Nominations for the 2025 Drama League Awards, recognizing the best of Broadway and Off-Broadway, were revealed April 22 in an announcement read by The Great Gatsby's Sarah Hyland and Cabaret's Orville Peck at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Winners will be named at a May 16 ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
The Drama League Awards' limited category roster includes Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Direction of a Play, Outstanding Direction of a Musical, and Distinguished Performance. Actors are only eligible to receive the Distinguished Performance Award once in their career, making the honor a unique one.
As is customary with this awards system, Broadway transfers of Off-Broadway works eligible for past awards were considered eligible for the Outstanding Production and Performance categories despite being "materially and significantly similar in their creative teams and production aspects to their Off-Broadway productions from previous seasons." This year, that included Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, English, and Oh, Mary!
Nominated for Outstanding Production of a Play are The Antiquities; Becoming Eve; English; Good Bones; Good Night, and Good Luck; Here There Are Blueberries; John Proctor is the Villain; Liberation; Oh, Mary!; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Purpose; Stranger Things: The First Shadow; and Walden. Outstanding Production of a Musical nominees include BOOP! The Musical, Buena Vista Social Club, Dead Outlaw, Death Becomes Her, Drag: The Musical, Just in Time, Macbeth in Stride, Maybe Happy Ending, Operation Mincemeat, Real Women Have Curves, Smash, and Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends.
First presented in 1922 and formalized in 1935, the Drama League Awards are an extension of The Drama League, an arts organization that has provided support to the field and its artists for over a century. The organization’s mission provides the nation’s only full-time, lifelong creative home for stage directors and the audiences that enjoy their work around the world.
The May 16 ceremony will be open to the public, with tickets and tables available to the lunchtime event at DramaLeague.org.
See the complete list below.
Outstanding Production of a Play
The Antiquities
Becoming Eve
English
Good Bones
Good Night, And Good Luck
Here There Are Blueberries
John Proctor is the Villain
Liberation
Oh, Mary!
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Walden
Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Cherry Orchard
Eureka Day
Ghosts
Glengarry Glen Ross
Home
Othello
Romeo + Juliet
A Streetcar Named Desire
Vanya
Wine in the Wilderness
Yellow Face
Outstanding Production of a Musical
BOOP! The Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Death Becomes Her
Drag: The Musical
Just in Time
Macbeth in Stride
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves
Smash
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Cats: "The Jellicle Ball"
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
The Last Five Years
Once Upon a Mattress
The Marriage of Figaro
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.
Urinetown
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, English
Saheem Ali, Good Bones
David Cromer, Good Night, And Good Luck
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!
Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve
Anna D. Shapiro, Eureka Day
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is The Villain
Whitney White, Liberation
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sam Yates, Vanya
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: "The Jellicle Ball"
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Susan Stroman, Smash
Alex Timbers, Just In Time
Annie Tippe, Three Houses
Sergio Trujillo, Real Women Have Curves
George C. Wolfe, Gypsy
Distinguished Performance
Tala Ashe, English
Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash
Stori Ayers, Home
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
Tatianna Córdoba, Real Women Have Curves
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
André De Shields, Cats: "The Jellicle Ball"
Tommy Dorfman, Becoming Eve
Robert Downey, Jr., McNeal
Adam Driver, Hold On To Me Darling
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
Amber Gray, Eureka Day
David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Jonathan Groff, Just In Time
Jake Gyllenhaal, Othello
Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me In The Water
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Robyn Hurder, Smash
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Nick Jonas, The Last Five Years
Ramin Karimloo, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Gracie Lawrence, Just In Time
Beth Leavel, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Idina Menzel, Redwood
Paul Mescal, A Streetcar Named Desire
Jinkx Monsoon, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Marjan Neshat, English
Sandra Oh, The Welkin
Lily Rabe, Ghosts
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Lea Salonga, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
Andrew Scott, Vanya
Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Ephraim Sykes, Our Town
Alaska Thunderfuck, Drag: The Musical
Adrienne Warren, The Last Five Years
Denzel Washington, Othello
Joy Woods, Gypsy
Kara Young, Purpose and Table 17
The Drama League also acknowledges exemplary work for the following previous recipients of the Distinguished Performance Award, who are therefore ineligible to win or be nominated in the category again:
Annaleigh Ashford, All In
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Norbert Leo Butz, Vladimir
Sutton Foster, Once Upon A Mattress
Neil Patrick Harris, Shit. Meet. Fan.
Patti LuPone, The Roommate
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Lin-Manuel Miranda, All In
Bernadette Peters, Stephen Sondheim: Old Friends
As previously announced, this year’s Drama League Awards Special Recognition Honorees are Lea Salonga, Whitney White, Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Kate Navin, and Audible Theater.
This year's event co-chairs are Bonnie Comley and Darin Oduyoye. The Steering Committee is Trish Chambers, Irene Gandy, Sarah Hutton, Mary Jain, Paula Kaminsky Davis, Fred Siegel, and Kumiko Yoshii. The Awards Honorary Committee comprises Annaleigh Ashford, Danny Burstein, Sutton Foster, Richard Kind, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Lance Roberts, and Will Swenson.
