Moulin Rouge! tops the list of 2020 Outer Critics Circle Award Honorees

Kristin Chenoweth, Bryan Cranston, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Patrick Stewart have announced the honorees for the 70th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards.

To commemorate the 2019-2020 Broadway and Off-Broadway season, special honorees have now been announced as recipients of the 2020 Outer Critics Circle Awards. In the spirit of celebration, in lieu of the traditional format of a number of nominees and one winner, the organization has adapted to the unprecedented circumstances New York City is currently experiencing. In each of the 26 categories, up to six honorees (for acting) or five honorees (for technical categories) were named from Broadway and (almost 150) Off-Broadway productions who officially opened by the eligibility cutoff date of March 6, 2020.

The Broadway premiere of Moulin Rouge! The Musical topped the list with a grand total of 11 honors, whilst the most awarded play was The Sound Inside, starring Mary-Louise Parker, with 7 honors.

In addition, the annual John Gassner Award (for an American play, preferably by a new playwright) will be presented to four recipients this year, each receiving a monetary prize. The honorees are:

Will Arbery (for Heroes of the Fourth Turning)

Eboni Booth (for Paris) 

Catya McMullen (for Georgia Mertching Is Dead)

Alexis Scheer (for Our Dear Dead Drug Lord)

The honorees for the 70th Anniversary of the awards were announced in a video by top stars of the world of theater, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Bryan Cranston, Kristin Chenoweth and Patrick Stewart. You can view the video announcement below...

Here is the full list of the 2020 honorees...

The 2018 winners by category are:

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Grand Horizons
The Height of the Storm
The Inheritance
Linda Vista
The Sound Inside

Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Jagged Little Pill
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

Cambodian Rock Band
Greater Clements
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Make Believe
Seared

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

Darling Grenadine
Octet
The Secret Life of Bees
Soft Power
A Strange Loop

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Diablo Cody, Jagged Little Pill
David Henry Hwang, Soft Power
Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop
Lynn Nottage, The Secret Life of Bees
Mark Saltzman, Romeo & Bernadette

Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Duncan Sheik and Susan Birkenhead, The Secret Life of Bees
Ross Golan, The Wrong Man
Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop
Dave Malloy, Octet
Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang, Soft Power

Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Betrayal
Fires in the Mirror
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
A Soldier's Play

Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Little Shop of Horrors
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
West Side Story

Outstanding Actor in a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Ian Barford, Linda Vista
Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
Raúl Esparza, Seared
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Will Hochman, The Sound Inside
Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm

Outstanding Actress in a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Eileen Atkins, The Height of the Storm
Judith Ivey, Greater Clements
Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play
April Matthis, Toni Stone
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside
Portia, Stew

Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors
Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man
Adam Kantor, Darling Grenadine
Larry Owens, A Strange Loop
Isaac Powell, West Side Story
Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Janelle McDermoth, We're Gonna Die
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Shereen Pimentel, West Side Story
Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill
Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

David Alan Grier, A Soldier's Play
John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance
Samuel H. Levine, The Inheritance
John-Andrew Morrison, Blues for an Alabama Sky
Chris Perfetti, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Montego Glover, All the Natalie Portmans
Marsha Mason, Little Gem
Krysta Rodriguez, Seared
Lois Smith, The Inheritance
Jennifer Van Dyck, The Confession of Lily Dare

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors
Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Gus Halper, Sing Street
Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA
Francis Jue, Soft Power
Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Eisa Davis, The Secret Life of Bees
Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill
LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees
Judy McLane, Romeo & Bernadette
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Saycon Sengbloh, The Secret Life of Bees

Outstanding Solo Performance (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

David Cale, We're Only Alive For a Short Amount of Time
Laura Linney, My Name Is Lucy Barton
Aedin Moloney, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom
Deirdre O'Connell, Dana H.
Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror

Outstanding Director of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

David Cromer, The Sound Inside
Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance
Kenny Leon, A Soldier's Play
Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal
John Ortiz, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven

Outstanding Director of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop
Michael Mayer, Little Shop of Horrors
Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill
Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Ivo van Hove, West Side Story

Outstanding Choreographer

Sidi Larbi Cherakoui, Jagged Little Pill
Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop
Sonya Tayeh, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Anthony Van Laast, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Travis Wall, The Wrong Man

Outstanding Set Design (Play or Musical)

Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol
Tim Mackabee, Seared
Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Clint Ramos, Grand Horizons
Anthony Ward, The Height of the Storm

Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical)

Vanessa Leuck, Emojiland
Jeff Mahshie, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Mark Thompson, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Rachel Townsend and Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare
Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical)

Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning
Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside
Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol
Hugh Vanstone, The Height of the Storm

Outstanding Projection Design (Play or Musical)

Luke Halls, West Side Story
Brad Peterson, Broadway Bounty Hunter
Lisa Renkel and Possible Productions, Emojiland
Aaron Rhyne, The Sound Inside
Hannah Wasileski, Fires in the Mirror

Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical)

Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol
Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H.
Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room
Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside

Outstanding Orchestrations

Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill
Alex Lacamoire, The Wrong Man
Justin Levine with Matt Stine, Katie Kresek and Charlie Rosen, Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Christopher Nightingale, A Christmas Carol
Duncan Sheik and John Clancy, The Secret Life of Bees

The Outer Critics Circle is the official organization of New York theatre writers for out-of-town newspapers and national publications.

^{(Photo by Matthew Murphy)}