Theater World Awards

Elliot Levey, Rachael Sterling and
John Lithgow in Giant.

Theater award just keep pouring in. The winners and location of the 80th Theater World Awards for outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway debut performances have been announced. The awards will be presented on June 2 at the Longacre Theater, home of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Theater journalist Peter Filichia will host. Rachael Sterling of Giant will receive the 17th annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in Theater. 

2026 Theatre World Award Honorees
For Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance
during the 2025-2026 theatrical season

Ben Ahlers, Death of a Salesman
LJ Benet, The Lost Boys
Madeline Brewer, Becky Shaw
Adrien Brody, The Fear of 13
Ayo Edebiri, Proof
Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw
Luke Evans, The Rocky Horror Show
Will Harrison, Punch
River Lipe-Smith, Caroline
Leslie Manville, Oedipus
Robert "Silk" Mason, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

The Theatre World Award honorees are chosen by the Theatre World Awards Committee which is comprised of Linda Armstrong (Amsterdam News), David Cote (The Observer), Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News, Emeritus), Peter Filichia (The Newark Star-Ledger, Emeritus), David Finkle (New York Stage Review), Elysa Gardner (USA Today, Emeritus), Cary Wong (Freelance), and Frank Scheck (The Hollywood Reporter).

Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! Lead Tony Noms; Liberation Wins Pulitzer

Schmigadoon! received 10 Tony noms.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and 
Evan Zimmerman.

The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! tied for the most Tony nominations with 12 each including Best Musical. The nominations were announced on May 5 by Uzo Aduba and Darren Criss on CBS Good Morning and then on the Tony Awards's YouTube channel from the Sofitel Hotel. The awards presented by the Broadway League and the American Theater Wing will be presented on June 7 at Radio City Music Hall and broadcast by CBS. CBS and Pluto TV will present The Tony Awards: Act One, a pre-show of live, exclusive content leading into the 79th Annual Tony Awards. Additional details will be available at a future date.

The Tonys are strikingly different this year from the Drama Desks which include Off-Broadway in all their categories. The DDs gave two Off-Broadway musicals Mexodus and Beau: The Musicals the most noms with ten each. The Lost Boys received only five DD noms in design categories and Schmigadoon! got 4. The Outer Critics Circle, on the other hand, were more generous with Lost Boys, nominating the vampire musical for 11 awards, their highest amount.

Bess Wohl's Liberation won the Pulitzer
and is nominated for the Best Play Tony.
Credit: Joan Marcus

The other Tony nominees for Best Musical are Titanique and Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). The nominees for Best Play are The Balusters, Giant, Liberation and Little Bear Ridge Road. Liberation won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama the day before and Little Bear Ridge Road was named Best Play of the season by the New York Drama Critics Circle last week. (Runners-up for the Pulitzer were Bowl EP and Meet the Cartozians.) Musical pickings were so slim this year two dramatic plays (Death of a Salesman and Joe Turner's Come and Gone) received nominations for Best Original Score.

There were a number of surprises and omissions. Art, Beaches, Proof, and The Queen of Versailles were totally ignored and The Fear of 13 only garnered two nods in the design categories. Prominent names who received no Tony love include Adrien Brody, Lea Michele, Ayo Edebrini, Jean Smart, Don Cheadle, and Keanu Reeves. Chess was left out of the Best Musical Revival category, though there are only three shows in that slot.

If Schmigadoon! wins Best Musical
we will get Schmicago on Broadway?

The big battle will probably be for the top Tony prize of Best Musical with The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! as the frontrunners. I liked both shows, but Schmigadoon! has a slight edge for me. I'm really hope this parody musical wins so that we can get Schmicago, the second season of the TV series on stage, and then Into the Schmoods, the unfilmed third season either on the air or on stage--or both.

In the acting categories, Joshua Henry of Ragtime is the only sure winner in my view with most of the other slots up for grabs. Best Actor in a Play will go to either Nathan Lane or John Lithgow, both previous winners (Lane three times and Lithgow twice). Lesley Manville should get Best Actress in a Play, even though her show Oedipus has closed and she's back in London. Best Actress in a Musical is a real toss-up with no clear front runner. My favorite is Sara Chase in Schmigadoon!

Legitimate theatrical productions opening in any of the 41 eligible Broadway theatres during the current season may be considered for Tony nominations. The 2025/2026 eligibility season began April 28, 2025 and ended April 26, 2026. The Tony Awards will be voted in 26 competitive categories by 857 designated Tony voters within the theatre community.

