Drama Desk Awards 2005-2006 winners announced

Nominations for the 51st Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today at The New York Friars Club by theater notables Marvin Hamlisch and Donna McKechnie.

The annual awards honor excellence in theater for Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the season. Leading the slate of distinguished nominees is The Drowsy Chaperone, which received 14 nominations. Grey Gardens followed with 12 nominations, and two shows received 9 nominations each�See What I Wanna See and Sweeney Todd. The Wedding Singer and Jersey Boys each received 8 nominations.

The winners of the Drama Desk Awards will be announced at the Awards ceremony to be held on the 21 May 2006 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. For the third consecutive year Harvey Fierstein will host the ceremony.

The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and will be presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:

Outstanding Ensemble Performances:
The cast of Stuff Happens.
The cast of Awake and Sing!

Special Awards:

Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2005/2006, these awards are presented:

• To the BMI�Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop for nurturing, developing and promoting new talent for the musical theater.
• To The York Theatre Company for its vital contributions to theater by developing and presenting new musicals.
• To Sh-K-Boom and its label Ghostlight Records for dedication to the preservation of musical theater through cast recordings.

The Drama Desk will also present the following special award:

A lifetime achievement award to Horton Foote for his 'bountiful body of work that sensitively explores the human condition'.

2005 - 2006 nominations by category are

Outstanding Play:

• The History Boys: by Alan Bennett
• Stuff Happens: by David Hare
• No Foreigners Beyond this Point: by Warren Leight
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore: by Martin McDonagh
• Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams: by Terrence McNally
• The Pavilion: by Craig Wright

Outstanding Musical:

• The Drowsy Chaperone
• Grey Gardens
• Jersey Boys
• See What I Wanna See
• Thrill Me
• The Wedding Singer

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

• Awake and Sing!
• The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
• Philadelphia, Here I Come!
• Soldier�s Wife
• The Traveling Lady
• The Trip to Bountiful

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

• Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
• The Pajama Game
• Sweeney Todd

Outstanding Actor in a Play:

• Vince Gatton: Candy & Dorothy
• John Glover: The Paris Letter
• Richard Griffiths: The History Boys
• Zeljko Ivanek: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
• Nathan Lane: Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams
• Br�an F. O�Byrne: Shining City

Outstanding Actress in a Play:

• Margaret Colin: Defiance
• Cherry Jones: Faith Healer
• Jennifer Jason Leigh: Abigail�s Party
• Jan Maxwell: Entertaining Mr. Sloane
• Lois Smith: The Trip to Bountiful
• Julie White: The Little Dog Laughed

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:

• Michael Cerveris: Sweeney Todd
• Harry Connick, Jr.,: The Pajama Game
• Marc Kudisch: See What I Wanna See
• Stephen Lynch: The Wedding Singer
• Bob Martin: The Drowsy Chaperone
• John Lloyd Young: Jersey Boys

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:

• Nancy Anderson: Fanny Hill
• Christine Ebersole: Grey Gardens
• Sutton Foster: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Patti LuPone: Sweeney Todd
• Idina Menzel: See What I Wanna See
• Kelli O�Hara: The Pajama Game

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:

• Devon Abner: The Trip to Bountiful
• Samuel Barnett: The History Boys
• Dominic Cooper: The History Boys
• Jason Butler Harner: The Paris Letter
• Stephen Campbell Moore: The History Boys
• David Pittu: Celebration/The Room

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:

• Frances de la Tour: The History Boys
• Lisa Emery: Abigail�s Party
• Judith Hawking: Soldier�s Wife
• Michele Pawk: The Paris Letter
• Lynn Redgrave: The Constant Wife
• Marian Seldes: Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:

• Jim Dale: The Threepenny Opera
• Alexander Gemignani: Sweeney Todd
• Christian Hoff: Jersey Boys
• Eddie Korbich: The Drowsy Chaperone
• John McMartin: Grey Gardens
• Daniel Reichard: Jersey Boys

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:

• Carolee Carmello: Lestat
• Leslie Kritzer: The Great American Trailer Park Musical
• Beth Leavel: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Mary Louise Wilson: Grey Gardens
• Amy Spanger: The Wedding Singer
• Mary Testa: See What I Wanna See

Outstanding Director of a Play:

• Alan Ayckbourn: Private Fears in Public Places
• Gisela Cardenas: Agamemnon
• Nicholas Hytner: The History Boys
• Daniel Sullivan: Stuff Happens
• Robert Wilson: Peer Gynt
• Jerry Zaks: The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Outstanding Director of a Musical:

