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.

The Circle then moved on to their Best Musical votes. On the first ballot, Mexodus and Schmigadoon! received six and five votes respectively. The Lost Boys garnered three. Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) got two and Night Side Songs, Saturday Church, and No Singing in the Navy had one apiece. There were three votes to award no musical best of the season. On the second ballot, the majority voted to give no award in this category.

Lauren Patton and Alden Ehrenreich in
Becky Shaw.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

Next was the recently instituted Best Individual and Ensemble Performance Awards, presented for the first time last season. For the individual award, Alden Ehrenreich who plays the cynical financial advisor Max Garrett in Second Stage's revival of Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw had the most votes on the first ballot, followed by Joshua Henry of Ragtime, Lesley Manville of Oedipus, Nathan Lane of Death of a Salesman, John Lithgow of Giant, Quincy Tyler Bernstine of Well, I'll Let You Go, and Natalie Palamides of Weer. As with the Best Play first ballot there were not enough votes for a clear majority. The second ballot resulted in a positive vote to present the award and Ehrenreich won on the third ballot.

For ensemble performance, the critics were deeply divided on the first ballot. Meet the Cartozians and Death of a Salesman received four votes each. Ragtime got three, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, two apiece, and one each for Are the Bennett Sisters OK?, Burnout Paradise, Initiative, Ivanov, The Lost Boys, Marjorie Prime, and Schmigadoon! Again, there was no clear majority by Circle rules. After voting to give an Ensemble Award, a third ballot resulted in Salesman, Cartozians, Ragtime, and Joe Turner with the most votes, but still not enough for a winner. All others were eliminated and a fourth weighted ballot was held with the top four in contention. Salesman and Ragtime tied for the most votes and so a fifth face-off was held with just those two. Salesman won by one vote, 10 to 9.

Special citations were then voted for costume designer Qween Jean for her work on Saturday Church, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and Liberation; playwright Wallace Shawn and director Andre Gregory who collaborated this season on What We Did Before Our Moth Days; and to the revival of Ragtime. 

Adam Feldman, theater critic and editor for Time Out New York, has served as president of the NYDCC since 2005. Zachary Stewart of TheaterMania serves as vice president and treasurer.

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle comprises 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, which has been awarded every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for musicals and special achievements), is the nation's second-oldest playwriting award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

 

In addition to Feldman and Stewart, the members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle are David Barbour, David Cote, Joe Dziemianowicz, Greg Evans, Rhoda Feng, David Finkle, Elysa Gardner, Robert Hofler, Sara Holdren, Charles Isherwood, Chris Jones, Soraya Nadia McDonald, Jackson McHenry, Emily Nussbaum, Johnny Oleksinski, Frank Scheck, David Sheward, Tim Teeman, Elisabeth Vincentelli and Matt Windman. Emeritus members include Melissa Rose Bernardo, Brian Scott Lipton, Michael Sommers and Steven Suskin. 

Nineteen voting members were present with Sara Holdren and Rhoda Feng voting by proxy and Matt Windman attending and voting on Zoom.