'South Pacific' Leads 53rd Annual Drama Desk Winners
South Pacific came in the lead with five Drama Desk Awards tonight, including Outstanding Revival of a Musical and Outstanding Director of a Musical (Bartlett Sherr).
The winners were announced at a ceremony tonight at the LaGuardia Concert Hall in Lincoln Center.
The Drama Desk, a committee of critics created in 1955, was the first committee to award Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions all competing in the same categories. This year, The New Century and Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening were the two off-Broadway winners this year in the respective categories of Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and Outstanding Revue.
The Drama Desk faced controversy during the nomination process this year when member Tony Philips spoke out against nominating chair Barbara Siegel in a resignation letter. The letter sparked a series of complaints within the Drama Desk against Siegel and president William Wolf that alleged favortism toward Broadway productions and an undemocratic voting process. Siegel and Wolf were not made available in time for publication of this blog.
Complete list of winners below:
Outstanding Play: August: Osage County
Outstanding Musical: Passing Strange
Outstanding Revival of a Play: Boeing-Boeing
Outstanding Revival of a Musical: South Pacific
Outstanding Revue: Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening
Outstanding Actor in a Play: Mark Rylance (Boeing-Boeing)
Outstanding Actress in a Play: Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County)
Outstanding Actor in a Musical: Paolo Szot (South Pacific)
Outstanding Actress in a Musical: Patti LuPone (Gypsy)
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play: Conleth Hill (The Seafarer)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Linda Lavin (The New Century)
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Boyd Gaines (Gypsy)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Laura Benanti (Gypsy)
Outstanding Director of a Play: Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County)
Outstanding Director of a Musical: Bartlett Sher (South Pacific)
Outstanding Choreography: Rob Ashford (Cry-Baby)
Outstanding Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange)
Outstanding Lyrics: Stew (Passing Strange)
Outstanding Book of a Musical: Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu)
Outstanding Orchestrations: Jason Carr (Sunday in the Park with George)
Outstanding Set Design of a Play: Scott Pask (Les Liaison Dangereuses)
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical: Michael Yeargan (South Pacific)
Outstanding Costume Design: Katrina Lindsay (Les Liaison Dangereuses)
Outstanding Lighting Design: Kevin Adams (The 39 Steps)
Outstanding Sound Design: Scott Lehrer (South Pacific)
Outstanding Solo Performance: Laurence Fishburne (Thurgood)
Outstanding Projection and Video Design: Timothy Bird and the Knifedge Creative Network (Sunday in the Park with George)
Unique Theatrical Experience: The 39 Steps
Special Award Winners: Edward Albee; James Earl Jones; 59E59 Theatres; Playwrights Horizons
I told DCB he would win.
Posted by: Cubby Bernstein | May 19, 2008 at 01:27 PM