The revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific won five awards, the most of any production of the season. The acclaimed musical at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater nabbed prizes for Best Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot), Outstanding Director of a Musical (Bartlett Sher), Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (Michael Yeargan) and Outstanding Sound Design (Scott Lehrer).
August: Osage County, Passing Strange and the revival of Gypsy all won three Drama Desk Awards a piece.
Top acting honors went to Boeing-Boeing's Mark Rylance (Outstanding Actor in a Play), August: Osage County's Deanna Dunagan (Outstanding Actress in a Play), Paulo Szot (Outstanding Actor in a Musical) and Patti LuPone (Outstanding Actress in a Musical).
Tony Award winner Laurence Fishburne won the award for Outstanding Solo Performance for his work as the late Civil Rights great and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Thurgood.
Outstanding Projection and Video Design, a new award this season, was won by Timothy Bird and The Knifedge Creative Network for their work on the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George. The awards ceremony was hosted by the Broadway-bound cast of [title of show].
The complete list of 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards winners follows (winners names are in bold with an asterisk).
Outstanding Play:
Alan Ayckbourn, Intimate Exchanges
Rinde Eckert, Horizon
Liz Flahive, From Up Here
Horton Foote, Dividing the Estate
*Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
Tom Stoppard, Rock ’n’ Roll
Outstanding Musical:
A Catered Affair
Adding Machine
*Passing Strange
The Glorious Ones
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Xanadu
Outstanding Revival of a Play:
*Boeing-Boeing
Happy Days
Macbeth
The Country Girl
The Dining Room
The Return of the Prodigal
Outstanding Revival of a Musical:
Black Nativity
Gypsy
*South Pacific
Sunday in the Park with George
Take Me Along
Outstanding Revue:
*Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening
Fugitive Songs
Make Me a Song
Outstanding Actor in a Play:
Bill Champion, Intimate Exchanges
Kevin Kline, Cyrano de Bergerac
Bill Pullman, Peter and Jerry
*Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Tobias Segal, From Up Here
Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll
Outstanding Actress in a Play:
Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll
*Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Frances McDormand, The Country Girl
Amy Morton, August: Osage County
Fiona Shaw, Happy Days
Julie White, From Up Here
Outstanding Actor in a Musical:
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
André De Shields, Black Nativity
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
Cheyenne Jackson, Xanadu
Matthew Morrison, 10 Million Miles
*Paulo Szot, South Pacific
Outstanding Actress in a Musical:
Sierra Boggess, The Little Mermaid
*Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara, South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:
John Cullum, The Conscientious Objector
*Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Arian Moayed, Masked
Jeff Perry, August: Osage County
Michael T. Weiss, Scarcity
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:
Elizabeth Ashley, Dividing the Estate
Johanna Day, Peter and Jerry
Zoe Kazan, 100 Saints You Should Know
*Linda Lavin, The New Century
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Marisa Tomei, Top Girls
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:
Danny Burstein, South Pacific
Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein
*Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Shuler Hensley, Young Frankenstein
Bobby Steggert, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:
*Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Leslie Kritzer, A Catered Affair
Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein
Mary Testa, Xanadu
Amy Warren, Adding Machine
Mare Winningham, 10 Million Miles
Outstanding Director of a Play:
David Schweizer, Horizon
*Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Leigh Silverman, From Up Here
Jonathan Silverstein, The Dining Room
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
Deborah Warner, Happy Days
Outstanding Director of a Musical:
Christopher Ashley, Xanadu
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
David Cromer, Adding Machine
John Doyle, A Catered Affair
Bob McGrath, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
*Bartlett Sher, South Pacific
Outstanding Choreography:
Karole Armitage, Passing Strange
*Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby The Musical
Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, Traces
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu
Peter Pucci, Queens Boulevard (the musical)
Susan Stroman, Young Frankenstein
Outstanding Music:
John Bucchino, A Catered Affair
Stephen Flaherty, The Glorious Ones
Tom Kitt, Next to Normal
Mark Mulcahy, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
*Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Outstanding Lyrics:
Lynn Ahrens, The Glorious Ones
Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein
John Bucchino, A Catered Affair
Ben Katchor, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
*Stew, Passing Strange
Outstanding Book of a Musical:
*Douglas Carter Beane, Xanadu
Harvey Fierstein, A Catered Affair
Ben Katchor, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
Stew, Passing Strange
Eric H. Weinberger, Wanda's World
Outstanding Orchestrations:
Doug Besterman, Young Frankenstein
*Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Michael Starobin, The Glorious Ones
Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair
Tim Weil, 10 Million Miles
Outstanding Set Design of a Play:
Beowulf Boritt, Spain
Scott Bradley, Eurydice
David Korins, Hunting and Gathering
Santo Loquasto, Trumpery
*Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Clint Ramos, The Return of the Prodigal
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical:
David Gallo, A Catered Affair
Takeshi Kata, Adding Machine
Derek McLane, 10 Million Miles
George Tsypin, The Little Mermaid
Robin Wagner, Young Frankenstein
*Michael Yeargan, South Pacific
Outstanding Costume Design:
Mara Blumenfeld, The Glorious Ones
Michael Bottari and Ronald Case, Jessica Jahn, Die Mommie Die!
Ann Hould-Ward, A Catered Affair
Ana Kuzmanic, August: Osage County
*Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
William Ivey Long, Young Frankenstein
Outstanding Lighting Design:
*Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Maruti Evans, Slaughterhouse-Five
Donald Holder, South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid
Keith Parham, Adding Machine
Outstanding Sound Design:
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Jorge Cousineau, Opus
Joseph Fosco, The Conversation
*Scott Lehrer, South Pacific
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Tony Smolenski IV, Adding Machine
Outstanding Solo Performance:
Kris Andersson, Dixie's Tupperware Party
*Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Stephen Lang, Beyond Glory
April Yvette Thompson, Liberty City
Outstanding Projection and Video Design:
Paul Barritt, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
*Timothy Bird and The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Zachary Borovay, A Catered Affair
Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Lorna Heavey, Macbeth
Tal Yarden, The Misanthrope
Unique Theatrical Experience:
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Cut to the Chase
Fabrik
*The 39 Steps
Traces
The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and were announced prior to the Drama Desk ceremony:
Outstanding Ensemble Performances
The Dining Room
The Homecoming
Special Awards
Edward Albee in his 80th year, "whose provocative plays, including this season's Peter and Jerry, enrich the American theater."
James Earl Jones, a "commanding force on the stage for nearly half a century."
59E59 Theaters, whose "imaginative curatorial vision has created a stimulating environment to nurture a diverse range of artists."
Playwrights Horizons for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work."
*
Robert R. Blume was executive producer of the 53rd Annual Drama Desk Awards.
The Drama Desk is an organization of theatre critics, writers and editors that honors all areas of New York theatre, including Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway.
The Drama Desk, organized in 1949, presented its first awards in 1955.
The 2007-2008 Drama Desk nominating committee comprises Barbara Siegel (TalkinBroadway.com, TheaterMania.com), chairperson; Dan Bacalzo (TheaterMania.com); Robert Cashill (New York Theater News and Live Design); Celia Ipiotis (Eye on the Arts); Gerard Raymond (Back Stage and The Advocate); and Richard Ridge (broadwaybeat.com).
For more information visit www.dramadesk.com.
