In a wind up to the annual Tony Awards, the Drama Desk Awards pay homage to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway plays and musicals.  Set for the presentation ceremonies of the 67th annual Drama Desk Awards on May 29, the Drama Desk Nominations were announced on April 27 with the musical “Shucked” leading the way with 12 nominations.  The puppet driven play “Life of Pi” leads the way with five nominations for plays.

“Some Like it Hot”, “Into the Woods”, “New York, New York”, “Love”, “Merrily We Roll Along”, “Ohio State Murders”, “White Girl in Danger”, “A Doll’s House”, “A Man of No Importance”, “Between the Lines”, “Camelot”, “Death of a Salesman”, “Only God”, “Parade”, “Public Obscenities”, “Sweeney Todd”, “Wedding Band”, and “Wuthering Heights” also received multiple award nominations.

This season marks the first time that the Drama Desk Awards will present gender neutral acting awards with no male or female designation.

The Drama Desk Awards have also announced three non-competitive special award winners…
the Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Stephen McKinley Henderson

The Ensemble Award goes to the cast of “Public Obscenities”.

The Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award goes to Ryan L. Haddad.

And the nominees are…

Outstanding Play:
“A Case for the Existence of God”
“Fat Ham”
“Leopoldstadt”
“Love”
“Prima Facie”
“Wish You Were Here”

Outstanding Musical:
“& Juliet”
“Between the Lines”
“F&ck7thGrade, The Wild Project”
“Schucked”
“Some Like it Hot”
“White Girl in Danger”

Outstanding Revival of a Play:
“A Raisin in the Sun”
“Death of a Salesman”
“Endgame”
“The Piano Lesson”
“Ohio Sate Murders”
“Wedding Band”

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:
“A Man of No Importance”
“Into the Woods”
“Merrily We Roll Along”
“Parade”
“Sweeney Todd”

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play”
Hiran Abeysekera in “Life of Pi”
Kyle Beltran in “A Case for the Existence of God”
Brittany Bradford in “Wedding Band”
Will Brill in “A Case for the Existence of God”
Jessica Chastain in “A Doll’s House”
Sharon D Clarke in “Death of a Salesman”
Sean Hayes in “Good Night, Oscar”
Denise Manning in “Amani”
Audra McDonald in “Ohio State Murders”
Wendell Pierce in “Death of a Salesman”
John Douglas Thompson in “Endgame”
Kara Young in “Twelfth Night”

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musicial:
Annaleigh Ashford in “Sweeney Todd”
Nicholas Barasch in “The Butcher Boy”
Sara Baeilles in “Into the Woods”
Andrew Burnap in “Camelot”
Micaela Diamond in “Paradr”
Andrew Durand in “Scucked”
Callum Francis in “Kinky Boots”
J. Harrison Ghee in “Some Like it Hot”
Jonathan Groff in “Merrily We Roll Along”
Somi Kakoma in “Dreaming”
Lindsay Mendez in “Merrily We Roll Along”
Anna Uzele in “New York, New York”

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play:
Emily Bergi in “Good Night Oscar”
Danielle Brooks in “The Piano Lesson”
Amelda Brown in “Love”
Ray Fisher in “The Piano Lesson”
K. Todd Freeman in “Downstate”
Francis Guinan in “Downstate”
Nick Holder in “Love”
Arian Moayed in “A Doll’s House”
Brian Quijada in “Wolf Play”
Miriam Silverman in “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window”
Brandon Uranowitz in “Leopoldstadt”
Kara Young in “Cost of Living”

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical:
Kevin Cahoon in “Shucked”
Kevin Del Aguila in “Some Like it Hot”
Robyn Hurder in “A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical”
Mark Jacoby in “A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical”
Tarra Conner Jones in “White Girl in Danger”
Julia Lester in “Into the Woods”
Alex Newell in “Schucked”
Daniel Radcliffe in “Merrily We Roll Along”
Phillipa Soo in “Into the Woods”
Mare Winningham in “A Man of No Importance”

Outstanding Direction of a Play:
Zi Alikhan for “On That Day in Amsterdam”
Shayok Misha Chowdhury for “Public Obscentities”
Miranda Cromwell for “Death of a Salesman”
Adam Meggido for “Peter Pan Goes Wrong”
Max Webster for “Life of Pi”
Alexander Zeldin for “Love”

Outstanding Direction of a Musical:
Jeff Calhoun for “Between the Lines”
John Doyle for “A Man of No Importance”
Maria Friedman for “Merrily We Roll Along”
Thomas Kail for “Sweeney Todd”
Jack O’Brien for “Shucked”

Outstanding Choreography:
Andy Blandenbuehler for “Only Gold”
Tislarm Bouie for “the bandaged place”
Edgar Godineaux for “The Harder They Come”
Casey Nicholaw for “Some Like it Hot”
Susan Stroman for “New York, New York”
Jennifer Weber for “KPOP”

