The Eleventh Annual David Desk Awards, plus Thoughts on B'way Reopening

Today normally would have been one of the best days of the year, Tony Award Day! But because of

the COVID-19 pandemic, Broadway theaters have been shut down since March 12 and are not likely to

reopen until January 2021 at the earliest. In a May 25 interview with Tim Teeman of the Daily Beast, Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin was cautiously optimistic about the Main Stem lights being relit. But she stressed social distancing and playing to half-empty housing would not fit with the Broadway economic model which requires packing in as many bodies as possible for maximum profit. A few shows such as Plaza Suite, MJ: The Michael Jackson Musical and 1776 have announced opening dates for the spring of 2021, but those may be aspirational like Trump saying he wanted packed churches on Easter.

Without a vaccine or even treatment for the coronavirus, theatergoers will probably be reluctant to return. What would Broadway look like without a vaccine? It might mean closing the entire Times Square area off from cars so that the side streets from 42nd to 50th could be used for long lines of patrons to get their temperatures checked and handed face masks as well having their bags searched. (The latter practice started just a few years ago in the wake of various terrorist threats.) Getting into the theater could become just as time-consuming as going to the airport with patrons making sure to show up two-to-three hours before curtain time.


There's also the threat to performers. Will actors have to wear face masks and maintain a separation of six feet? The British play Lungs will have the only cast members Matt Smith and Claire Foy keeping apart. Audiences will be watching (and paying) on line. But that's a two-character play. How will huge cast musicals function? Singing at full volume causes potentially virus-laden droplets to be propelled to cast mates. A church choir practice was one of the super-spreader events in the early stages of the American outbreak. The choreographer of Mrs. Doubtful recently posted she was restaging all of that show's dances with social distancing. But will that be enough?

In addition to no Tonys today, the digital versions of the Drama Desk and Obie Awards, as well as several digital Tony tribute substitute programs and theater benefits, have been postponed for an undetermined period because of the nationwide protests against racial injustice and the murder of an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer. The DDs were going to be handed out on NY-1 last Sunday May 31, but the local all-news channel opted (correctly) to run ongoing coverage of the demonstrations.  Drama Desk co-presidents Charles Wright and David Barbour issued a statement in support of the protests and Black Lives Matter. The Obies were to be presented online on June 4 and their presenters came to a similar decision. It's not clear when these awards will be shown as the protests and the conditions that sparked them continue to enfold.

So with no Tonys, Drama Desks or Obies, here are my personal choices for the best of the truncated on and Off-Broadway season.

Play

72 Miles to Go.. (Hillary Bettis)

Eureka Day (Jonathan Spector)

Michele Pawk, John Zdrojeski, and Zoe Winters
 in Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Credit: Joan Marcus

Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Will Arbery)

The Inheritance (Matthew Lopez)

Linda Vista (Tracey Letts)

Musical

Jagged Little Pill

Soft Power

A Strange Loop

Musical Revival

West Side Story

Actor (Play)

Ian Barford, Linda Vista

Frances Jue, Cambodian Rock Band

Kyle Soller, The Inheritance

Actress (Play)

Jane Alexander, Grand Horizons

James Cromwell and Jane Alexander in
Grand Horizons
Credit: Joan Marcus

Liza Colon-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven

Judith Ivey, Greater Clements

Actor (Musical)

Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man

Larry Owens, A Strange Loop

Isaac Powell, West Side Story

Conrad Ricamora, Soft Power

Actress (Musical)

Alyse Alan Louis, Soft Power

Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge

Shereen Pimentel, West Side Story

Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill

Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Adrienne Warren in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Credit: Manuel Harlan

Featured Actor (Play)

Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements

Paul Hilton, The Inheritance

Samuel H. Levine, The Inheritance

Featured Actress (Play)

Julia McDermott, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Lois Smith, The Inheritance

Jennifer Van Dyck, The Confession of Lily Dare

Zoe Winters, Heroes of the Fourth Turning

Featured Actor (Musical)

Jay Armstrong Johnson in Scotland, PA
Credit: Nina Goodheart

Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA

Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors

Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge

Featured Actress (Musical)

Yesenia Ayala, West Side Story

Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill

Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill

Director (Play)

Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance

John Ortiz, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven

Director (Musical)

Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop

Phyllida Lloyd, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill

Leigh Silverman, Soft Power

Ivo van Hove, West Side Story

Set Design

Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge

Clint Ramos, Soft Power

Narelle Sissons, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven

Costume Design

Anita Yavich, Soft Power

Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge

Lighting Design

Justin Townsend, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge

Hugh Vanstone, The Height of the Storm

Video/Projection Design

Luke Halls, West Side Story

Choreography

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jagged Little Pill

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, West Side Story

Travis Walls, The Wrong Man