Award season has wound down but Theatre award season is getting in full swing with the annual Tony Award nominations on the horizon and the release of the Drama Desk Awards.

The Drama Desk Awards honour Broadway and Off Broadway shows.

The new musical “BOOP! The Musical” leads the list of nominees with eleven nominations.  “Maybe Happy Ending” and “Just in Time” followed with nine nominations each. “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”, “Gypsy”, “Sundet Boulevard”, “Death Becomes Her”, “Floyd Collins”, “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, “Glass. Kill. What if if Only, Imp.”, “John Proctor is the Villain”, and ‘The Big Gay Jamboree” also garnered multiple nominations.

Debra Messing and Tituss burgess will host the annual event on June 1 – one week before the Tony’s – at the NYU Skirball.

The nominees for the 69th annual Drama Desk Awards:
Outstanding Play:
“Blood of the Lamb”
“Deep Blue Sound”
“Grangeville”
“John Proctor is the Villain”
“Liberation”
 “Purpose”

Outstanding Musical:
“BOOP! The Musical”
“Death Becomes Her”
“Just in Time”
“Maybe Happy Ending”
“Music City”

Outstanding Revival of a Play:
“Eureka Day”
“Garside’s Career”
“Home”
“Wine in the Wilderness”
“Yellow Face”

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
“Floyd Collins”
“Gypsy”
“Once Upon a Mattress”
See What I Wanna See”
“Sunset Blvd.”

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play:
Betsy Aidem in “The Ask”
Laura Donnelly in “The Hills of California”
Patsy Ferran in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Danny J. Gomez in “All of Me”
Doug Harris in “Redeemed”
Patrick Keleher in “Fatherland”
Louis McCartney in “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Lily Rabe in “Ghosts”
Jay O. Sanders in “Henry IV” (Theatre for a New Audience)
Sarah Snook in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Paul Sparks in “Grangeville”
Olivia Washington in “Wine in the Wilderness”

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical:
Tatianna Córdoba in “Real Women Have Curves”
Darren Criss in “Maybe Happy Ending”
Sutton Foster in “Once Upon a Mattress”
Tom Francis in “Sunset Blvd.”
Jonathan Groff in “Just in Time”
Grey Henson in “Elf”
Jeremy Jordan in “Floyd Collins”
Audra McDonald in “Gypsy”
Jasmine Amy Rogers in “BOOP! The Musical”
Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Blvd.”
Helen J. Shen in “Maybe Happy Ending”
Jennifer Simard in “Death Becomes Her”

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play:
Greg Keller in “Pre-Existing Condition”
Julia Lester in “All Nighter”
Adrienne C. Moore in “The Blood Quil”
Deirdre O’Connell in “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.”
Maria-Christina Oliveras in “Cymbeline”
Maryann Plunkett in “Deep Blue Sound”
Michael Rishawn in “Table 17”
Jude Tibeau in “Bad Kreyòl”
Anjana Vasan in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Frank Wood in “Hold On to Me Darling”
Amalia Yoo in “John Proctor is the Villain”
Kara Young in “Purpose”

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical:
Brooks Ashmanskas in “Smash”
Nicholas Barasch in “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
André De Shields in “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
John El-Jor in “We Live in Cairo”
Jason Gotay in “Floyd Collins”
Gracie Lawrence in “Just in Time”
Jak Malone in “Operation Mincemeat”
Lesli Margherita in “Gypsy”
Zachary Noah Piser in “See What I Wanna See”
Jenny Lee Stern in “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song”
Michael Urie in “Once Upon a Mattress”
Natalie Walker in “The Big Gay Jamboree”

Outstanding Solo Performance:
David Greenspan in “I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan”
Ryan J. Haddad in “Hold Me in the Water”
Sam Kissajukian in “300 Paintings”
Mark Povinelli in “The Return of Benjamin Lay”
Andrew Scott in “Vanya”

Outstanding Direction of a Play:
David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan for “The Antiquities”
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Tyne Rafaeli for “Becoming Eve”
Jack Serio for “Grangeville”
Danya Taymor for “John Proctor is the Villain”
Whitney White for “Liberation”
Kip Williams for “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Outstanding Direction of a Musical:
Michael Arden for “Maybe Happy Ending”
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Jamie Lloyd for “Sunset Blvd.”
Jerry Mitchell for “BOOP! The Musical”
Alex Timbers for “Just in Time”
George C. Wolfe for “Gypsy”

Outstanding Choreography:
Camille A. Brown for “Gypsy”
Warren Carlyle for “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
Jakob Karr for “Ain’t Done Bad”
Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Jerry Mitchell for “BOOP! The Musical”
Sergio Trujillo for “Real Women Have Curves”

