Drama Desk Awards

Just watched Stars in the House, James and Seth doing Drama Desk Nominations. Really interesting since this year we had so much else theatre to choose from.

Happy for Tammy Blanchard, Elizabeth Stanley, and honestly everyone. Hearing nominations today made me feel a bit of normalcy throughout the theatre being gone now.

Waiting for full list!

Nope. The Drama Desk Awards have been given out since 1975, and this is the first time they've shut out Broadway for Best Musical. In all that time, a Broadway musical has always won, except in two years: 1983 (''Little Shop of Horrors'' ) and 2015 (''Hamilton'' ).

Updated On: 4/21/20 at 02:26 PM

Very sad to see The Sound Inside completely shut out... Mary Louise's stunning performance is forever etched into temporal lobe

Surprised Isaac didn't get a nod for WSS

These announcements are always so much info to process in one sitting, so I may have additional thoughts later, but first reactions:

--Generally a really strong set of nominees in both the play and musical categories. I'm happy to see that Wrong Man, Soft Power and Secret Life of Bees - 3 musicals that I loved, but were highly divisive - got a lot of attention. For best Play, these wouldn't necessarily have been my picks, but I still think it's a strong set of nominees.

--Glad to see love for Is This a Room, Mac Beth, and a LOT of love for Halfway Bitches.

--I personally I'm very happy to see Off-Broadway given so much attention, though I know the unfortunate truth is that this might not have been the case if the Broadway season hadn't been cut short.

-- As Wayman said: because the Best Musical is entirely Off-broadway, that means that this year will only be the 3rd time in the Drama Desk history that the Best Musical award goes to an Off-broadway production. The other 2 times were the original production of Little Shop, as well as Hamilton (before it transferred). There were some other shows that transferred in the same season as their Off-broadway premiere, but this will be the 3rd time that the winning musical has not transferred at the time of winning. Very interesting!

--I like the addition of the Adaptation category!



Some notable names missing from the list:

--Sing Street and Unknown Soldier both shut out entirely - I'm assuming they opted to be eligible next year?

--Isaac Powell

--Mary-Louise Parker and The Sound Inside for Best Play

Updated On: 4/21/20 at 02:42 PM

while I know opinions were divisive, I'm rather surprised to see The Thin Place completely shut out.


Also, Joaquina Kalukango's performance in Slave Play (she was not with the show at NYTW and therefore her performance was the only eligible element in Slave Play's Broadway iteration)

BCfitasafiddle said: "Also, correct me if I'm wrong: Girl From the North Country was eligible when it ran off-Broadway?"

All of the elements from "North Country" in their off broadway production are ineligible, but any new performances or design elements are considered eligible.

DaveyG said: "An a capella musical being nominated for Outstanding Orchestrations is hilarious."

If the Drama Desk's honored Music Directors like they should, I would agree with you. But they don't.

So it's not.

DaveyG said: "An a capella musical being nominated for Outstanding Orchestrations is hilarious."

The vocal arrangements might be credited or referred to as vocal orchestrations, just like AnnMarie Milazzo’s work in Once On This Island, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.

random observations as I read thru the list:

* Sound Inside and particularly Mary Louise Parker were highlights of the season. Makes no sense.

*No Jagged Little Pill for Best Musical and no Inheritance for Best Play? Is there some eligibility thing I am missing?

* thrilled to see some love for David Alan Grier and Soldiers Play in general

* Jonathan Groff snubbed but Tammy Blanchard included in a very stacked category

* Great to see Paul Hilton nominated but no Andrew Burnap is a crime

* No noms for the leads of WSS or Moulin Rouge- actually only technical noms for the latter ( I was sure Danny Burstein would get noticed, and figured Karen Olivo as well)

JDonaghy4 said: "random observations as I read thru the list:

* Sound Inside and particularly Mary Louise Parker were highlights of the season. Makes no sense.

*No Jagged Little Pill for Best Musical and no Inheritance for Best Play? Is there some eligibility thing I am missing?

* thrilled to see some love for David Alan Grier and Soldiers Play in general

* Jonathan Groff snubbed but Tammy Blanchard included in a very stacked category

* Great to see Paul Hilton nominated but no Andrew Burnap is a crime

* No noms for the leads of WSS or Moulin Rouge- actually only technical noms for the latter ( I was sure Danny Burstein would get noticed, and figured Karen Olivo as well)





"

The Inheritance was nominated.