Drama Desk Awards 2008-2009 nominations announced

Nominations for the 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Mon 27 Apr 2009 at The New York Friars Club by theater notables Faith Prince and Jim Dale.

The annual awards honor excellence in theater for Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the season. Leading the slate of nominees is '9 to 5' which received 15 nominations, followed by 'Shrek The Musical' with 12 nominations each.

With 15 nominations the musical '9 to 5' broke the record for most Drama Desk Nominations in one season. The record was previously held by five productions, each of which had 14 nominations. They were: 'The Secret Garden' (1991), 'Ragtime' (1998), 'The Producers' (2001), 'Hairspray' (2003) and 'The Drowsy Chaperone' (2006).

The winners of the Drama Desk Awards will be announced at the Awards ceremony to be held on the 17 May 2009 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.

The following awards were voted by the nominating committee and will be presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:

Outstanding Ensemble Performances:
This year the nominators chose to bestow special ensemble awards for acting to the casts of two shows. Therefore, individual cast members for these shows were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.

• The Cripple of Inishmaan
  
• The Norman Conquests

Special Awards:
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2008/2009, these awards are presented:

• To Liza Minnelli, a beloved American musical theater icon, for her enduring career of sustained excellence, and her glorious performance in Liza�s at the Palace.
• To Forbidden Broadway at the end of its nearly three-decade run and the creators, casts and designers who made it an unparalleled New York institution cherished for its satire and celebration of Broadway.
• To Atlantic Theater Company and artistic director Neil Pepe for exceptional craftsmanship, dedication to excellence and productions that engage, inspire and enlighten.
• To TADA! Youth Theater for providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater. The company makes outstanding training and experience accessible and affordable to young people and mounts productions remarkable for their quality and professionalism.

2008 - 2009 nominations by category are

Outstanding Play:

• Body Awareness
• Becky Shaw
• reasons to be pretty
• Ruined
• Fifty Words
• Lady

Outstanding Musical:

• 9 to 5
• Billy Elliot The Musical
• Fela!
• Liza's at the Palace�
• Shrek The Musical
• The Story of My Life

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

• Blithe Spirit
• Exit the King
• Mary Stuart
• The Cripple of Inishmaan
• The Norman Conquests
• Waiting for Godot

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

• Enter Laughing The Musical
• Hair
• Pal Joey
• West Side Story

Outstanding Actor in a Play:

• Simon Russell Beale: The Winter's Tale
• Reed Birney: Blasted
• Ra�l Esparza: Speed-The-Plow
• Bill Irwin: Waiting for Godot
• Daniel Radcliffe: Equus
• Geoffrey Rush: Exit the King
• Thomas Sadoski: reasons to be pretty

Outstanding Actress in a Play:

• Saidah Arrika Ekulona: Ruined
• Jane Fonda: 33 Variations
• Marcia Gay Harden: God of Carnage
• Elizabeth Marvel: Fifty Words
• Jan Maxwell: Scenes From an Execution
• Janet McTeer: Mary Stuart

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:

• James Barbour: A Tale of Two Cities
• Daniel Breaker: Shrek The Musical
• Brian d'Arcy James: Shrek The Musical
• Josh Grisetti: Enter Laughing The Musical
• Sahr Ngaujah: Fela!
• Will Swenson: Hair

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:

• Stephanie J. Block: 9 to 5
• Stockard Channing: Pal Joey
• Sutton Foster: Shrek The Musical
• Megan Hilty: 9 to 5
• Allison Janney: 9 to 5
• Karen Murphy: My Vaudeville Man!

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:

• Brian d'Arcy James: Port Authority
• Jeremy Davidson: Back Back Back
• Peter Friedman: Body Awareness
• Ethan Hawke: The Winter's Tale
• Pablo Schreiber: reasons to be pretty (off-Broadway)
• Jeremy Shamos: Animals Out of Paper

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:

• Rebecca Hall: The Cherry Orchard
• Zoe Kazan: The Seagull
• Angela Lansbury,: Blithe Spirit
• Andrea Martin: Exit the King
• Carey Mulligan: The Seagull
• Condola Rashad: Ruined

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:

• Hunter Foster: Happiness
• Demond Green: The Toxic Avenger
• Gregory Jbara: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Marc Kudisch: 9 to 5
• Bryce Ryness: Hair
• Christopher Sieber: Shrek The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:

• Farah Alvin: The Marvelous Wonderettes
• Christina Bianco: Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
• Haydn Gwynne: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Karen Olivo: West Side Story
• Nancy Opel: The Toxic Avenger
• Martha Plimpton: Pal Joey

Outstanding Director of a Play:

• Sarah Benson: Blasted
• Michael Blakemore: Blithe Spirit
• Garry Hynes: The Cripple of Inishmaan
• Terry Kinney: reasons to be pretty
• Matthew Warchus: The Norman Conquests
• Kate Whoriskey:Ruined

Outstanding Director of a Musical:

• Walter Bobbie: Irving Berlin's White Christmas
• Stephen Daldry: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Joe Mantello: 9 to 5
• Jason Moore: Shrek The Musical
• Diane Paulus: Hair
• Stuart Ross: Enter Laughing The Musical

Outstanding Choreography:

• Karole Armitage: Hair
• Andy Blankenbuehler: 9 to 5
• Peter Darling: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Bill T. Jones: Fela!
• Randy Skinner: Irving Berlin's White Christmas
• Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Shonn Wiley: My Vaudeville Man!

