Drama League 2013 Award Winners

The winners of the 79th Annual Drama League Awards were announced on 17 May 2013 at a luncheon hosted by Debra Messing and David Hyde Pierce at the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.

Nathan Lane won the Distinguished Performance Award (which can be won only once in an actor's career) for his role as 'Chauncey Miles' in 'The Nance.'

'Kinky Boots' won Distinguished Production of a Musical, 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' won Distinguished Production of a Play, 'Pippin' won Distinguished Revival of a Musical and 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' won Distinguished Revival of a Play.

The Drama League also presented its three previously announced special recognitions:

Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award went to Bernadette Peters
Founders Award for Excellence in Directing went to Jerry Mitchell
The Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award went to Madison Square Garden Entertainment & the Rockettes

The winners of the Drama League Awards and nominations are listed below:
Winners are in bold.

Outstanding Production of a B'way or Off-B'way Play:

• The Assembled Parties (B'way)
  by Richard Greenberg
  
• I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers (B'way)
  by David Auburn
  
• Lucky Guy (B'way)
  by Nora Ephron
  
• The Nance (B'way)
  by Douglas Carter Beane
  
• Old Hats (Off-B'way)
  by Bill Irwin and David Shiner
  
• The Testament of Mary (B'way)
  by Colm Toibin
  
• Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (B'way)
  by Christopher Durang
  
• The Whale (Off-B'way)
  by Samuel D. Hunter
  

Distinguished Production of a B'way or Off-B'way Musical

• Dogfight (Off-B'way)
  Score and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
  Book by Peter Duchan
  
• Here Lies Love (Off-B'way)
  Music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
  Concept and Lyrics by David Byrne
  
• Kinky Boots (B'way)
  Book by Harvey Fierstein
  Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
  
• Matilda The Musical (B'way)
  Book by Dennis Kelly
  Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin
  
• Motown: The Musical (B'way)
  Book by Berry Gordy
  Music and Lyrics by Various Artists
  
• Murder Ballad (Off-B'way)
  Conceived by and with Book and Lyrics by Julia Jordan
  Music and Lyrics by Juliana Nash
  
• Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Off-B'way)
  Written and Composed by Dave Malloy
  

Distinguished Revival of a B'way or Off-B'way Play:

• As You Like It (Off-B'way)
  by William Shakespeare
  
• Golden Boy (B'way)
  by Clifford Odets
  
• Macbeth (B'way)
  by William Shakespeare
  
• The Piano Lesson (Off-B'way)
  by August Wilson
  
• The Trip to Bountiful (B'way)
  By Horton Foote
  
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (B'way)
  By Edward Albee
  

Distinguished Revival of a B'way or Off-B'way Musical

• Annie (B'way)
  Book by Thomas Meehan
  Music by Charles Strouse
  Lyrics by Martin Charnin
  
• Marry Me a Little (Off-B'way)
  Conceived and Developed by Norman Rene and Craig Lucas
  Songs by Stephen Sondheim
  
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (B'way)
  Book, Music and Lyrics by Rupert Holmes
  
• Passion (Off-B'way)
  Book by James Lapine
  Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
  
• Pippin (B'way)
  Book by Roger O. Hirson
  Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
  
• Cinderella (B'way)
  New Book by Douglas Carter Beane
  Original Book by Oscar Hammerstein II
  Music by Richard Rodgers
  Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
  

The Distinguished Performance Award
The list of nominees:

• Alec Baldwin: Orphans (B'way)
• Danny Burstein: Talley's Folly
• Bobby Cannavale: The Big Knife and Glengarry Glen Ross (B'way)
• Bertie Carvel: Matilda The Musical (B'way)
• Tracee Chimo: Bad Jews
• Lilla Crawford: Annie (B'way)
• Alan Cumming: Macbeth (B'way)
• Brandon J. Dirden: The Piano Lesson
• Brandon Victor Dixon: Motown: The Musical (B'way)
• Jesse Eisenberg: The Revisionist
• Edie Falco: The Madrid
• America Ferrera: Bethany
• Jake Gyllenhaal: If There is I Haven't Found it Yet
• Tom Hanks: Lucky Guy (B'way)
• Jessica Hecht: The Assembled Parties and Harvey (B'way)
• Shuler Hensley: The Whale
• Bill Irwin: Old Hats
• Judith Ivey: The Heiress (B'way)
• Brian d'Arcy James: Giant
• Scarlett Johansson: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (B'way)
• Judy Kuhn: Passion
• Nathan Lane: The Nance (B'way)
• Valisia LeKae: Motown: The Musical (B'way)
• Tracy Letts: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (B'way)
• Judith Light: The Assembled Parties (B'way)
• Constantine Maroulis: Jekyll and Hyde (B'way)
• Andrea Martin: Pippin (B'way)
• Rob McClure: Chaplin (B'way)
• Lindsay Mendez: Dogfight
• Laurie Metcalf: The Other Place (B'way)
• Bette Midler: I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers (B'way)
• Patina Miller: Pippin (B'way)
• Amy Morton: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (B'way)
• Donna Murphy: Into the Woods
• Kristine Nielsen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (B'way)
• Jim Norton: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (B'way)
• Seth Numrich: Golden Boy (B'way)
• Laura Osnes: Cinderella (B'way)
• Tina Packer: Women of Will
• David Hyde Pierce: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (B'way)
• Billy Porter: Kinky Boots (B'way)
• Lily Rabe: As You Like It
• Denis O'Hare: An Iliad
• Lily Rabe: Seminar (B'way)
• Vanessa Redgrave: The Revisionist
• Chita Rivera: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (B'way)
• Paul Rudd: The Piano Lesson
• Stark Sands: Kinky Boots (B'way)
• Tony Shalhoub: Golden Boy (B'way)
• Michael Shannon: Grace (B'way)
• Fiona Shaw: The Testament of Mary (B'way)
• Ryan Silverman: Passion
• Phillipa Soo: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
• Tom Sturridge: Orphans (B'way)
• Holland Taylor: Ann (B'way)
• Cicely Tyson: The Trip to Bountiful (B'way)
• Michael Urie: Buyer and Cellar
• Courtney B. Vance: Lucky Guy (B'way)
• Anthony Warlow: Annie (B'way)
• Stephen Tyrone: Williams My Children! My Africa!
• Vanessa Williams: The Trip to Bountiful (B'way)

In addition, six past recipients of the Distinguished Performance Award were honored for their work this season. However, because an individual can only receive the Distinguished Performance Award once in his/her lifetime, they are ineligible for award consideration this year:

• Norbert Leo Butz: Dead Accounts (B'way)
• Kathleen Chalfant: Red Dog Howls
• Stockard Channing: The Exonerated
• Patti LuPone: The Anarchist (B'way)
• Bebe Neuwirth: Golden Age
• Francis Sternhagen: The Madrid

First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theatregoer awards chosen by audience members — specifically, by the thousands of Drama League members nationwide who attend Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.