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NEW YORK(SMI-WIRE,05.18.18)-The Drama League Awards announced today, the list of the 84th Drama League Awards Winners in five categories; during its annual Awards and luncheon ceremony, co-hosted by the trio "Mean Girls ", Taylor Lourderman, Ashley Park & Kate Rockwell at the New York Marriott Marquis in the heart of Manhattan.​

The five competitive awards that were announced are: Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the highly coveted Distinguished Performance Award. The winners in each of the five categories were revealed this afternoon at the 84th Annual Drama League Awards luncheon and ceremony and these were the Winners below: 

 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

 

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

Written by Jack Thorne, based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

Directed by John Tiffany

Lyric Theatre

Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions. Executive Director: Diane Benjamin. Executive Producer: Pam Skinner

 

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

 

Angels in America

Written by Tony Kushner

Directed by Marianne Elliott

Neil Simon Theatre

Produced by Tim Levy, National Theatre America, Jordan Roth, Rufus Norris & Lisa Burger, The Royal National Theatre, Elliot & Harper Productions, Kash Bennett, Aged in Wood, The Baruch-Viertel-Routh-Frankel Group, Jane Bergère, Adam Blanshay Productions, CatWenJam Productions, Jean Doumanian, Gilad-Rogowsky, Gold-Ross Productions, The John Gore Organization, Grove Entertainment, Harris Rubin Productions, Hornos-Moellenberg, Brian and Dayna Lee, Benjamin Lowy, Stephanie P. McClelland, David Mirvish, Mark Pigott, Jon B. Platt, E. Price-LD ENT., Daryl Roth, Catherine Schreiber, Barbara Whitman, Jujamcyn Theatres (Jordan Roth: President; Rocco Landesman: President Emeritus; Paul Libin: Executive Vice President Emeritus; Jack Viertel: Senior Vice President), The Nederlander Organization (James L. Nederlander, President), The Shubert Organization (Philip J. Smith, Chairman; Robert E. Wankel, President). Associate Producer: Franki De La Vega, Red Awning, and Nicole Kastrinos.

 

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL

 

The Band's Visit

Book by Itamar Moses; Music and Lyrics by David Yazek

Directed by David Cromer

Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Produced by Orin Wolf, StylesFour Productions, Evamere Entertainment, Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director), David F Schwartz, Barbara Broccoli, Frederick Zollo, Grove REG, Lassen Blume Baldwin, Thomas Steven Perakos, Marc Platt, The Shubert Organization (Philip J. Smith, Chairman; Robert E. Wankel, President), The Baruch/Routh/Frankel/Viertel Group, Robert Cole, DeRoy-Carr-Klausner, Federman-Moellenberg, FilmNation Entertainment, Roy Furman, FVSL Theatricals, Hendel-Karmazin, HoriPro Inc, Intependent Presenters Network, Jam Theatricals, The John Gore Organizations, Koenigsberg-Krauss, David Mirvish, James L. Nederlander, Al Nocciolino, Once Upon a Time Productions, Susan Rose, and Paul Shiverick. Associate Producer: Steven Chaikelson.

 

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL

 

My Fair Lady

Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner; Music by Frederick Loewe

Directed by Barlett Sher

Lincoln Center Theater

Produced by Lincoln Center Theater (André Bishop: Producing Artistic Director; Adam Siegel: Managing Director; Hattie K. Jutagir, Executive Director of Development and Planning).  Produced in association with Nederlander Presentations Inc.  Mindich Chair Musical Theater Associate Producer: Ira Weitzman.

 

NOMINEES FOR THE DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD

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Glenda Jackson, Three Tall Women

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The Drama League previously announced the 2018 Special Recognition Award Recipients, chosen by a separate panel of theatre professionals: Tony® Award winners:

Idina Menzel received the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award;

Idina Menzel (Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award).  The career of Tony Award-winning icon Idina Menzel traverses stage, film, television and music. Menzel voiced Elsa in Disney’s Academy Award winning film “Frozen,” from which the song “Let It Go,” sung by Menzel, became an international phenomenon. During the Academy Awards in 2014 Menzel performed “Let It Go,” which won for Best Original Song. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Menzel the first artist with both a Billboard Top 10 hit and a Tony Award for acting. Idina also reprised her role as Elsa in the animated short sequels “Frozen Fever” and “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.”

A skillful songwriter, Menzel’s prolific recording career includes multiple cast albums and the solo albums Still I Can’t Be Still, Here, I Stand, and idina. In 2014 Menzel released the Christmas album Holiday Wishes, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Holiday Albums chart and gave Menzel a Top 10 album on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. Menzel received the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at Billboard’s annual Women in Music event in 2014 and recently completed a worldwide tour that included Asia, the UK and North America. Also, Menzel sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLIX.

Her additional film credits include “Enchanted,” “Rent” and “Ask the Dust.” On television, Menzel starred in Lifetime’s remake of “Beaches,” in which she portrayed the role of CC, made famous by Bette Midler in the feature film, and she appeared in the recurring role of Rachel’s biological mother on the series “Glee.”

Casey Nicholaw (Director) currently represented on Broadway with Mean Girls, Aladdin, and The Book of Mormon, received The Founders Award for Excellence in Directing.Casey Nicholaw (Founders Award for Excellence in Directing) is currently represented on Broadway as director and choreographer of Mean Girls and Disney’s Aladdin (2014 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Best Choreography), as well as co-director and choreographer of The Book of Mormon (2011 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as co-director with Trey Parker receiving the same nominations for choreography as well as an Olivier award). Currently represented on the West End as director and choreographer of Dreamgirls. Other Broadway credits as director and choreographer: Tuck Everlasting, Something Rotten (2015 Tony® nomination for Best Director), Elf: The Musical; The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations); Monty Python’s Spamalot directed by Mike Nichols (2005 Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Choreography). Additional New York credits: for City Center Encores! – the highly acclaimed productions of Most Happy Fella, Anyone Can Whistle and Follies (direction/choreography).

National Endowment for the Arts (represented by Chairman Jane Chu) received the Unique Contribution to the Theater Award. 

National Endowment for the Arts (Unique Contribution to the Theater Award).  Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Jane Chu is the 11th chairman of the NEA and has led the agency since 2014. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more about the NEA.

For five decades, the NEA has encouraged creativity through support of performances, exhibitions, festivals, artist residencies, and other arts projects throughout the country. Since 1966, the NEA has awarded $346 million through theater and musical theater programs, offering grants for the production or presentation of traditional or classical repertoire, new plays and musicals, development laboratories, showcases, artist residencies, work for young audiences, experimental work, community-based work, outdoor historical dramas, and puppetry.

First presented in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theatrical awards chosen by the ENTIRE theatre community – specifically, by the thousands of Drama League members nationwide who attend Broadway and off-Broadway productions.  League members include award-winning actors, designers, directors, playwrights, producers, industry veterans, critics and dedicated audiences from across the nation.

At the height of the theatrical season each May, The Drama League Awards are presented in a star-studded luncheon ceremony. Lauded as “a wonderful, notoriously swanky affair” by Playbill and as “the best party on Broadway” by John Lithgow, the Awards Luncheon is considered by many to be the most intimate and friendly event of the awards season.