NewsRed, Memphis, Bridge, Fences and La Cage Win Drama Desk AwardsOlivier Award winner, two-time Tony Award winner and three-time Drama Desk Award winner Patti LuPone hosted the 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards May 23 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. John Logan's Red was named Outstanding Play, and Memphis won the award for Outstanding Musical.
By
Andrew Gans
May 24, 2010
Memphis star Montego Glover
Photo by Kevin Berne
The new musical Memphis, in fact, won four Drama Desk Awards, the most of any production of the season. The revivals of Fences and La Cage aux Folles as well as the aforementioned Red each won three awards apiece.
There were also two deadlocks: Catherine Zeta- Jones (A Little Night Music) and Montego Glover (Memphis) tied for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, and A View From The Bridge and Fences tied in the Outstanding Revival of a Play category.
Presenters for the evening included Edward Albee, Corbin Bleu, Michael Cerveris, Boyd Gaines, Ana Gasteyer, Mitzi Gaynor, Cheyenne Jackson, Leslie Jordan, Jesse L. Martin, Matthew Modine, Martha Plimpton and Brooke Shields.
The Drama Desk is an organization of theatre critics, writers and editors that honors excellence in all areas of New York theatre: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and not-for-profit.
Nominations for the competitive categories follow with winners in bold and preceded by an asterisk.
*Phelim McDermott, Julian Crouch & Basil Twist, The Addams Family
Derek McLane, Ragtime
Christopher Oram, Red
Jay Rohloff, Underground
Karen Tennent, Hansel and Gretel
Outstanding Costume Design:
Antonia Ford-Roberts & Bob Flanagan, The Emperor Jones
Clint Ramos, So Help Me God!
Bobby Frederick Tilley II, Lizzie Borden
*Matthew Wright, La Cage Aux Folles
David Zinn, In the Next Room or the vibrator play
Outstanding Lighting Design:
Neil Austin, Hamlet
*Neil Austin, Red
Christian M. DeAngelis, Lizzie Borden
Maruti Evans, John Ball's In the Heat of the Night
Natasha Katz, The Addams Family
Dane Laffrey, The Boys in the Band
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical:
*Acme Sound Partners, Ragtime
Jonathan Deans, La Cage Aux Folles
Ashley Hanson, Kurt Eric Fischer & Brian Ronan, Everyday Rapture
Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys
Scott Lehrer, Finian's Rainbow
Brian Ronan, Promises, Promises
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play:
Dan Bianchi & Wes Shippee, Frankenstein
Dale Bigall,
Underground
Adam Cork,
Enron
Lindsay Jones and Jamie McElhinney,
Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers
*Fitz Patton, When the Rain Stops Falling
Elizabeth Rhodes,
John Ball's In the Heat of the Night
Outstanding Solo Performance:
Theodore Bikel, Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears
*Jim Brochu, Zero Hour
Colman Domingo,
A Boy and his Soul
Carrie Fisher,
Wishful Drinking
Judith Ivey,
The Lady With All the Answers
Anna Deavere Smith,
Let Me Down Easy
Unique Theatrical Experience:
Charles L. Mee's Fêtes de la Nuit
Hansel and Gretel
John Tartaglia's
Imaginocean
*Love, Loss, and What I Wore
Stuffed and Unstrung
The Provenance of Beauty
The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and were presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:
Outstanding Ensemble Performances
This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. (Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.)
•Circle Mirror Transformation
•The Temperamentals
Special Awards:
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre.
• To the cast, creative team and producers of Horton Foote’s epic The Orphans' Home Cycle: "We salute the breadth of vision, which inspired the exceptional direction, performances, sets, lighting, costumes, music and sound that made it the theatrical event of this season."
• To Jerry Herman "for enchanting and dazzling audiences with his exuberant music and heartfelt lyrics for more than half a century."
• To Godlight Theatre Company for "consistent originality and excellence in dramatizing modern literature, and especially for the vibrant theatricality of its innovative productions."
• To Ma-Yi Theater Company for "more than two decades of excellence and for nurturing Asian-American voices in stylistically varied and engaging theater."
The Drama Desk, organized in 1949, presented its first awards in 1955. William Wolf is president of the Drama Desk; Leslie (Hoban) Blake is vice president. For more information visit DramaDesk.
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