• John Doyle: Sweeney Todd
• Michael Greif: Grey Gardens
• Kathleen Marshall: The Pajama Game
• Des McAnuff: Jersey Boys
• Casey Nicholaw: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Daniele Finzi Pasca: Rain

Outstanding Choreography:

• Rob Ashford: The Wedding Singer
• Angela Chang: Golden Dragon Acrobats
• Graciela Daniele: Bernarda Alba
• Kathleen Marshall: The Pajama Game
• Casey Nicholaw: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Sergio Trujillo: Jersey Boys

Outstanding Music:

• Stephen Dolginoff: Thrill Me
• Scott Frankel: Grey Gardens
• Michael John LaChiusa: See What I Wanna See
• Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Peter Mills: The Pursuit of Persephone
• Matthew Sklar: The Wedding Singer

Outstanding Lyrics:

• Chad Beguelin: The Wedding Singer
• Mark Campbell: Songs from an Unmade Bed
• Ryan Cunningham: I Love You Because
• Michael Korie: Grey Gardens
• Michael John LaChiusa: See What I Wanna See
• Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison: The Drowsy Chaperone

Outstanding Book of a Musical:

• Rick Elice & Marshall Brickman: Jersey Boys
• Bob Martin & Don McKellar: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Doug Wright: Grey Gardens

Outstanding Orchestrations:

• Larry Blank: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Bruce Coughlin: Grey Gardens
• Bruce Coughlin: See What I Wanna See
• Peter Mills: The Pursuit of Persephone
• Sarah Travis: Sweeney Todd
• Danny Troob & Dick Lieb: The Pajama Game

Outstanding Set Design of a Play:

• Roger Hanna: Walking Down Broadway
• Eugene Lee: The Ruby Sunrise
• Derek McLane: Abigail�s Party
• Robert Wilson: Peer Gynt
• Michael Yeargan: Awake and Sing!
• Michael Yeargan: Seascape

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical:

• Michael Bottari & Ron Case: Fanny Hill
• John Doyle: Sweeney Todd
• David Gallo: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Thomas Lynch: See What I Wanna See
• Allen Moyer: Grey Gardens
• Scott Pask: The Wedding Singer

Outstanding Costume Design:

• Gregg Barnes: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Eric Becker: Abigail�s Party
• Gale Gregory: The Wedding Singer
• William Ivey Long: Grey Gardens
• Jacques Reynaud: Peer Gynt
• Anita Yavich: The Wooden Breeks

Outstanding Lighting Design:

• Christopher Akerlind: Awake and Sing!
• Richard G. Jones: Sweeney Todd
• Traci Klainer: The Asphalt Kiss
• Martin Labrecque: Rain
• John McKernon: The Trip to Bountiful
• Robert Wilson: Peer Gynt

Outstanding Sound Design:

• Acme Sound Partners: The Drowsy Chaperone
• Acme Sound Partners: See What I Wanna See
• Steve Canyon Kennedy: Jersey Boys
• Daniel Moses Schreier: Sweeney Todd
• Brian Ronan: Grey Gardens
• Brian Ronan: The Pajama Game

Outstanding Solo Performance:

• Judy Gold: 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother
• Marga Gomez: Los Big Names
• Jon Peterson: George M. Cohan Tonight!
• Antony Sher: Primo
• Janis Stevens: Vivien
• Michael Winther: Songs from an Unmade Bed

Unique Theatrical Experience:

• Christine Jorgensen Reveals
• The Frog Bride
• Golden Dragon Acrobats
• Peer Gynt
• Rain
• The Stones

There were a number of special awards, whose recipients had been previously announced. Special Awards:

Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2005/2006, these awards are presented:

• To the BMI�Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop for nurturing, developing and promoting new talent for the musical theater.
• To The York Theatre Company for its vital contributions to theater by developing and presenting new musicals.
• To Sh-K-Boom and its label Ghostlight Records for dedication to the preservation of musical theater through cast recordings.

The Drama Desk will also present the following special award:

A lifetime achievement award to Horton Foote for his 'bountiful body of work that sensitively explores the human condition'.

Outstanding Ensemble Performances:
The cast of Stuff Happens.
The cast of Awake and Sing!

The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics� organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition between Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions.

Productions that received multiple nominations: