2024 Drama League Award nominations: 54 contenders for Distinguished Performance
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The nominees for the 2024 Drama League Awards were announced April 22, 2024, by Vanessa Williams and past Drama League winner Bebe Neuwirth. Winners will be announced during the 90th Annual Drama League Awards ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Friday, May 17.
These kudos honor both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and are famous for their catch-all acting category, the Distinguished Performance Award. An actor can only win it once in their career. After they have won, they can never be nominated again. This year, a whopping 54 performers are nominated.
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The expansive production categories mean that many Tony Awards hopefuls heard their name called this morning. Ten Broadway musicals were nominated in the Outstanding Production of a Musical race. Notable omissions include “Back to the Future: The Musical,” “The Great Gatsby” and critical darling “Days of Wine and Roses” (though Kelli O’Hara did manage an acting nomination). The shuttered disco extravaganza “Here Lies Love” was nominated as a revival due to its previous Off-Broadway production, despite the Tonys considering the Broadway outing a new musical. As a result, these nominations provide little clarity for the confusing and crowded race for Best Musical at the Tony Awards.
Over in the play races, the Broadway iterations of “Appropriate” and “Mary Jane” were considered revivals by the Drama League since production elements and the creative team differed considerably from their Off-Broadway debuts. On the flip side, “Prayer for the French Republic” was considered a direct transfer and thus was eligible in Outstanding Production of a Play. All told, seven productions hoping for a Best Play Tony nomination were cited by the Drama League.
Read the full list of nominations below:
BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
“The Comeuppance”
Signature Theatre
“Flex”
Lincoln Center Theater
“Grief Hotel”
Clubbed Thumb
“The Hunt”
St. Ann’s Warehouse
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
Manhattan Theatre Club
“Mother Play”
Second Stage Theater
“Oh, Mary!”
Lucille Lortel Theatre
“Patriots”
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
“Prayer for the French Republic”
Manhattan Theatre Club
“Stereophonic”
John Golden Theatre/Playwrights Horizons
“Wet Brain”
Playwrights Horizons/MCC Theater
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
“An Enemy of the People”
Circle in the Square Theatre
“Appropriate”
Second Stage Theater/Belasco Theatre
“Danny and the Deep Blue Sea”
Lucille Lortel Theatre
“Doubt”
Roundabout Theatre Company
“The Effect”
The Shed
“Mary Jane”
Manhattan Theatre Club
“Our Class”
Brooklyn Academy of Music
“Purlie Victorious”
Music Box Theatre
“Uncle Vanya”
Lincoln Center Theater
“The White Chip”
Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
“Buena Vista Social Club”
Atlantic Theater Company
“Dead Outlaw”
Minetta Lane Theatre
“Harmony”
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
“The Heart of Rock and Roll”
James Earl Jones Theatre
“Hell’s Kitchen”
The Public Theater/Shubert Theatre
“Illinoise”
Park Avenue Armory/St. James Theatre
“Lempicka”
Longacre Theatre
“The Notebook”
The Schoenfeld Theatre
“The Outsiders”
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
“Suffs”
Music Box Theatre
“Teeth”
Playwrights Horizons
“Water for Elephants”
Imperial Theatre
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
“Cabaret”
August Wilson Theatre
“Gutenberg! The Musical”
James Earl Jones Theatre
“Here Lies Love”
Broadway Theatre
“I Can Get it For You Wholesale”
Classic Stage Company
“Merrily We Roll Along”
Hudson Theatre
“Monty Python’s Spamalot”
St. James Theatre
“The Who’s Tommy”
Nederlander Theatre
“The Wiz”
Marquis Theatre
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Tara Ahmadinejad, “Grief Hotel”
Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”
Sam Gold, “An Enemy of The People”
Rupert Goold, “The Hunt”
Rupert Goold, “Patriots”
Jamie Lloyd, “The Effect”
Lila Neugebauer, “Appropriate”
Lila Neugebauer, “Uncle Vanya”
Sam Pinkleton, “Oh, Mary!”
Eric Ting, “The Comeuppance”
Whitney White, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Saheem Ali, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Sarah Benson, “Teeth”
David Cromer, “Dead Outlaw”
Rebecca Frecknall, “Cabaret”
Maria Friedman, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Des McAnuff, “The Who’s Tommy”
Leigh Silverman, “Suffs”
Alex Timbers, “Gutenberg! The Musical!”
Alex Timbers, “Here Lies Love”
DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE
Betsy Aidem, “Prayer for the French Republic”
Shoshana Bean, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Gabby Beans, “Jonah”
Joshua Boone, “The Outsiders”
Ali Louis Bourzgui, “The Who’s Tommy”
Steve Carell, “Uncle Vanya”
Jenn Colella, “Suffs”
Danny DeVito, “I Need That”
Caleb Eberhardt, “The Comeuppance” and “An Enemy of the People”
Alex Edelman, “Just for Us”
Cole Escola, “Oh, Mary!”
Eden Espinosa, “The Gardens of Anuncia” and “Lempicka”
Paapa Essiedu, “The Effect
Melissa Etheridge, “Melissa Etheridge: My Window”
Laurence Fishburne, “Like They Do in the Movies”
Josh Gad, “Gutenberg! The Musical!”
Eli Gelb, “Stereophonic”
Brody Grant, “The Outsiders”
Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Dorian Harewood, “The Notebook”
Willam Jackson Harper, “Primary Trust” and “Uncle Vanya”
Amber Iman, “Lempicka”
Eddie Izzard, “Hamlet”
Nikki M. James, “Suffs”
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, “Spamalot”
Jessica Lange, “Mother Play”
Kecia Lewis, “Hell’s Kitchen”
Nichelle Lewis, “The Wiz”
Maribel Martinez, “Bees and Honey”
Rachel McAdams, “Mary Jane”
Lindsay Mendez, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Tobias Menzies, “The Hunt”
Cynthia Nixon, “The Seven Year Disappear”
Eva Noblezada, “The Great Gatsby”
Kelli O’Hara, “Days of Wine and Roses”
Leslie Odom, Jr., “Purlie Victorious”
Patrick Page, “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented The Villain”
Nicole Ari Parker, “The Refuge Plays”
Jim Parsons, “Mother Play”
Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”
Sarah Pidgeon, “Stereophonic”
Aubrey Plaza, “Danny and The Deep Blue Sea”
Maryann Plunkett, “The Notebook”
Daniel Radcliffe, “Merrily We Roll Along”
Gayle Rankin, “Cabaret”
Andrew Rannells, “Gutenberg! The Musical!”
Eddie Redmayne, “Cabaret”
Conrad Ricamora, “Here Lies Love” and “Oh, Mary!”
Corey Stoll, “Appropriate”
Michael Stuhlbarg, “Patriots”
Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”
Zenzi Williams, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious”
Jehan O. Young, “The Cotillion”
The Drama League also wishes to acknowledge the previous recipients of the Distinguished Performance Award who appeared in eligible Broadway or Off-Broadway productions this season. As the award can only be won once in a performer’s lifetime, they are ineligible to be nominated; however, their exemplary work is recognized and applauded.
Alfred Molina, “Uncle Vanya”
Bebe Neuwirth, “Cabaret”
Liev Schreiber, “Doubt”
PREDICT the 2024 Tony Awards nominations through April 30
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