70th Drama Desks Spread the Wealth

Nygel D. Robinson and Brian
Quijada of Mexodus, won 
for Outstanding Book and Music
at the Drama Desk Awards.

Two Broadway shows, The Balusters and Schmigadoon, won the top awards of Outstanding Play and Musical at the 70th annual Drama Desk Awards, presented on May 17 at Town Hall in a three-hour ceremony. The remainder of the 36 awards and seven special awards were distributed among 18 other productions both on and Off-Broadway. Unlike the Broadway-only Tonys, the DDs include on, Off and Off-Off-Broadway in each of its multiple categories. The revival of Ragtime took home the most awards with five including Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Director (Lear de Bessonet), two for Lead Musical Performance (Joshua Henry and Caissie Levy) and Featured Musical Performance (Ben Levi Ross). Death of a Salesman won four including Outstanding Revival of a Play, Director of a Play (Joe Mantello, winning his fourth DD), Lighting and Set Design for a Play. This places Balusters, Schmigadoon, Salesman and Ragtime in the frontrunner positions of the upcoming Tony Awards on June 7.

The show was hosted by Marla Mindelle, star and co-author of Titanique now on Broadway which received DD nominations for its Off-Broadway run. Mindelle joked that the awards were named for Andromeda Desk, an obscure actress, and performed a brief musical number with two dancers from Death Becomes Her. She also performed an introductory comedy monologue, quipping that We'll I Let You Go was what her agent said after a bad audition for In Transit.

Presenters included Beth Leavel, Bryce Pinkham, Constance Wu, Norbert Leo Butz, Christopher Fitzgerald, Donna McKechnie, BD Wong, Doug Wright, Bess Wohl, Jenn Colella, Ethan Slater, Javier Muñoz, Nikiya Mathis, Daniel Breaker, Helen J Shen, Whitney White, Alex Brightman, Ann Harada, Hunter Foster, Lea DeLaria, Zhailon Levingston, John Ortiz, Whitney Leavitt, Jasmine Cephas-Hones, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Liisi LaFontaine, Solea Pfeiffer, David Zayas, Liza Colon Zayas, Jon Cryer, Paul Tazewell, Rafael Espinal of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Qween Jean, Mark Strong, and Zhailon Levingston. 

The presenter banter by Kevin Zak was brief and witty. Lea DeLaria did ad-lib brilliantly as John Lithgow, winner of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play for Giant, made his way to the stage by improvising a song "Take your time, John Lithgow." Lithgow hugged co-presenter BD Wong and revealed he had lost a Drama Desk Award when he co-starred with Wong in M. Butterfly in 1988. Lithgow said he did some research and found out this was his fifth Drama Desk Award. He also revealed his co-winner in the category, Lesley Manville for Oedipus, also won with him last year when they both were victorious at the Olivier Awards when both shows were in London. They might repeat theirs wins at the Tonys. Four years ago, the DDs made all performance categories non-gendered, doubled the number of nominees, and changed the rules so the top two voter-getters both win. Sometimes, two men win, sometimes two women, sometimes one of each gender. In the case of ties, there have been three winners. The only tie this year was for choreography which was shared by Schmigadoon and Cats: The Jellicle Ball.

The most memorable acceptance gesture was provided by Christopher Lowell of the Marjorie Prime outstanding ensemble who set offer a series of confetti canons on his way to the stage.

Cynthia Nixon, Christopher Lowell,
and Danny Burstein
accept Outstanding Ensemble for
Marjorie Prime.

Entertainment was provided by Liz Callaway singing "The Story Goes On" from Baby by David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr, honorees for the William Wolf Award. The songwriting team whose About Time was named Outstanding Revue earlier in the evening, gave their acceptance speeches from the audience. There was also a medley of songs from Disney musicals performed by Rodney Ingram, Kissy Simmons, Sierra Boggess, Ainsley Melham, and Zachary Noah Piser in tribute to Thomas Schumacher, former president of Disney Theatrical Productions who was receiving the Harold S. Prince Award. 

A video presentation hosted by Drama Desk Historian Leslie Hoban Blake documented the history of the Drama Desks and featured interviews with six Drama Desk icons--Gretchen Cryer, Andre De Shields, Richard Maltby Jr., Austin Pendleton, Jennifer Tipton, and Maury Yeston. The icons then come on stage to receive bouquets of flowers and a standing ovation. There was also an announcement that the following year's ceremony with take place at the Shed.

This year’s awards were produced by Drama Desk Awards Productions, a venture of Scene Partners in partnership with the Season. Chaired by the Martha Wade Steketee (UrbanExcavations.com), the 2026 nominating committee which saw and considered 270 productions this season includes Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News), Daniel Dinero (Theater Is Easy), Peter Filichia (Broadway Radio), Kenji Fujishima (freelance, Theatermania), Margaret Hall (Playbill.com) and Raven Snook (TDF).  Charles Wright and David Barbour are co-presidents. The Drama Desk considers Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway in each of its multiple categories. 