B'way Reviews: Joe Turner's Come and Gone; Proof; The Rocky Horror Show

The 2025-26 Broadway season closes out with a trio of strong revivals of diverse shows—Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Proof, and The Rocky Horror Show. Each offers a vastly different theatrical experience, pushing a dissimilar set of sensory buttons, but all share the thrill of connecting audiences to thoughtful examinations of timeless issues. Well, the last one is really about having a good dirty time.

Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson
in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Debbie Allen’s production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone leans a little heavily on broad humor, but still imparts the author’s searing indictment of the traumatic effect of institutional racism on the African-American community. This is Wilson’s third play in his decade-by-decade examination of the black experience in America in the 20th century (premiering on Broadway in 1988 after Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Fences) and the second one chronologically. Set in a 1911 Pittsburgh boarding house, the play follows the residents’ struggles as they deal with the restrictions and devastation wrought by the white majority in the aftermath of slavery. With the exception of Seth and Bertha Holly, the owners of the house (top-billed Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson), they all lead a transitory existence, searching for a stable life. Cedric is firmly grounded in Seth’s no-nonsense approach of maintaining order in his house and expanding his metalwork business. At times, Henson relies too much on comic bits of business, but she clearly delineates Bertha’s motherly rule over her boarders. 

Joshua Boone and Ruben Santiago-Hudson
in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

The mysterious Herald Loomis (blazingly intense Joshua Boone), accompanied by his little daughter Zonia (a professional Savannah Commodore at the performance attended), is searching for his wife. They were separated when Loomis was abducted by Joe Turner of the title, a white “man-catcher” who abducted African-American men into enforced labor under the guise of the law. Cocky young Jeremy Furrow (bubbly and fun Tripp Taylor) bounces from job to job and woman to woman while entering blues contests with his guitar. Mattie Campbell (sympathetic Nimene Sierra Wureh) desperately clings to Jeremy after losing a baby and then her man. But flirtatious Molly Cunningham (delightfully seductive Maya Boyd) entrances Jeremy away. Offering solace and curing charms is the sage folk healer Bynum Walker (majestic and subtly commanding Ruben Santiago-Hudson).

Mexodus Tops Lortel Winners

Nygel D. Robinson and Brian Quijada  in Mexodus. 
Credit: Curtis Brown

Mexodus, the two-character musical about African-American migration from the salve states to Mexico, won the most awards at the 2026 Lortel Awards, presented on May 3. The show currently played at the Daryl Roth Theater after an earlier engagement at the Minetta Lane, took four awards including Outstanding Musical, Director, Lead Performance in a Musical (Nygel D. Robinson who also co-wrote the chow with castmate Brian Quijada), and Sound Design. Jordan Tannahill's Prince Faggot was voted Outstanding Play. The Awards presented for excellence in Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theater were distributed in a ceremony at NYU Skirball hosted by Alex Moffat (“SNL,” “Bigfoot!”) and presenters Patrick Ball (“The Pitt,” “Becky Shaw”), Maya Boyd (“Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”) Susannah Flood (“Liberation”), Stephanie Hsu (“The Rocky Horror Show,”) Aasif Mandvi (“Fallen Angels,”), and Lea Michele (“Chess”). The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF. 

Special honorees this year include Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Mia Katigbak, performer and founder of the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO), whose honor was presented by Francis Jue; and legendary composer and lyricist William Finn, who was posthumously inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk with a tribute performance featuring frequent Finn collaborators Carolee Carmello, Lilli Cooper, Mary Testa, and Chip Zien, and presented by David Stone and James Lapine. In addition, the Off-Broadway League presented George Forbes with the first ever Paul Libin Leadership Award, a new annual honor recognizing a member of the Off-Broadway League who exemplifies extraordinary leadership, whether over the course of a distinguished career or through a singular moment of impact, mentorship, and service to the Off-Broadway community. The In Memoriam segment was accompanied by a performance of Bobby Darin’s “The Curtain Falls” by Isa Briones, currently appearing in “Just in Time” on Broadway.

Off-B'way Update: Public Theater 2026-27 Season

Jacob Ming-Trent in How Shakespare Saved
My Life.
Credit: Kevin Berne

The Public Theater has announced its schedule for the fall and winter of the 2026-27 season. The roster includes a wide variety of solos, new plays, musicals and adaptations of the classics. First up is How Shakespeare Saved My Life, Jacob Ming-Trent's one-man exploration of his lifelong connection with the Bard (opens Sept. 27). This is a production of Red Bull Theater in a co-production with Berkeley Rep and Folger Theater.

