The Sixth Annual David Desk Awards

Pocatello at Playwrights Horizons, winner of the David Desk Award
for one of the best plays of the 2014-15 season.

Now that the Tonys, Drama Desks, Lortels, Outer Critics, and Obies are over, I have made the choices for my own awards--the David Desks--for the best in NY theater, on or Off-Broadway. This is totally unofficial and all about my own preferences of everything I've seen for the season. Like the DDs, Broadway and Off-Broadway are together. The DDs have now stretched their categories from six to seven in some cases, and so have the Emmys. So I have too. You may see many repeats from the other awards but I have a few faves of my own including Samuel D. Hunter's Pocatello which had a relatively brief run at Playwrights Horizons. I was the only member of the NY Drama Critics Circle to vote for it for Best Play on the first ballot. The play deals with the lonely manager of a chain restaurant in the titular Idaho city. His story and those of his employees symbolize the struggle of most Americans with few marketable skills and a loss of community. I had also actually eaten in the Pocatello Ruby Tuesdays in the parking lot of the Best Western, similar to the play's Olive Garden. Rob McClure of the short-lived Honeymoon in Vegas was unfairly overlooked as well in the other awards.

So here they are the David Desks, enjoy, let me know if you love or hate them:   

Play

Airline Highway (Lisa D’Amour)

Between Riverside and Crazy (Stephen Adly Guirgis)

The City of Conversation (Anthony Giardina)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Simon Stephens)

Indian Ink (Tom Stoppard)

Pocatello (Samuel D. Hunter)

Wolf Hall, Parts One and Two (Mike Poulton)

Musical

An American in Paris

The Fortress of Solitude

Hamilton

Something Rotten!

The Visit

Revival of a Play

Ghosts

The Iceman Cometh

Macbeth (Park Ave. Armory)

Tamburlaine, Parts I and II

The Wayside Motor Inn

You Can’t Take It With You

Revival of a Musical

Allegro

Into the Woods

The King and I

On the Town

On the Twentieth Century

Side Show

Actor in a Play

Kenneth Branagh, Macbeth

Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man

Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy

T. R. Knight, Pocatello

John Lithgow, A Delicate Balance

Bill Pullman, Sticks and Bones

Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Helen Mirren adds a David Desk Award
to her many accolades

Actress in a Play

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Grand Concourse

Lesley Manville, Ghosts

Jan Maxwell, The City of Conversation

Helen Mirren, The Audience

Carey Mulligan, Skylight

Ruth Wilson, Constellations

Actor in a Musical

Adam Chanler-Berat, The Fortress of Solitude

Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris

Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!

Rob McClure, Honeymoon in Vegas

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Actress in a Musical

Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century

Leanne Cope, An American in Paris

Erin Davie, Emily Padget, Side Show

Kelli O’Hara, The King and I

Chita Rivera, The Visit

Featured Actor in a Play

Brian Dennehy, The Iceman Cometh

K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway

Richard McCabe, The Audience

Jacob Ming-Trent, Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2, and 3

Stephen Ouimette, The Iceman Cometh

Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Lance Coadie Williams, Bootycandy

Featured Actress in a Play

Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It With You

Kristen Bush, The City of Conversation

Rebecca Henderson, The Wayside Motor Inn

Judith Ivey, The Audience

Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Stacy Sargeant, Our Lady of Kihebo and Big Love

Julie White, Airline Highway

Featured Actor in a Musical

Kyle Beltran, The Fortress of Solitude

Christian Borle, Something Rotten!

Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century

Kevin Mambo, The Fortress of Solitude

Patrick Mulryan, Into the Woods

Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton

Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Featured Actress in a Musical

Elizabeth A. Davis, Allegro

Jackie Hoffman, On the Town

Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I

Jill Paice, An American in Paris

Alysha Umphress, On the Town

Mary Louise Wilson, On the Twentieth Century

Emily Young, Into the Woods

Director of a Play

Rob Ashford, Kenneth Branagh, Macbeth

Michael Boyd, Tamburlaine, Parts I and II

Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Robert Falls, The Iceman Cometh

Michael Greif, Our Lady of Kibeho

Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Ivo Van Hove, Scenes from a Marriage

Director of a Musical

Daniel Aukin, The Fortress of Solitude

Noah Broady, Ben Steinfeld, Into the Woods

John Doyle, Allegro

Thomas Kail, Hamilton

Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!

John Rando, On the Town

Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Choreography

Joshua Bergasse, On the Town

Andy Blankenbuelher, Hamilton

Warren Carlyle, On the Twentieth Century

Steven Hoggett, The Last Ship

Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Book of a Musical

Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell, Something Rotten!

Itamar Moses, The Fortress of Solitude

Music

Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude

John Kander, The Visit

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Sting, The Last Ship

Lyrics

Fred Ebb, The Visit

Michael Friedman, The Fortress of Solitude

Wayen Kirkpatrick, Karey Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Orchestrations

Christopher Austin, An American in Paris

Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Allegro

Mark Galgano, Matt Castle, Into the Woods

Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton

Set Design

Bunny Christie, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Lauren Helpern, Pocatello

Ricardo Hernandez, The Invisible Hand

Scott Pask, Airline Highway

David Rockwell, Side Show, On the Twentieth Century

Walt Spangler, Between Riverside and Crazy

Costume Design

Bob Crowley, The Audience

Jess Goldstein, On the Town

Bretta Gerecke, Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe

William Ivey Long, On the Twentieth Century

Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Anita Yavich, Big Love

Catherine Zuber, Gigi, The King and I

Lighting Design

Christopher Akerlind, The Last Ship

Howell Binkley, Hamilton

Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Paule Constable, David Platter, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Natasha Katz, The Iceman Cometh, An American in Paris

Ben Stanton, Our Lady of Kibeho

Japhy Weideman, The Oldest Boy, Airline Highway, The Visit

Video/Projection Design

59 Productions, An American in Paris

Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Austin Switser, Big Love

Sound Design

Ian Dickinson for Autograph, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Fitz Patton, Airline Highway

Matt Tierney, Our Lady of Kibeho, Pocatello

Music in a Play

John Browne, The Events

Arthur Solari, Tamburlaine, Parts I and II

Adrian Sutton, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Stephen Warbeck, Wolf Hall, Parts One & Two

Solo Performance

Christine Bianco, Application Pending

Jim Dale, Just Jim Dale

Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing

Unique Theatrical Experience

The Events

The Illusionists: Witness the Impossible

Queen of the Night