Outstanding Music:
Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally for “Shucked”
Michael R Jackson for “White Girl in Danger”
Tom Kitt and AnnMarie Milazzo for “Almost Famous”
Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson for “Between the Lines”

Outstanding Lyrics:
Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally for “Shucked”
Jonathan Hogue for “Stranger Sings!”
Michael R Jackson for “White Girl in Danger”
Adam  Schlesinger for “The Bewetter”
Scott Wittman and Marc Shairman for “Some Like it Hot”

Outstanding Book of a Musical:
Jonathan Hogue for “Stranger Sings!”
Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin for “Some Like it Hot”
Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli, and Tye Blue for “Titanique”
David West Read for “& Juliet”

Outstanding Orchestrations:
Bruce Coughlin for “A Man of No Importance”
Jason Howland for “Shucked”
Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter for “Some Like it Hot”
Kenny Seymour for “The Harder They Come”
Daryl Waters and Sam Davis for “New York, New York”

Outstanding Music in a Play:
Ben Edelman, Zane Pais, and Sinan Refik Zafar for “Letters from Max”
Mauricio Escamilla for “the bandgad place”
Suzan-Lori Parks for “Plays for the Plague Year”
Ian Ross for “Wuthering Heights”
Daniel Schlosberg for “Montag”

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play:
Jason Ardizzone-West for “Wedding Band”
Beowulf Boritt for “Ohio State Murders”
dots for “Public Obscenities”
Tim Hatley for “Life of Pi”
Natasha Jenkins for “Love”
John McDermott for “Chains”

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical:
Beowulf Boritt for “New York, New York”
David Kornis for “Only Gold”
Scott Pask for “Shucked”
Walt Spangler and Brendan McCann for “Stranger Sings!”
Michael Yeargan for “Camelot”

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play:
Kara Branch for “According to the Chorus”
Enver Chakartash for “Public Obscenties”
Qween Jean for “Wedding Band”
Sarah Laux for “Wish You Were Here”
Roberto Surace for “Peter Pan Goes Wrong”

Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical:
Gregg Barnes for “Some Like it Hot”
Tilly Grimes for “Shucked”
Jennifer Moeller for “Camelot”
Clint Ramos and Sophia Choi for “KPOP”
Anita Yavich for “Only Gold”
Donna Zakowska for “New York, New York”

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play:
Isabella Byrd for “Epiphany”
Jiyoun Chang for “The Far Country”
Natasha Chivers and Willie Williams for Prima Facie”
Allen Lee Hughes for “Ohio State Murders”
Cha See for “On That Day in Amsterdam”
Japhy Weidemen for “The Piano Lesson”

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical:
Ken Billington for “New York, New York”
Jeff Croiter for “Only Gold”
Heather Gilbert for “Parade”
David Grill for Bob Fosse’s “Dancin’”
Natasha Katz for “Sweeney Todd”

Outstanding Projection and Video Design:
Simon Baker for “Wuthering Heights”
Andrzej Goulding for “Life of Pi”
Caite Hevner for “Between the Lines”
Josh HIggason for “White Girl in Danger”
Nicholas Hussong for “On That Day in Amsterdam”
Johnny Moreno for “Public Obscenities”

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play:
Justin Ellington for “Ohio State Murders”
Tom Gibbons for “Hamlet”
Josh Anio Grigg for “Love”
Lee Kinney and Daniel Kluger for “You Will Get Sick”
Ben & Max Ringham for “A Doll’s House”
Mikaal Sulaiman for “Fat Ham”

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical:
Peter Hylenski for “Almost Famous”
Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann for “Into the Woods”
John Shivers for “Shucked”
Joanna Lynne Staub for “Weightless”
Jon Weston for “Parade”

Outstanding Wig and Hair:
Campbell Young Associates for “Almost Famous”
Cood Jordan for “The Piano Lesson”
Mia M Neal for “Ain’t No Mo’”
Earon Nealey for “Twelfth Night”
Mitsuteru Okuyama and Chushingura Verschueren for “A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical”

Outstanding Solo Performance:
Jodie Cormer in “Prima Facie”
David Greenspan in “Four Saints in Three Acts”
Jessica Hendy in “Walking With Bubbles”
Anthony Rapp in “Without You”
Tracy Thorne in “Jack Was Kind”

Unique Theatrical Experience:
Asi Wind’s “Inner Circle”
“Peter Pan Goes Wrong”
“Plays for the Plague Year”
“Zephyr”

Outstanding Fight Choreography:
B.H. Barry for “Camelot”
Rocio Mendez for “Dia Y Noche”
Rocio Mendez for “How to Defend Yourself”

Outstanding Adaptation:
“A Doll’s House”
“Arden of Faversham”
“Walat”
“black odyssey”
“Oresteia”
“Wuthering Heights”

Outstanding Puppetry:
John Leader for “Wuthering Heights”
James Ortiz, Kennedy Kanagawa for “Into the Woods”
Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell for “Life of Pi”
Kirjan Waage for “The immortal Jellyfish Girl”