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9 unusual facts about Drama Desk Award


Bradford Louryk

In 2006, at the age of 28, Louryk was subsequently nominated for and awarded the prestigious Drama Desk Award in the category Unique Theatrical Experience, the same category in which Robert Wilson was also nominated.

Dick Gallagher

When Pigs Fly (1996), which was produced internationally after an extended run Off-Broadway, and won the 1996 Outer Critics Circle award for Best Musical Revue, and the Drama Desk Award for Best Off-Broadway musical

Drama Desk Award

The nominations for the 2011–2012 season were announced on April 27, 2012 by Donna Murphy and Brian d'Arcy James.

The awards ceremony was held on June 3, 2012 at The Town Hall, New York City, hosted by Brooke Shields and Brian d'Arcy James.

Plays like Driving Miss Daisy, Other People's Money, Steel Magnolias and The Boys in the Band built momentum with the help of Drama Desk wins.

The Drama Desk was the first New York theater organization to give awards to talents such as Edward Albee, Wendy Wasserstein and George C. Scott.

Kevan Frost

This earned him and his co-composer a nomination for a Tony Award for "Best Original Score" and a Drama Desk Award nomination for "Outstanding Music".

Kurt Deutsch

Sh-K-Boom and Ghostlight were awarded a special 2006 Drama Desk Award for dedication to the preservation of musical theatre through original cast albums.

William Alfred

William Alfred was the recipient of the New York Drama Desk Award (for Hogan's Goat) and served on the poetry panels of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award committees.


Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

Since its initial run on- and off-Broadway the play has garnered every major theatre award including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, and the Lambda Literary Award for Drama.

Danny Burstein

He was nominated for a 2013 Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in the revival of Clifford Odets', Golden Boy, on Broadway and he won the 2012 Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, as well as a Grammy Award nomination, an Astaire Award nomination and a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in the Broadway revival of Follies.

Deven May

He is most famous for his portrayal of the half-bat, half-human boy in Laurence O'Keefe's Off-Broadway musical, Bat Boy, for which he won a Theatre World Award for "Outstanding New York Debut," as well as Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations.

Dick Anthony Williams

Williams won the 1974 Drama Desk Award for his performance in What the Wine-Sellers Buy, for which he was also nominated for a Tony Award, and was nominated in 1975 for both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Black Picture Show.

Ellis Rabb

His later directing work included a 1973 production of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Rosemary Harris (to whom he was married from 1959–1967), James Farentino, and Patricia Conolly; a memorable production of The Royal Family in 1975 for which he won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award, and a 1983 revival of You Can't Take It With You with Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst.

Gerard Alessandrini

He is the recipient of Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, an Obie Award, four Drama Desk Awards (including the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics and the Drama Desk Special Award), an Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Lucille Lortel Awards, as well as the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

Gilberto Zaldívar

Zaldívar's work has won Drama Desk Awards, Obie Awards and received the New York State Governor's Award.

Helen Burns

Burns' Broadway stage credits include The Inspector General, There's One in Every Marriage (1957), The First Gentleman, at the Belasco Theatre in New York City, and Catsplay, for the latter of which, she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Jana Schneider

Later she had a successful career on Broadway, and was nominated for a 1986 Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the role Helena Landless in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and won a 1986 Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Jonelle Allen

She was in the cast of the original off-Broadway production of Hair at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and also appeared in George M! before receiving critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination for Two Gentlemen of Verona, which earned her New York Drama Critics' Circle, Drama Desk, Theatre World, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance.

Michael Cohl

When Spamalot won the 2005 Drama Desk and Tony Award for Best Musical, Cohl was among the producers who received the awards.

Ted LeFevre

He worked again with Crowley on Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love at Lincoln Center in 2001; the show was nominated for a Tony Award and won the Drama Desk Award for "Best Design of a Play".

The Belle of Amherst

Harris, who portrayed fifteen different characters in the play, won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience, and won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording.

Theatre World

Theatre World is the recipient of a 2001 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre, presented by the American Theatre Wing, and on behalf of the publication, longtime editor-in-chief John Willis (1916-2010) accepted honors including the first Special Lucille Lortel Award, a Special Drama Desk Award, and the Broadway Theatre Institute (now The Theatre Museum) Lifetime Achievement Award.


see also

Dick Gallagher

Whoop-Dee-Doo! (1993), which was nominated for the 1993 Outer Critics Circle Award and won the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical Revue

George Furth

Furth won both the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for Company, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play for Precious Sons.

Lester Rawlins

Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rawlins appeared in off-Broadway productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Winterset, In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel, and Nightride, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance.

Mary Testa

She returned to Broadway in July, 2007 in the musical-theater remake of the 1980 film Xanadu for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Montego Glover

Additionally, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (in a tie with Catherine Zeta-Jones).

The Changing Room

Tom Atkins won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer, and Michael Rudman won for Outstanding Director.