Here is a list of the 2025-26 Drama Desk nominees and winners:

Outstanding Play
Caroline, by Preston Max Allen
Cold War Choir Practice, by Ro Reddick
Meet the Cartozians, by Talene Monahon
Prince Faggot, by Jordan Tannahill
WINNER - The Balusters, by David Lindsay-Abaire
The Porch on Windy Hill, by Sherry Stregack Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse, and David M. Lutken
Well, I’ll Let You Go, by Bubba Weiler

Outstanding Musical
Beau the Musical
Mexodus
WINNER - Schmigadoon!
The Seat of Our Pants
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Off-B'way Review: Kenrex; Masquerade

Jack Holden in Kenrex.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

It’s hard to believe that Jack Holden is British since the solo star and co-writer of Kenrex, the one-man thriller at the Lortel Theater after an Olivier-winning run in London, so convincingly recreates an entire American Midwestern town in the midst of a crisis. Based on an actual case, this true-crime narrative focuses on the tiny municipality of Skidmore, Missouri where the title character bullied and dominated everyone around him until the law-abiding citizens could take no more. Kenneth Rex McElroy stole cattle, committed arson and rape, and even attempted murder, but got away with each of his numerous offenses thanks to a slick attorney. Feeling betrayed by the legal system, the Skidmoreans finally took the law into their own hands. Holden and co-author Ed Stambollouian, who also directs with imagination, tells this grim story through the eyes of a disillusioned prosecutor. It’s a chilling cautionary tale leaving this viewer severely shaken and unsure of what he would have done had he been there in Skidmore that day in 1981 when Kenrex met his fate.

Augmented by the symphonic, immersive sound design by Giles Thomas and John Patrick Elliott’s pulsating score combining rock and country idioms, the tale unfolds with hypnotic intensity, starting with the frantic 911 call by Kenrex’s hysterical teenage bride and then progressing through interviews with the prosecutor and the FBI to flashbacks of Kenrex’s decades-long reign of terror. 

Drama League Awards to Josh Henry, Mexodus, Liberation

Joshua Henry of Ragtime won
the Drama League Award for 
Outstanding Performance.

The 92nd Drama League Awards were presented on May 15 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom to Joshua Henry (Outstanding Performance) of Ragtime (which was named Outstanding Revival of a Musical), Mexodus (Outstanding Production of a Musical), and Liberation (Outstanding Production of a Play). Additional winners included Death of a Salesman (Revival of a Play) and its director Joe Mantello (Director of a Play). Lear de Besonnet was voted Outstanding Director of a Musical for Ragtime. Frank DiLella of NY-1 hosted the ceremony. Presenters included Bryan Cranston, Bebe Neuwirth, Nathan Lane, Brian Stokes Mitchell, John Lithgow, Christopher Ashley and Whitney White. Even though Liberation was presented Off-Broadway last season, Drama League rules permit for transfers from Off-Broadway to on to be considered in both years. Joshua Henry has already won the Outer Critics Circle Award and is nominated for the Drama Desk and Tony.

The previously announced Special Honorees were presented as follows: Tony Award-winning producer David Stone presented the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater award to the Olivier and Grammy-nominated actress Caissie Levy; Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning actor and playwright Tracy Letts presented the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing to Tony Award-winning director David Cromer; Tony Award winning actor and director Ruben Santiago-Hudson presented the Contribution to the Theater Award to Executive Producer of the Apollo Theater Kamilah Forbes; and Tony Award-winning scenic designer David Rockwell presented the Gratitude Award to Tony nominee and Olivier Award winner Scott Ellis.

A complete list of winners follows:

Book Review: Too Much Money

(Bought at the Center for Fiction bookstore in Brooklyn for $5): After having read the memoirs of Dominick Dunne and his son Griffin, I picked up this last novel of Dunne's on a cart of discounts in Brooklyn. It's like eating an entire box of chocolates. You know it's not good for you, but the treats are so sweet and yummy, you keep munching on them. At barely over 260 pages, the story flies by. Dunne's stand-in Gus Bailey, an intrepid high-society journalist faces twin crises--a slander lawsuit and the wraith of a wealthy widow who may or may not have engineered her husband's death in a fire. Meanwhile, a disgraced financier and his ambitious wife plot to regain a foothold in New York Page Six land after his release from prison. They made numerous philanthropic contributions (Now I know why the NY Public Library was renamed.) 

I suppose part of the fun of Dunne's books is guessing who his ultra-rich, entitled characters are based on. Brooke Astor, Klaus von Bulow, Barbara Walters, Larry King make appearances. I'm not familiar enough with the upper echelons of Gotham grandeur to recognize all of the dramatis personae, but it's great deal of juicy fun to follow their vicious doings. It appears Dunne worked on this final tell-all as he was dying and wanted to get some final licks in. 

I imagine this is what Truman Capote's Answered Prayers would have been like if he ever finished it. I needed a quick light read and this was it. There's too much repetition of events as if we're watching a soap opera and may have forgotten the events of yesterday's episode. But that's a minor quibble. Perhaps I'll try some of Dunne's earlier, longer works.

