Lucille Lortel Awards 2019... And the Winners are...
Last night the Off-Broadway League celebrated The 34th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring outstanding achievement Off-Broadway during the 2018-2019 season. The ceremony was hosted by multiple Emmy Award winner Wayne Brady at NYU Skirball Center.
Classic Stage Company's revival of Carmen Jones was the big winner of the night, scooping a total of 4 Awards, including "Outstanding Revival" and "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical" for its star, Anika Noni Rose. Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3 production of Pass Over took home the gong for "Outstanding Play," whilst "Outstanding Musical" went to Ars Nova's Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future.
Here is the full list of winners for The 34th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards:
Outstanding Play
Mlima's Tale (at the Public Theater) - written by Lynn Nottage
Pass Over (at Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3) - written by Antoinette Nwandu - WINNER!!!
Slave Play (at New York Theatre Workshop) - written by Jeremy O. Harris
Sugar In Our Wounds (at Manhattan Theatre Club) - written by Donja R. Love
What the Constitution Means to Me (at New York Theatre Workshop) - written by Heidi Schreck
Outstanding Musical
Be More Chill (at Pershing Square Signature Center) - Music & Lyrics by Joe Iconis, Book by Joe Tracz
Girl from the North Country (at the Public Theater) - Book by Conor McPherson, Music & Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Midnight at The Never Get (at York Theatre Company) - Book, Music & Lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick, Co-Conceived by Sam Bolen
Miss You Like Hell (at the Public Theater) - Book & Lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes, Music & Lyrics by Erin McKeown
Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future (at Ars Nova) - written by Andrew R. Butler - WINNER!!!
Outstanding Revival
Carmen Jones (at Classic Stage Company) - Book & Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, with Music by Georges Bizet - WINNER!!!
Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (at Signature Theatre) - written by Lynn Nottage
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene) - Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Translation by Shraga Friedman
Happy Birthday, Wanda June (by Wheelhouse Theater Company) - written by Kurt Vonnegut
The Shadow of a Gunman (at Irish Repertory Theatre) - written by Sean O'Casey
Outstanding Solo Show
Feeding the Dragon (at Primary Stages) - written and performed by Sharon Washington
Fleabag (at Soho Playhouse) - written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge - WINNER!!!
Girls & Boys (at Minetta Lane Theatre) - written by Dennis Kelly and performed by Carey Mulligan
Mike Birbiglia's The New One (at Cherry Lane Theatre) - written and performed by Mike Birbiglia, additional writing by Jennifer Hope Stein
My Life On a Diet (at the Theatre at St. Clement's) - written by Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna and performed by Renée Taylor
Outstanding Director
Lileana Blain-Cruz, Marys Seacole
Jo Bonney, Mlima's Tale
John Doyle, Carmen Jones
Lee Sunday Evans, Dance Nation - WINNER!!!
Joel Grey, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
Outstanding Choreographer
Lee Sunday Evans, Dance Nation
Raja Feather Kelly, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka
Rick and Jeff Kuperman, Alice By Heart - WINNER!!!
Lorin Latarro, Merrily We Roll Along
Susan Stroman, The Beast in the Jungle
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play
Juan Castano, Transfers - WINNER!!!
Russell Harvard, I Was Most Alive with You
Jon Michael Hill, Pass Over
Sahr Ngaujah, Mlima's Tale
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Outstanding Lead Actress in a play
Ako, God Said This
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Marys Seacole - WINNER!!!
Marin Ireland, Blue Ridge
Zainab Jah, Boesman and Lena
Charlayne Woodard, "Daddy"
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical
Sam Bolen, Midnight at The Never Get
Andrew R. Butler, Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future
Jeremy Cohen, Midnight at The Never Get
Clifton Duncan, Carmen Jones
Steven Skybell, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish - WINNER!!!
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Superhero
Gizel Jiménez, Miss You Like Hell
Anika Noni Rose, Carmen Jones - WINNER!!!
Stacey Sargeant, Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future
Mare Winningham, Girl from the North Country
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Ato Blankson-Wood, Slave Play
Marchánt Davis, Ain't No Mo'
Gabriel Ebert, Pass Over - WINNER!!!
John Procaccino, Downstairs
Matt Walker, The Play That Goes Wrong
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Our Lady of 121st Street
Stephanie Berry, Sugar In Our Wounds
Blair Brown, Mary Page Marlowe
Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ain't No Mo' - WINNER!!!
Danielle Skraastad, Hurricane Diane
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
John Edwards, Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller
Sydney James Harcourt, Girl from the North Country
Bryce Pinkham, Superhero
George Salazar, Be More Chill - WINNER!!!
Heath Saunders, Alice By Heart
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Jackie Hoffman, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
Stephanie Hsu, Be More Chill
Luba Mason, Girl from the North Country
Soara-Joye Ross, Carmen Jones - WINNER!!!
Alysha Umphress, Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller
Outstanding Scenic Design
Wilson Chin, Pass Over
Charlie Corcoran, The Shadow of a Gunman
Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong
Laura Jellinek, Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future
Arnulfo Maldonado, Sugar In Our Wounds - WINNER!!!
Outstanding Costume Design
Dede Ayite, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Montana Levi Blanco, The House That Will Not Stand - WINNER!!! (TIE)
Jennifer Moeller, Mlima's Tale
Kaye Voyce, Marys Seacole
Paloma Young, Alice By Heart - WINNER!!! (TIE)
Outstanding Lighting Design
Amith Chandrashaker, Boesman and Lena
Lap Chi Chu, Mlima's Tale - WINNER!!!
Bradley King, Apologia
Barbara Samuels, Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future
Yi Zhao, The House That Will Not Stand
Outstanding Sound Design
Matt Hubbs, Boesman and Lena
Dan Moses Schreier, Carmen Jones - WINNER!!!
Jane Shaw, I Was Most Alive with You
Mikaal Sulaiman, Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future
Isobel Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Outstanding Projection Design
Katherine Freer, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Luke Halls, Girls & Boys
Alex Basco Koch, Be More Chill
Alex Basco Koch, Fireflies
Tal Yarden, Superhero - WINNER!!!
The following Special Awards, as previously reported, were also presented at last night's ceremony:
Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award: Off-Broadway League President Terry Byrne
Outstanding Body of Work Award: Telsey + Company
Playwrights' Sidewalk Inductee: María Irene Fornés (who will be inducted posthumously)
A Special Award for Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience was also presented to On Beckett (at Irish Repertory Theatre), exploring the works of Samuel Beckett, which was conceived by Bill Irwin.
The 2019 Lucille Lortel Awards voting committee was appointed by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Actors' Equity Association, the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, and the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and included theatre journalists, academics and other Off-Broadway professionals.
Awarded since 1986, the Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the League by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
(Anika Noni Rose photo by Joan Marcus / Steven Skybell photo by Matthew Murphy)
Originally published on