2025 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards (WINNERS)

2024-2025 AWARDS

Best Individual Performance - Andrew Scott (Vanya)

Best Ensemble Performance - the cast of Liberation

Special Citations - Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!); Cats: The Jellicle Ball; and David Greenspan for Lifetime Achievement.

Best Play - Purpose (Brandon Jacob-Jenkins)

Best Musical - Maybe Happy Ending (book by Will Aronson and Hue Park, music by Will Aronson, lyrics by Hue Park).

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/MAYBE-HAPPY-ENDING-and-PURPOSE-Take-Top-Prizes-At-New-York-Drama-Critics-Circle-Awards

2023-2024 AWARDS

Best Play - Stereophonic (David Adjmi)

Best Musical - Dead Outlaw (Itamar Moses, David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna)

Special Citations - The Broadway revivals of Merrily We Roll Along and Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch; Maryann Plunkett and Jay. O. Sanders for lifetime achievement; writer-composer Heather Christian.

https://www.dramacritics.org/dc_pastawards.html

Updated On: 5/5/25 at 10:52 PM

Updated On: 5/5/25 at 11:02 PM

getatme said: "Very interesting to see the voting breakdown. Lot of love for Audra.

https://www.dramacritics.org/dc_thisyears.html"

True. And yet less support down ballot.

But wasn’t she (meaning Audra) absent from the final count? Jasmine Rogers was there over Nicole and Audra unless I’m reading this all wrong.

Updated On: 5/6/25 at 09:31 AM

Given the format (all performers together - not just men and women, but actors in plays and musicals), Jasmine Amy Rogers’ showing as the last actor from a musical standing is very impressive.

bjh2114 said: "This is FASCINATING and could be very telling about how Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical will play out at the Tonys. Guessing we'll get Audra as the winner here, but could we see a surprise upset by Rogers?"

I do think it's interesting, but I wouldn't consider it an indication of the Tonys at all since the Tonys don't necessarily align with the critics

chrishuyen said: "bjh2114 said: "This is FASCINATING and could be very telling about how Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical will play out at the Tonys. Guessing we'll get Audra as the winner here, but could we see a surprise upset by Rogers?"

I do think it's interesting, but I wouldn't consider it an indication of the Tonys at all since the Tonys don't necessarily align with the critics"

Agree. Don’t think it’s as telling as it might look at first glance.

I’d be interested to know how many critics are Tony voters, but I doubt it’s a significantly high number.

I mean, she is giving the best performance by an actress in a musical this year. You go in expecting it to be blah and she turns around your expectations. She’s phenomenal. Nicole is great but it’s more about her vocals.

As I found the New York Drama Critics Circle Award balloting system and its openness interesting, I came up with a system to rank the Tony-nominated musicals and performances (subtracting all the plays and off-Broadway shows). I focused on the third ballot because there were more nominees from Broadway musicals. In the fourth round, there are no Broadway musicals and just Jasmine Amy Rogers and Audra McDonald left (Rogers passed McDonald in the fourth round.) Each critic picked three nominees, in order, so I gave 3 points for first place, 2 for second place, and 1 for third place. I don’t know if is the same ranking system they used, but it’s close.

Here’s what I got:

Tony musicals, ensemble performance (third round):

Operation Mincemeat 13

Dead Outlaw 10

Buena Vista Social Club 1

Top performances in a Broadway musical (3rd round):

Audra McDonald, Gypsy 20

Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! 16

Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd. 10

Jonathan Groff, Just in Time 5

Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins 3

Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves 2

Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat 1

————————-

None of this really proves anything. New York critics loved Maybe Happy Ending (though not enough for any actors or its admittedly small ensemble to be nominated) and Dead Outlaw (which won last year when it was off-Broadway) as the best musicals. Rogers got very high marks for carrying Boop! Audra McDonald did well. Jonathan Groff did the best of the guys by a small, insignificant margin.

Updated On: 5/7/25 at 02:09 AM

CoffeeBreak said: "The Tony voters I have talked to have primarily indicated they will be voting for Nicole and Sunset Blvd. A good portion of these critics don't like SUNSET as a show and were oddly unable to get over that - even with a massively creative and inventive production with a ferocious leading lady. Her last 5 minutes are way more than just vocals. "

The fact that you felt the need to justify your opinion by pointing out that there are 5 minutes worthy of “more than vocal” speaks a ton