Durang's Chekhov-inspired comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which transferred to Broadway this spring after an acclaimed run at Lincoln Center Theater and the McCarter Theatre earlier this season, took the honor for Best Play. The award for Best Play carries a cash prize of $2,500. The prize is made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
The acclaimed London musical Matilda, featuring a score by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly, was awarded the honor for Best Musical. Based on the Roald Dahl children's novel, Matilda premiered in London in 2010 and opened on Broadway this spring.
No award was given in the Best Foreign Play category for the 2012-13 season.
Special citations were awarded to Soho Rep, New York City Center's Encores! series and to award-winning scenic designer John Lee Beatty (The Nance, Assembled Parties, Chicago, Other Desert Cities, Venus in Fur).
The NYDCC, whose president is Adam Feldman, met at the offices of Time Out New York magazine May 3 to select the 2013 winners. The awards will be presented at a private ceremony to be held May 13 at 54 Below. Peter Bartlett and Harriet Harris will host.
The New York Drama Critics' Circle comprises 26 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, which has been awarded every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and performers), is the nation's second-oldest theatre award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In addition to Feldman, Vincentelli and Dziemianowicz, the members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle are: Hilton Als, The New Yorker; Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly; Scott Brown, New York; David Cote, Time Out New York; Michael Feingold, Village Voice; Robert Feldberg, Bergen Record; Elysa Gardner, USA Today; Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg News; Erik Haagensen, Back Stage; Mark Kennedy, Associated Press; Brian Scott Lipton, TheaterMania; Jesse Oxfeld, New York Observer; David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter; Frank Scheck, New York Post; David Sheward, Back Stage; John Simon, Westchester Guardian; Alexis Soloski, Village Voice; Marilyn Stasio, Variety; Steven Suskin, Variety; Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal; Matt Windman, amNewYork; Linda Winer, Newsday; and Richard Zoglin, Time. David Finkle and Michael Sommers serve as emeritus members.
For more information on the New York Drama Critics' Circle and details of this year's voting, visit dramacritics.org.
