2022 Lucille Lortel Awards - Nominations & News Thread

I’m surprised to see Tamika Lawrence in leading for Black No More. I guess it could make sense with her amount of stagetime + songs, but I had just never considered the role anything other than featured. 

It’s interesting to see what they did with the Assassins cast. I would’ve expected Steven Pasquale and Will Swenson to be the two picks, but with Ethan Slater as a very close third so it’s not shocking or anything.

The only Scenic Design nominee I’ve seen is Space Dogs but I really loved how everything was used within the show. Does it have any shot at winning?

Updated On: 4/7/22 at 04:09 PM

Full nominations:

Outstanding Play
Coal Country, by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, produced by Audible and The Public Theater
English, by Sanaz Toossi, produced by Atlantic Theater Company and Roundabout Theatre Company
Letters of Suresh, by Rajiv Joseph, produced by Second Stage Theater
On Sugarland, by Aleshea Harris, produced by New York Theatre Workshop
Prayer for the French Republic, by Joshua Harmon, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club

Outstanding Musical
Black No More; book by John Ridley, lyrics by Tariq Trotter, music by Tariq Trotter, Anthony Tidd, James Poyser, and Daryl Waters; produced by The New Group
Intimate Apparel; libretto by Lynn Nottage, music by Ricky Ian Gordon; produced by Lincoln Center Theater
Kimberly Akimbo; book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, music by Jeanine Tesori; produced by Atlantic Theater Company
Oratorio for Living Things, by Heather Christian, produced by Ars Nova

Outstanding Revival
Assassins, Classic Stage Company
The Chinese Lady, Ma-Yi Theater Company, The Public Theater, Barrington Stage Company
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Signature Theatre

Outstanding Solo Show
Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord; written and performed by Kristina Wong; produced by New York Theatre Workshop
Little Girl Blue; written and performed by Laiona Michelle with additional material by Devanand Janki; produced by Rashad V. Chambers, Willette & Manny Klausner, E. Clayton Cornelious/Joshua Morgan, Victoria Bondoc, McCabe Productions LLC, Live & In Color

Outstanding Director
David Cromer, Prayer for the French Republic
John Doyle, Assassins
Lee Sunday Evans, Oratorio For Living Things
Taibi Magar, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Whitney White, On Sugarland

Outstanding Choreographer
Bill T. Jones, Black No More
Raja Feather Kelly, On Sugarland
Danny Mefford, Kimberly Akimbo
Josh Prince, Trevor: A New Musical
Randy Skinner, Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play
Stephanie Berry, On Sugarland
W. Tré Davis, Tambo & Bones
Elizabeth Marvel, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Shannon Tyo, The Chinese Lady
Mary Wiseman, At the Wedding

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play
Abena, Nollywood Dreams
Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic
Francis Benhamou, Prayer for the French Republic
Jacob Ming-Trent, The Alchemist
Thom Sesma, Letters of Suresh

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical
Kearstin Piper Brown, Intimate Apparel
Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo
Tamika Lawrence, Black No More
Ahmad Maksoud, The Visitor

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical
Steven Boyer, Kimberly Akimbo
Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
Ethan Slater, Assassins
Will Swenson, Assassins
Lillias White, Black No More

Outstanding Ensemble
English; Tala Ashe, Ava Lalezarzadeh, Pooya Mohseni, Marjan Neshat, and Hadi Tabbal
Oratorio for Living Things; Johnny Butler, Kirstyn Cae Ballard, Jane Cardona, Sean Donovan, Carla Duren, Clérida Eltimé, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Brian Flores, Odetta Hartman, Quentin Oliver Lee, Angel Lozada, Divya Maus, Barrie Lobo McLain, Ben Moss, John Murchison, Onyie Nwachukwu, Dito Van Reigersberg, and Peter Wise
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Elena Hurst, Wesley T. Jones, Francis Jue, Karl Kenzler, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart

Outstanding Scenic Design
Wilson Chin, Space Dogs
Marsha Ginsberg, English
Adam Rigg, cullud wattah
Adam Rigg, On Sugarland
David Rockwell, Christopher and Justin Swader, Seven Deadly Sins

Outstanding Costume Design
Ari Fulton, Confederates
Gregory Gale, Fairycakes
Dominique Fawn Hill, Tambo & Bones
Márion Talán de la Rosa, Oratorio for Living Things
Catherine Zuber, Intimate Apparel

Outstanding Lighting Design
Isabella Byrd, Sanctuary City
Lap Chi Chu, Morning Sun
Jeff Croiter, Black No More
Stacey Derosier, sandblasted
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Oratorio for Living Things

Outstanding Sound Design
Mikhail Fiksel, Tambo & Bones
Nick Kourtides, Oratorio for Living Things
Fabian Obispo, The Chinese Lady
Mikaal Sulaiman, Sanctuary City
Darron L West, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992

Outstanding Projection Design
David Bengali and Hana S. Kim, The Visitor
Shawn Duan, Letters of Suresh
Shawn Duan, The Chinese Lady
Yee Eun Nam, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Caite Hevner, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord

Productions with multiple nominations:
Kimberly Akimbo - 6
Oratorio for Living Things - 6
Black No More - 5
On Sugarland - 5
Assassins - 4
Prayer for the French Republic - 4
The Chinese Lady - 4
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 - 4
English - 3
Intimate Apparel - 3
Letters of Suresh - 3
Tambo & Bones - 3
Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord - 2
Long Day's Journey Into Night - 2
Sanctuary City - 2
The Visitor - 2

Some of these are so, so random.

JBroadway said: "Can someone explain why the Chinese Lady is being considered a revival? I know it had a couple of regional runs over the past few years, but so have a million other new plays before coming to NYC. I’m struggling to find any indication online that this play existed before 2018 (?)



Am I going crazy? What am I missing?

Anyway, I thought Chinese Lady was really strong, and deserving of any and all awards recognition.

And I think this is a pretty strong set of nominees overall. Some things I might have done differently, and some performances I’m surely forgetting, but overall it doesn’t seem like there are any egregious omissions."

 

"The Chinese Lady" originally premiered in 2018 at Theater Row co-produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company and Barrington Stage Company. Here's a link to the NYTimes review from 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/theater/the-chinese-lady-review.html

 

Similar to what I said about the nominations, above:

Overall I think this was a really strong set of winners. There are a few things I would've changed if I had voted, but I'm not unhappy at all with the ones that did win.

The only 2 awards I feel a little more strongly about are:

(1) Best Musical - should've gone to Oratorio

(2) Lead Actress in a Musical - should've gone to Tamika Lawrence.

I guess I have to confess that I wasn't over the moon about Kimberly Akimbo, which is partly why I wish those two awards had gone differently. But actually the main reason is that I truly think Oratorio and Lawrence delivered some of the most extraordinary artistry of the season.

Updated On: 5/1/22 at 11:52 PM

raddersons said: "Winners announced this evening: https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Who-Will-Win-at-the-2022-Lucille-Lortel-Awards-20220501

Particularly happy for Francis Benhamou, who was far and away the best part of Prayer For The French Republic. And of course Bonnie Milligan, who will surely be celebrating a Tony nom by this time next year."

Yes! I loved Prayer For The French Republic and Francis was the standout for sure! Very deserving!