'The Lehman Trilogy' leads 2022 Outer Critics Circle Award winners

Kimberly Akimbo and Company also won multiple awards.

The 2022 Outer Critics Circle Award winners have been announced, honoring this year's Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre. The Broadway play The Lehman Trilogy, which led the nominations with nine, also led the winners, taking home six awards including Outstanding New Broadway Play.

Kimberly Akimbo, the Off-Broadway musical that will open on Broadway this fall, followed The Lehman Trilogy in wins with four (the show, along with Harmony, received eight nominations), and the Broadway revival of Company followed with three.

Special awards were also presented to four actors: Johanna Day, David Morse, and Mary-Louise Parker of How I Learned to Drive, and Ruben Santiago-Hudson of Lackawanna Blues. Both were eligible for Outer Critics Circle Awards when their respective shows premiered off Broadway more than 20 years ago, and they are now being recognized for reprising their performances on Broadway this season.

The Outer Critics Circle also awarded special commendations to theatre standbys, understudies, and swings who have kept their shows running amid Covid-19 complications; and to the Covid-19 safety supervisors, managers, and compliance officers working in the theatre. 

A ceremony for the winners will be held on May 26.

Read all the 2022 Outer Critics Circle winners and nominees below. Winners are denoted in bold.

Outstanding New Broadway Musical

• MJ the Musical
• Mr. Saturday Night
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Paradise Square
• Six

Outstanding New Broadway Play

• Birthday Candles
• Clyde's
• Skeleton Crew
• The Lehman Trilogy
• The Minutes

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

• Black No More
• Harmony
• Intimate Apparel
• Kimberly Akimbo
• Little Girl Blue

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

• Morning Sun
• On Sugarland
• Prayer for the French Republic
• Sanctuary City
• The Chinese Lady

John Gassner Award (presented to a new American play, preferably by a new playwright)

• Cullud Wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza
• English by Sanaz Toossi
• Selling Kabul by Sylvia Khoury
• Tambo & Bones by Dave Harris
• Thoughts of a Colored Man by Keenan Scott II

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

• Assassins
• Caroline, or Change
• Company
• The Music Man
• The Streets of New York

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

• for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
• How I Learned to Drive
• Take Me Out
• A Touch of the Poet
• Trouble in Mind

Outstanding Actor in a Musical

• Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo
• Myles Frost, MJ the Musical
• Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire
• Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop
• Chip Zien, Harmony

Outstanding Actress in a Musical

• Kearstin Piper Brown, Intimate Apparel
• Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
• Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change
• Carmen Cusack, Flying Over Sunset
• Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

• Quentin Earl Darrington, MJ the Musical
• Matt Doyle, Company
• Steven Pasquale, Assassins
• A.J. Shively, Paradise Square
• Will Swenson, Assassins

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

• Shoshana Bean, Mr. Saturday Night
• Jenn Colella, Suffs
• Judy Kuhn, Assassins
• Patti LuPone, Company
• Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo

Outstanding Actor in a Play

• Patrick J. Adams, Take Me Out
• Simon Russell Beale, The Lehman Trilogy
• Adam Godley, The Lehman Trilogy
• Adrian Lester, The Lehman Trilogy
• Sam Rockwell, American Buffalo

Outstanding Actress in a Play

• Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic
• Stephanie Berry, On Sugarland
• Edie Falco, Morning Sun
• LaChanze, Trouble in Mind
• Debra Messing, Birthday Candles

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

• Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind
• Brandon J. Dirden, Skeleton Crew
• Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out
• Michael Oberholtzer, Take Me Out
• Austin Pendleton, The Minutes

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

• Chanté Adams, Skeleton Crew
• Uzo Aduba, Clyde's
• Francis Benhamou, Prayer for the French Republic
• Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew
• Nancy Robinette, Prayer for the French Republic

Outstanding Solo Performance

• Alex Edelman, Just For Us
• Jenn Murray, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing
• Arturo Luís Soria, Ni Mi Madre
• Kristina Wong, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord

Outstanding Director of a Play

• Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
• Scott Ellis, Take Me Out
• Sam Mendes, The Lehman Trilogy
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Skeleton Crew
• Anna D. Shapiro, The Minutes

Outstanding Director of a Musical

• Warren Carlyle, Harmony
• Moisés Kaufman, Paradise Square
• Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo
• Christopher Wheeldon, MJ the Musical
• Jerry Zaks, Mrs. Doubtfire

Outstanding Choreography

• Camille A. Brown, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
• Warren Carlyle, Harmony
• Warren Carlyle, The Music Man
• Bill T. Jones, Alex Sanchez, Garrett Coleman, and Jason Oremus, Paradise Square
• Christopher Wheeldon and Rich + Tone Talauega, MJ the Musical

Outstanding Book of a Musical

• Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel, Mr. Saturday Night
• Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell, Mrs. Doubtfire
• David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo
• Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel
• Bruce Sussman, Harmony

Outstanding Score

• Jason Howland, Nathan Tysen, and Masi Asare, Paradise Square
• Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Doubtfire
• Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, Harmony
• Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, Six
• Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo

Outstanding Orchestrations

• John Clancy, Kimberly Akimbo
• David Holcenberg and Jason Michael Webb, MJ the Musical
• Greg Jarrett, Assassins
• Jason Howland, Paradise Square
• Doug Walter, Harmony

Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical)

• Beowulf Boritt, Flying Over Sunset
• Es Devlin, The Lehman Trilogy
• Scott Pask, American Buffalo
• Adam Rigg, The Skin of Our Teeth
• David Zinn, The Minutes

Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical)

• Jane Greenwood, Plaza Suite
• Santo Loquasto, The Music Man
• Gabriella Slade, Six
• Emilio Sosa, Trouble in Mind
• Catherine Zuber, Mrs. Doubtfire

Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical)

• Jon Clark, The Lehman Trilogy
• Natasha Katz, MJ the Musical
• Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset
• Brian MacDevitt, The Minutes
• Jen Schreiver, Lackawanna Blues

Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical)

• Nick Powell and Dominic Bilkey, The Lehman Trilogy
• André Pluess, The Minutes
• Ben and Max Ringham, Blindness
• Dan Moses Schreier, Harmony
• Matt Stine, Assassins

Outstanding Video/Projection Design (Play or Musical)

• 59 Productions and Benjamin Pearcy, Flying Over Sunset
• Stefania Bulbarella and Alex Basco Koch, Space Dogs
• Shawn Duan, Letters of Suresh
• Luke Halls, The Lehman Trilogy
• Jeff Sugg, Mr. Saturday Night