NYDCC, OCC and Other Events

With Betsy Aidem of Liberation 
(Best Ensemble) at the NYDCC.

May is theater award time as the 2024-25 Broadway and Off-Broadway seasons end and various critics and professional groups hand out prizes for the best on offer. The New York Drama Critics Circle presented their awards on May 15 at 54 Below. Adam Feldman of Time Out New York, president of the Circle, presided. Cherry Jones presented Cole Escola with his Special Citation for Oh, Mary! and compared him his performance of a deranged Mary Todd Lincoln to the work of Katharine Cornell and Julie Harris. Mona Pirnot, author of I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan, presented Greenspan with a Lifetime Achievement Award and listed his inspirations during rehearsals as Cyd Charisse, Mae West, Miss Piggy, and watching Judy Garland sing "Smile" on The Ed Sullivan Show on You Tube.

Feldman told the story of the original plaque from the Circle's early years being found and a new version of it was made. The plaque, depicting a scene from The Contrast, the first American comedy staged by a professional troupe, was awarded to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for Purpose. The playwright deliverd his remarks by video since he had a conflicting speaking engagement at Hofstra University.

Cole Escola at the NYDCC
Awards at 54 Below.

I chatted with Betsy Aidem who was part of the award-winning ensemble for Liberation. I was an usher at the Lucille Lortel Theater when Betsy was in the original cast of Steel Magnolias. She reminisced about Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor and Lucille Ball coming to the show. I told her about the time Bob Fosse complained about his seat. 

Andre De Shields presented the special citation to Cats: The Jellicle Ball. He explained the creative process of directors Bill Rauch and Zhailon Levingston: "It was a vivisection. They took the body of the cat and without anesthesia, cut the bitch from head to toe, resuscitated the organs and let the real deal live." 

De Shields also provided one of the highlights of the Outer Critics Circle Awards where we won for Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical (May 22 at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the Lincoln Center Public Library.) Pianist Michael Lavine played him on with his number from The Wiz, "So You Wanna See The Wizard." When he got to the podium, De Shields asked if it was in his key and then he launched into a full rendition of the song.

Andre De Shields at the OCC Awards
Brian Stokes Mitchell presented.

Presenter Victoria Clark told of her first NYC acting job in a non-Equity production called Waterfront Madonna. Playwright Kimberly Bellflower upon accepting her award for Outstanding Broadway Play for John Proctor Is The Villain said that when she was in a high school in a rural Georgia town like the one in her play, the nearest bookstore was 30 minutes away. The nearest Barnes and Noble was 45 minutes away and they sold Original Cast CDs. She and her friend would drive home listening to Victoria Clark's voice.

Also this past week, I attended a script-in-hand reading of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden at the Players Club with Charles Busch in the Dame Edith Evans role and Jennifer Van Dyck in the Deborah Kerr role. What fun.