Laura Benanti to host 2014 Drama Desk Awards

Tony Award winner Laura Benanti will host The 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards on Sunday, 01 Jun 2014 at 8pm at The Town Hall.

The Nominations Announcement News Conference will take place on Friday, 25 Apr 2014 at 11am at 54 Below.

Gretchen Shugart, Managing Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards, released the following statement: "As host, Laura Benanti brings a winning combination to the stage - talent, beauty and a great sense of humor. We look forward to a great evening."

Laura herself stated: "I am thrilled to bring my particular brand of idiocy to what is usually a very classy affair. #ForThePeopleByThePeople".

Laura Benanti won the Tony Award for her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Lee in 'Gypsy', opposite Patti LuPone. She also received a Tony Nomination for her starring role in the Broadway production of 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' at Lincoln Center Theater, where she also starred in Sarah Ruhl's 'In the Next Room' (or 'The Vibrator Play').Her other Broadway roles include her Tony nominated performance in Stephen Sondheim's 'Into the Woods', her Tony nominated turn in 'Swing!' and the revival of 'Nine', opposite Antonio Banderas. She debuted on Broadway as Maria in 'The Sound of Music', opposite Richard Chamberlain.

The 2013-2014 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Barbara Siegel, Chairperson, (Author and Freelance Critic); Morgan Jenness (Columbia & Pace University Professor); Samuel L. Leiter (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theatre, CUNY); Sandy MacDonald (Freelance reporter); Chad McArver (Professor, Fordham University); Martha Wade Steketee (Editor); and James Wilson (Theatre Professor, CUNY).

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 among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories.

- by Tom Millward