Ryan J. Haddad's autobiographical play Good Time Charlie follows (opening Oct. 9).  As a young man, Charlie dreamt of a life on the stage, but his parents thought dentistry sounded better, so he channeled his passion for culture into his nephew Ryan—a fellow theater-loving gay kid with Broadway ambitions. Haddad will star in his play with additional cast to be announced.

The West End production of
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Credit: Marc Brenner

Next up is the musical version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald story about a man who ages backwards. This musical transplants the story from New Orleans (as depicted in the film version starring Brad Pitt) to a Cornish fishing village on the coast of Great Britain. (opens Oct. 21.) This North American premiere follows a hit run in London's West End.

Richard Nelson's Apple family returns to the Public with We'll See which takes place on the night of the midterm Congressional elections (opens Nov. 3). This is the latest in Nelson's Rhinebeck Panorama about three families in the upstate New York town dealing with local and national issues. Sally Murphy, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robbins and Jay O. Sanders return to their roles as the Apple siblings. Additional casting to be announced.

Stephen Kunken, Sally Murphy, Maryann Plunkett,
Laila Robbins, Jon DeVries and Jay O. Sanders
as the Apple Family in Regular Singing (2013 at the Public)
Credit: Joan Marcus

B'way Update: Evita to Transfer

Rachel Zeigler and cast in Evita in London.
Credit: Marc Brenner

Rachel Zeigler (West Side Story film, Romeo and Juliet) will recreate her Olivier Award-winning performance in the title role of Evita on Broadway next spring at a Shubert theater to be announced, but without the controversial balcony rendition of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." In Jamie Lloyd's London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's bio-musical featured Zeigler performing the show's most famous song on a balcony facing the street outside the theater while the audience saw it on a giant screen. Safety concerns were sited as the reason for the change. This minimalist version began life in 2019 in London's Regent Park and then transferred to the West End. 

"I was completely overwhelmed by the incredible response to Evita in London," says Lloyd in a statement. "It is an honor to work with Tim and Andrew, and I’m looking forward to revisiting the production with Rachel, whose stellar performance continues to inspire me. When we started discussing a New York production, it became apparent that our Palladium staging of ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ would not be possible. I am really excited to explore a new idea, made especially for Broadway." Lloyd's production of Much Ado About Nothing will also transfer to Broadway this upcoming season.

"Performing Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brilliant show in London was a dream come true, but being able to partner once again with Jamie to bring Evita to Broadway is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," adds Zegler. "I can’t wait to perform for my home, New York City."

Evita, the story of the popular second wife of Argentina's president Juan Peron, was initially released as a concept album and then became a full production directed by Harold Prince in London in 1978, later transferring to Broadway and starring Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. Madonna starred in the 1996 film version and there was a Broadway revival in 2012.

Little Bear, Ehrenreich, Salesman Win NYDCC Awards

Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock in
Little Bear Ridge Road.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Little Bear Ridge Road, Alden Ehrenreich of Becky Shaw, and the ensemble cast of Death of a Salesman were the winners of the 90th annual New York Drama Critics Circle Awards. The group opted to present no award for Best Musical. Costume designer Qween Jean, the playwright-director team of Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, and Lincoln Center Theater's revival of Ragtime were awarded special citations. The critics met on April 30 at the offices of Time Out New York to vote for their top choices of the 2025-26 NY theatrical season. The awards will be presented in a private ceremony on May 7 at 54 Below. 

Samuel D. Hunter's Little Bear Ridge Road which had a run on Broadway earlier in the season starring Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock, was the critics' choice for Best Play. (Metcalf also currently stars in Death of a Salesman and both shows were directed by Joe Mantello.) The play concerns a lonely gay young man connecting with his alienated aunt after the death of his father. Hunter previously won the Circle's award for Best Play in 2022 for A Case for the Existence of God. On the first ballot, Little Bear received the most votes, but not enough of a majority to be declared a winner by the group's by-laws. Shawn's What We Did Before Our Moth Days and Talene Malone's Meet the Cartozians were the runners-up. After voting to give a Best Play award, the critics went to a third, weighted ballot with each member voting for their top three picks. With this ballot, the leading candidates were (in order) Little Bear Ridge Road, Meet the Cartozians, Robert Icke's adaptation of Oedipus, and Moth Days. There was scattered support for Giant, Prince Faggot, Mother Russia, The Balusters, Cold War Choir Practice, and Well, I'll Let You Go. But there were still not enough votes for a clear majority.

A fourth ballot was held with the group only voting for their top three choices of the four leaders on a weighted ballot. Little Bear emerged victorious. This award is accompanied by a cash prize of $2,500, made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.