2012 Drama Desk Awards – winners

The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony took place Sunday night at The Town Hall in Manhattan hosted by Brian d'Arcy James and Brooke Shields. The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York theatre awards where Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions compete directly against each other.

The musical Once adapted from the 2006 Irish film was the evening's top prizewinner. In addition to Outstanding Musical, its four awards included Outstanding Director of a Musical (John Tiffany), Lyrics and Orchestrations. It has won Best Musical at several other awards shows and is a favourite at the upcoming Tony Awards where it leads with eleven nominations.

Death of a Salesman, One Man, Two Guvnors and Nice Work You Can Get It each followed with three awards apiece. Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Outstanding Revival of a Play as well as Director (Mike Nichols) and Lighting Design. One Man, Two Guvnors scooped trophies for actors James Corden and Tom Edden, as well as Outstanding Music in a Play. Nice Work You Can Get It also won acting prizes for Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye to go with Outstanding Book of a Musical.

The Outstanding Play award went to Nina Raine's Off-Broadway production Tribes.

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.

Nominees for the 57th Drama Desk Awards


Complete list of winners for the 57th Drama Desk Awards

OUTSTANDING PLAY
Nina Raine, Tribes

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL
Once

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Death of a Salesman

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Follies

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Danny Burstein, Follies

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Mike Nichols, Death of a Salesman

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
John Tiffany, Once

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies The Musical

OUTSTANDING MUSIC
Alan Menken, Newsies The Musical

OUTSTANDING LYRICS
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Once

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Joe DiPietro, Nice Work If You Can Get It

OUTSTANDING MUSIC IN A PLAY
Grant Olding, One Man, Two Guvnors

OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS
Martin Lowe, Once

OUTSTANDING REVUE
The Best Is Yet to Come: The Music of Cy Coleman

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
Jon Driscoll, Rob Howell and Paul Kieve, Ghost The Musical

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
Gregg Barnes, Follies

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
Brian MacDevitt, Death of a Salesman

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN IN A MUSICAL
Acme Sound Partners, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN IN A PLAY
John Gromada, Gore Vidal's The Best Man

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Cillian Murphy, Misterman

UNIQUE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE
Gob Squad's Kitchen (You ve Never Had It So Good)

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

This year the nominators chose to bestow a special ensemble award for acting to the cast of Sweet and Sad. Jon DeVries, Shuler Hensley, Maryann Plunkett, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, and J. Smith-Cameron are among New York s best actors, who came together as one unforgettable stage family. Therefore, the individual cast members were not eligible for acting awards in the competitive categories.

SPECIAL AWARDS

Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2011-2012, these awards are:

• To Mary Testa: For over three decades, she has dazzled audiences with consistently outstanding work, including her tour-de-force performance in this season's Queen of the Mist.
• To Nick Westrate: His versatility in Unnatural Acts, Love s Labor's Lost, and Galileo was a highlight of the season.
• To New Victory Theatre: For providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people.
• To Stephen Karam, the newly created Sam Norkin Off Broadway Award: The profoundly moving Sons of the Prophet confirmed his status as one of the most promising playwrights of his generation.