Outstanding Music:
Will Aronson and Hue Park for “Maybe Happy Ending”
David Foster for “BOOP! The Musical”
Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez for “Real Women Have Curves”
Zoe Sarnak for “The Lonely Few”
The Lazours for “We Live in Cairo”

Outstanding Lyrics:
Gerard Alessandrini for “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song”
Will Aronson and Hue Park for “Maybe Happy Ending”
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts for “Operation Mincemeat”
Adam Gwon for “All the World’s a Stage”
Marla Mindelle and Philip Drennen for “The Big Gay Jamboree”
Luis Quintero for “Medea: Re-Versed”

Outstanding Book of a Musical:
Will Aronson and Hue Park for “Maybe Happy Ending”
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts for “Operation Mincemeat”
Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver for “Just in Time”
Bob Martin for “BOOP! The Musical”
Marla Mindelle and Jonathan Parks-Ramage for “The Big Gay Jamboree”
Marco Pennette for “Death Becomes Her”

Outstanding Orchestrations:
Will Aronson for “Maybe Happy Ending”
Doug Besterman for “BOOP! The Musical”
Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters for “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber for “Just in Time”
Michael Starobin for “All the World’s a Stage”

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play:
Miriam Buether for “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.”
Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Rob Howell for “The Hills of California”
Johan Kølkjær for “Dark Noon”
Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher for “Life and Trust”
Matt Saunders for “Walden”

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical:
Clifton Chadick for “Music City”
Rachel Hauck for “Swept Away”
Dane Laffrey and George Reeve for “Maybe Happy Ending” 
Derek McLane for “Just in Time”
David Rockwell and Finn Ross for “BOOP! The Musical”

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play:
Brenda Abbandandolo for  “The Antiquities”
Dede Ayite for “Our Town”
Christopher Ford for “The Beastiary”
Camilla Lind for “Dark Noon”
Karl Ruckdeschel for “Twelfth Night”

Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical:
Gregg Barnes for “BOOP! The Musical”
Sarah Cubbage for “The Big Gay Jamboree”
Toni-Leslie James for “Gypsy”
Qween Jean for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Paul Tazewell for “Death Becomes Her”
Catherine Zuber for “Just in Time”

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play:
Isabella Byrd for “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.”
Jon Clark for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Natasha Katz for “John Proctor is the Villain”
Tyler Micoleau for “The Antiquities”
Paul Whitaker for “SUMO”

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical:
Kevin Adams for “Swept Away”
Adam Honoré for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Jack Knowles for “Sunset Blvd.”
Philip S. Rosenberg for “BOOP! The Musical”
Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun for “Floyd Collins”

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play:
Paul Arditti for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Johnny Gasper for “Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods”
Matt Otto for “All of Me”
Bray Poor for “Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.”
Clemence Williams for “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Fan Zhang for “Good Bones”

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical:
Adam Fisher for Sunset Blvd.”
Peter Hylenski for Just in Time”
Scott Lehrer for “Gypsy”
Mick Potter for Stephen Sondheim’s “Old Friends”
Dan Moses Schreier for “Floyd Collins”

Outstanding Projection and Video Design:
Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom for “Sunset Blvd.”
Jake Barton for “McNeal”
David Bergman for “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Jesse Garrison for “The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy”
Hana S. Kim for “Redwood”

Outstanding Wig and Hair:
Alberto “Albee” Alvarado “SUMO”
Charles G. LaPointe for “Death Becomes Her”
Sabana Majeed for “BOOP! The Musical
Nikiya Mathis for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Nikiya Mathis for “Liberation”

Outstanding Puppetry:
Dorothy James in “Bill’s 44th”
Tom Lee in “See What I Wanna See”
Simple Mischief Studio in “Small Acts of Daring Invention”
Amanda Villalobos in “Becoming Eve”
Kirjan Waage in “Dead as a Dodo”

Outstanding Fight Choreography:
Drew Leary for “Romeo + Juliet”
Chelsea Pace and James Yaegashi for “SUMO”
Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet for “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
Bret Yount for “King Lear”

Outstanding Adaptation:
“Becoming Eve” by Emil Weinstein
“Cymbeline” by Andrea Thome
“Medea: Re-Versed” by Luis Quintero
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical” by Rupert Holmes
“The Devil’s Disciple“ by David Staller

Outstanding Revue:
Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!
The Jonathan Larson Project
The World According to Micki Grant

Unique Theatrical Experience:
“Odd Man Out”
“The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy” [redux]
“The Picture of Dorian Gray”
“The Voices in Your Head”
“The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar”

Special Awards

Ensemble Award: The ensemble of “Liberation”

Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: Stephen Michael Spencer

Pregones/PRTT: Pregones (founded in 1979) and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater

Lighting designer Stacey Derosier for her deeply intimate and consistently gorgeous work across this season’s Off-Broadway stages.

The team behind “Danger and Opportunity”