2026 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 5/1/26 at 12:28am

2025-2026 season winners :

The New York Drama Critics' Circle has awarded:

• Best Play -  Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road 
• Best Musical - No award given. 
• Best Individual Performance - Alden Ehrenreich of Becky Shaw 
• Best Ensemble Performance - the cast of Death of a Salesman.

Special Citations: 

• Lincoln Center Theater revival of Ragtime; 
• Wallace Shawn and André Gregory for career achievement
• Qween Jean for the costume design of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation and Saturday Church.

2024-2025 season winners :

• Best Play - Purpose (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins)
• Best Musical - Maybe Happy Ending (Will Aronson and Hue Park)
• Best Individual Performance - Dead Outlaw (Itamar Moses, David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna)
• Best Ensemble Performance - The cast of Liberation

Special Citations:

• Cole Escolar for Oh, Mary!
• Cats: The Jellicle Ball
• David Greenspan for lifetime achievement

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 foreign or American plays, musicals and special achievements), is the nation's second-oldest playwriting award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

 https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/LITTLE-BEAR-RIDGE-ROAD-Named-Best-Play-AtNew-York-Drama-Critics-Circle-Awards-20260430

Updated On: 5/1/26 at 12:28 AM

[Ptero2]

Posted: 5/1/26 at 3:25am

“On the first ballot for Best Musical, Mexodus and Schmigadoon! earned the most votes but no show approached a majority. On the second ballot, divided Circle decided not to award Best Musical this season.”

Interesting. These are the counts for musical on the first ballot:

Mexodus - 6

Schmigadoon! - 5

Lost Boys - 3

Two Strangers - 2

No Singing in the Navy, Saturday Church, Night Side Songs - 1

And then three abstentions (including the GOAT Sara Holdren for some reason)

[bear882]

Posted: 5/1/26 at 4:48am

These awards match pretty well with the board consensus, including the shrug over what should be the best musical.