The Drama League has announced NY1 host Frank DiLella will host its 88th Annual Drama League Awards May 20 at 12 PM at The Ziegfeld Ballroom, as well as the presenters who will join him. Only non-virtual Broadway and Off-Broadway productions that began previews between March 16, 2021 and April 23, 2022 are eligible for this year's honors.
Tony winners Patti LuPone (Company, Evita, Gypsy), Ben Vereen (Pippin, Fosse, Wicked), Sutton Foster (The Music Man, Anything Goes, Thoroughly Modern Milly) will all present alongside 2022 Tony nominees Shoshana Bean (Mr. Saturday Night, Wicked) and Gabby Beans (Skin of Our Teeth), as well as Lear deBessonet (Encores! Into The Woods, Off-Broadway’s Hercules).
LuPone will present the Distinguished Performance Award. Two new categories have also been announced this year: Outstanding Direction of a Play and Outstanding Direction of a Musical, both of which will be presented by deBessonet. Nominations were announced April 25 by André De Shields and Denée Benton. For the full list of nominees, read here.
The Drama League has also previously announced that 2022 Tony nominees Hugh Jackman, Lileana Blain-Cruz, and Billy Crystal, along with Tony winner Willette Murphy Klausner, will all be honored at this year's ceremony. Foster will present her The Music Man co-star Jackman with the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award. Beans will present Blain-Cruz, who directs her in The Skin of Our Teeth, with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing, and will also present Crystal with the Contribution to the Theater Award. Klausner will be presented with the Gratitude Award by Vereen.
There are now seven categories with the recent addition of the two Outstanding Direction categories. In addition to the Distinguished Performance Award, the Drama League Awards additionally maintain categories for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Play, and Outstanding Revival of a Musical.
READ: Meet the Recipients of the The Drama League's 2022 Directors Project
The Drama League is also receiving a gift from Willette and Manny Klausner. Proceeds from The Drama League Awards, which were first presented in 1922, support the organization and its programs like The Directors Project.
For more information, visit DramaLeague.org.