Tony winner Laura Benanti hosted the evening, which featured appearances by Christian Borle, Michael C. Hall, Toni Collette, Sutton Foster, Laura Osnes, Billy Porter, Julie Halston, Tracy Letts, Judy Kuhn, Marge Champion, Liz Larsen, Diane Paulus, John Cameron Mitchell, Stephen Trask, Jane Greenwood, David Korins, Marin Ireland, Sam Gold, Oliver Butler, Joe Masteroff, David Byrne, Leigh Silverman, Joshua Henry, Rachel Bay Jones, Sydney Lucas, Jessie Mueller, Steven Pasquale and Kyle Riabko.
The new musical comedy A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder earned seven awards, the most of any production of the season, including Outstanding Musical. Robert Schenkkan's All The Way was named Outstanding Play, and stage and screen star Bryan Cranston was named Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance as President Lyndon B. Johnson in that historical drama.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical picked up three Drama Desk Awards, including one for its leading lady, Jessie Mueller, who stars in the title role. Twelfth Night, After Midnight, The Bridges of Madison County, The Glass Menagerie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rocky and the aforementioned All The Way all picked up two awards apiece.
There were ties in two of the acting categories: Neil Patrick Harris (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and Jefferson Mays (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) were both named Outstanding Actor in a Musical, while Anika Larsen (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and Lauren Worsham (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) each picked up Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
Winners of the 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards follow (winners names are in bold preceded by an asterisk): Outstanding Play
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
*Robert Schenkkan, All The Way
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar
Outstanding Musical
*A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County
Outstanding Revival of a Play
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man's Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment
*Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe Production)
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
*Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet
Outstanding Actor in a Play
*Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man's Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun
Outstanding Actress in a Play
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
*Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar
Outstanding Actor in a Musical (tie)
*Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
*Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
*Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
*Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
*Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
*James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Rory O’Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (tie)
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
*Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
*Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Director of a Play
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
*Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All The Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky
*Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Choreography
*Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett, Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love's Labour's Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu
Outstanding Music
*Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home
Outstanding Lyrics
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
*Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Michael Friedman, Love's Labour's Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
*Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County
Outstanding Orchestrations
*Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Outstanding Music in a Play
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
*Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Duncan Sheik, A Man's a Man
Outstanding Revue
*After Midnight
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined
Outstanding Set Design
*Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll's House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club
Outstanding Costume Design
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night's Dream
*William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent
Outstanding Lighting Design
*Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth
Outstanding Projection Design
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night's Dream
*Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Shawn Sagady, All The Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn Ben Rubin, Arguendo
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
*Brian Ronan, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All The Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information
*Matt Tierney, Machinal
Outstanding Solo Performance
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned
*John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf
Unique Theatrical Experience
Charlatan
*Cirkopolis
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill Vol. 2
Special Awards: Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theatre.
For 2013-2014, these awards are:
To Soho Rep: For nearly four decades of artistic distinction, innovative production, and provocative play selection.
To Veanne Cox: For her ability to express the eccentricities, strengths, and vulnerabilities of a range of characters, and notably for her comedic flair as evidenced in this season’s The Old Friends and The Most Deserving.
To Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For his visionary directorial excellence. This season’s The Golden Dragon and The Mysteries exemplify his bold and strikingly original imagination.
To the ensembles of Off-Broadway’s The Open House and Broadway’s The Realistic Joneses and to the creator of both plays, Will Eno: For two extraordinary casts and one impressively inventive playwright.
The Open House: Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman Danny McCarthy, and Carolyn McCormick
The Realistic Joneses: Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei
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Gretchen Shugart is managing executive producer of the Drama Desk Awards. Joey Parnes Productions produced and managed the show. The president of Drama Desk is Isa Goldberg, and Randie Levine Miller is director of special events.
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Drama Desk was founded in 1949 "to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics' organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories."
The 2013-2014 Board of Directors of the Drama Desk is composed of Isa Goldberg (The Broadway Channel), Leslie (Hoban) Blake (City Arts; Two on the Aisle), Charles Wright (A+E Networks), Richard Ridge (BroadwayWorld), Arlene Epstein (South Shore Record & Herald Community Newspapers), Elysa Gardner (USA Today), Randy Gener (USA Editor, Critical Stages; Contributor, NPR), John Istel (Freelance), Edward Karam (offoffonline.com), David Kaufman (Author & Freelance), William Wolf (Adjunct Professor, NYU & wolfentertainmentguide.com), and Lauren Yarger (Manchester Journal-Inquirer & reflectionsinthelight.com).
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