B'way Update: Paranormal Activity; Celebrity Autobiography; Etc.

Melissa James and Patrick Heusinger in
Paranormal Activity in London.
Credit: Johan Persson

As the 2025-26 theatrical season draws to a close, there's lots of news about the 2026-27 schedule. Two new off-beat productions have been announced, a Shakespeare revival from London finds a home and dates, an Off-Broadway revival with a rotating star-filled cast is coming, and Weird Al Yankovic is working on a show.

Paranormal Activity: A New Story Live on Broadway (in case you think it's a movie), a new play inspired by the popular film franchise, will begin previews at the August Wilson Theater on Aug. 14 prior to a Sept. 15 opening. Written by Levi Holloway (Grey House) and directed by Felix Barrett (Sleep No More), the production will come to Broadway directly from its run in Boston, following stands in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and San Francisco as well as an Oliver-nominated edition in London's West End.

The plot follows James and Lou who have relocated from Chicago to London in hopes of escaping their past, but they discover "place aren't haunted, people are."

Meanwhile, the first show of the 2026-27 season will open soon. Celebrity Autobiography, the revue featuring actors reading from the memoirs of famous people, will return to the New York stage for a summer run. The show which will feature a rotating cast starts previews at the Shubert Theater May 16, opens May 18 and runs througb Aug. 16. Autobiography played the Triad Theater Off-Broadway in 2008-09 and won a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.

The opening night cast includes Scott Adsit, Mario Cantone, Jeff Hiller, Jackie Hoffman, Gayle King, Andrea Martin, Bobby Moynihan, Ben Mankiewicz (of TCM), Kenan Thompson, Nia Vardalos, and Rita Wilson.

Speaking of rotating all-star casts, Eric Bentley's Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, about the 1950s House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings, will also have a limited summer run and feature a revolving company. Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County) directs. The cast(s) have yet to be announced. Performances at New York City Center Stage I begin June 2. The play which features transcripts from the HUAC testimony of Jerome Robbins, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Sterling Hayden and many others played Off-Broadway in the 1970s. There was a brief Broadway run in 1979.

Book Review: The Little Friend

(Borrowed from the 40th St. NYPL)  I enjoyed Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch and The Secret History, so I thought I'd give this second novel of hers a try. It was certainly involving and absorbing and kept me interested for over 600 pages. The characters were portrayed with detail and compassion, even the slimy criminals. It reminded me of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Twelve-year-old Harriet spends a summer in the 1970s in her small Mississippi town searching for the killer of her brother who has found strung up on a tree ten years ago. The town of Alexandria comes alive in Tartt's fascinating descriptions. I loved Harriet's no-nonsense grandmother Edie and the put-upon yet determined black housekeeper Ida Rhew. Edie's many sisters and the downtrodden Ratcliffe clan also are vibrantly portrayed.

The exact time period was a little unclear. The many TV, movie and music references ring true, but they are not consistent. Ida and Harriet's sister Allison are obsessed with Dark Shadows, the supernatural TV soap opera, which ended in 1971 yet a child has a Star Wars figure which didn't come to theaters until 1977.  

Without revealing any spoilers, the ending left me confused and unsatisfied, but I relished the entire book. Tartt is a major talent.

Ragtime and Schmigadoon Tie for Most OCC Awards

Ragtime won 5 OCC Awards.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Ragtime and Schmigadoon have tied for the most awards bestowed by the Outer Critics Circle, receiving five each. Ragtime was voted Outstanding Musical Revival and Schmigadoon won for Outstanding Broadway Musical. The OCC, founded during the 1949-50 Broadway season, is composed of about 85 writers on theater for national, out-of-town, and digital media, and divides between Broadway and Off-Broadway in some categories and combines them in others. The awards will be presented on May 21 at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. Mexodus was named Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical. David Lindsay-Abaire's The Balusters won for Outstanding Broadway Play and Talene Monahan's Meet the Cartozians was voted Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. The John Gassner Award for a new play preferably by a new playwright will be shared by Ro Reddick's Cold War Choir Practice and Bubba Weiller's Well, I'll Let You Go, since the two plays received an equal number of votes.

Read the full list of nominees and winners below:

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
The Lost Boys
WINNER - Schmigadoon!
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
Beau the Musical
Goddess
WINNER - Mexodus
Oratorio for Living Things
Saturday Church

Outstanding New Broadway Play
WINNERS - The Balusters
Giant
Little Bear Ridge Road
Oedipus
Punch

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
Angry Alan
WINNER - Meet the Cartozians
The Monsters
Prince Faggot
The Reservoir

John Gassner Award (for a new American play preferably by a new playwright)
Call Me Izzy, Jamie Wax
Caroline, Preston Max Allen
WINNER - Cold War Choir Practice, Ro Reddick (tie)
Data, Matthew Libby
WINNER - Well, I'll Let You Go, Bubba Weiler (tie)