Adaptation: Oedipus, by Robert Icke
Outstanding Revue: About Time
Unique Theatrical Experience: Burnout Paradise
Special Awards:
Ensemble Awards: Danny Burstein, Christopher Lowell, Cynthia Nixon, and June Squibb, Marjorie Prime; Daniel Bravo Hernández, Ricardy Fabre, Danny Gómez, Ishmael Gonzalez, and Jaden Perez, Spread;
Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: Xhloe Rice and Natasha, A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God and What If They Ate The Baby?
Additional Special Awards: Else Went, Emma Rosa Went, and the cast of Initiative (Olivia Rose Barresi, Brandon Burk, Greg Cuellar, Harrison Densmore, Carson Higgins, Andrea Lopez Alvarez, Jamie Sanders, and Christopher Dylan White); the creative collaborators of Off-Broadway’s immersive Masquerade, led by Diane Paulus
Other Awards:
Harold S. Prince Award: Tom Schumacher
The William Wolf Award (given by the Board of the Drama Desk):Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire.
Congratulations to all the winners and special honorees!