Outstanding Music:

• Neil Bartram: The Story of My Life
• Zina Goldrich: Dear Edwina
• Elton John: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Dolly Parton: 9 to 5
• Stephen Sondheim: Road Show
• Jeanine Tesori: Shrek The Musical

Outstanding Lyrics:

• Neil Bartram: The Story of My Life
• Jason Robert Brown: 13
• Marcy Heisler: Dear Edwina
• David Lindsay-Abaire: Shrek The Musical
• Dolly Parton: 9 to 5
• Stephen Sondheim: Road Show

Outstanding Book of a Musical:

• Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis: This Beautiful City
• Joe DiPietro: The Toxic Avenger
• Lee Hall: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Brian Hill: The Story of My Life
• David Lindsay-Abaire: Shrek The Musical
• Patricia Resnick: 9 to 5

Outstanding Orchestrations:

• Larry Blank: Irving Berlin's White Christmas
• Bruce Coughlin: 9 to 5
• Aaron Johnson and Antibalas: Fela!
• Edward B. Kessel: A Tale of Two Cities
• Martin Koch: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Danny Troob: Shrek The Musical

Outstanding Music in a Play

• Mark Bennett: The Cherry Orchard
• Mark Bennett: The Winter's Tale
• Dominic Kanza: Ruined
• DJ Rekha: Rafta, Rafta�
• Richard Woodbury: Desire Under the Elms
• Gary Yershon: The Norman Conquests

Outstanding Set Design of a Play:

• Dale Ferguson: Exit the Kng
• Rob Howell: The Norman Conquests
• David Korins: Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them
• Derek McLane: 33 Variations
• Neil Patel: Fifty Words
• Walt Spangler: Desire Under the Elms

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical:

• Tim Hatley: Shrek The Musical
• Anna Louizos: Irving Berlin's White Christmas
• Thomas Lynch: Happiness
• Scott Pask: 9 to 5
• Scott Pask: Hair
• Basil Twist: Arias With a Twist

Outstanding Costume Design:

• Tim Hatley: Shrek The Musical
• Rob Howell: The Norman Conquests
• William Ivey Long: 9 to 5
• Michael McDonald: Hair
• Martin Pakledinaz: Blithe Spirit
• Carrie Robbins: Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Outstanding Lighting Design in a Play:

• Marcus Doshi: Hamlet (Theatre for a New Audience)
• David Hersey: Equus
• Ben Kato: Washing Machine
• R. Lee Kennedy: Bury the Dead
• Paul Pyant: The Winter's Tale
• Hugh Vanstone: Mary Stuart

Outstanding Lighting Design in a Musical:

• Kevin Adams: Hair
• Jules Fisher and Kenneth Posner: 9 to 5
• Rick Fisher: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Jason Lyons: Clay
• Sin�ad McKenna: Improbable Frequency
• Richard Pilbrow: A Tale of Two Cities

Outstanding Sound Design:

• Acme Sound Partners: Irving Berlin's White Christmas
• Paul Arditti: Billy Elliot The Musical
• Gregory Clarke: Equus
• John Gromada: Shipwrecked! An Entertainment The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself)
• Andr� J. Pluess: 33 Variations
• John H. Shivers IV: 9 to 5

Outstanding Solo Performance:

• Mike Birbiglia: Sleepwalk With Me
• Frank Blocker: Southern Gothic Novel
• Michael Laurence: Krapp, 39
• Lorenzo Pisoni: Humor Abuse
• Matt Sax: Clay
• Campbell Scott: The Atheist

Unique Theatrical Experience:

• Absinthe (2008 Edition)
• Arias With a Twist
• Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words
• D�sir
• Soul of Shaolin
• Surrender

Note: 'Next to Normal' was considered last season in its off-Broadway premiere. Alice Ripley was nominated as Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Tom Kitt for Outstanding Music. Under Drama Desk rules only new elements in a transfer can be considered. The producers, who requested that we consider the Broadway transfer only as an entirely new show, refused to invite nominators until it was too late for any new elements to be evaluated. All elements in both productions of shows that transferred to Broadway in the same season were eligible. [title of show] was considered in a previous season in its off-Broadway premiere.

Only one actor playing 'Billy' in 'Billy Elliot' was seen by all nominators, who were not invited to see the other two for consideration unless the Drama Desk Executive Board agreed to classify all three separate performances as one unit for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. The Board rejected that request, as well as a request that as an alternative no actor playing Billy be considered.

The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics� organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition between Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.

Productions that received multiple nominations: