Broadway’s ‘Some Like It Hot,’ ‘Life of Pi,’ ‘A Doll’s House,’ ‘Sweeney Todd’ Rack Up Multiple Drama Desk Awards Wins
Nobody’s perfect, but “Some Like It Hot” was close enough for the 67th annual Drama Desk Awards, which gave the Broadway adaptation of the classic film comedy eight honors on Wednesday, including outstanding musical. The top-achieving play was “Life of Pi,” which came away with four awards.
Winning three Drama Desk Awards each were “A Doll’s House” and “Sweeney Todd.” Tied with two apiece were “Shucked,” “Prima Facie,” “AIn’t No More” and “Leopoldstadt.”
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The number of awards these productions received was often not in direct correlation with which shows prevailed for the very top prizes, with only “Some Like It Hot” scoring wins across the board as well as for outstanding musical. While the production of Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt” came up with only a pair of prizes, one of those was for outstanding play. Meanwhile, “Life of Pi,” the top winner among plays, was not nominated for outstanding play.
In other top categories, “The Piano Lesson” won outstanding revival of a play, while “Parade” received honors for outstanding revival of a musical — and those were the only awards those shows got.
The winners were announced in a press release Wednesday and will be given out in a ceremony at Sardi’s on June 6. The Drama Desk Awards are voted on by critics, journalists and publishers covering theater and include off-Broadway as well as Broadway productions. They often provide a tip as to what might be favored at the Tonys, happening this year on June 11.
For the first time, this year’s acting nominations were gender-free, with two awards being given in each category to keep the overall number of trophies the same. That meant that one of the 2023 Drama Desk winners, “Shucked’s” Alex Newell, who won for outstanding featured performance in a musical, did not have to choose a gender category, as they did for the Tonys. The non-binary Newell is up for supporting actor in a musical — a male category — at the Tonys, although the character in “Shucked” is a cis woman.
The awards for lead performance in a play went to Jessica Chastain, for “A Doll’s House,” and Sean Hayes, for “Good Night, Oscar.” On the musicals side, lead performance awards were given to Annaleigh Ashford for “Sweeney Todd” and J. Harrison Ghee for “Some Like It Hot.”
Featured performances in a musical went to the aforementioned Newell for “Shucked” and Kevin Del Aguila for “Some Like It Hot.” Featured performances in a play were awarded to Miriam Silverman for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” and Brandon Uranowitz for “Leopoldstadt.”
Direction honors went to Thomas Kail for “Sweeney Todd” and Max Webster for “Life of Pi.”
The Drama Desk Awards split up the honors for music and lyrics, so both “Shucked” and “Some Like It Hot” were able to triumph with their respective scores — the Broadway-newcomer team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally for the former, and the veteran duo Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman for the latter. (The Tonys, which keep it to a single category, won’t be able to spread quite as much love.)
The full list of Drama Desk honorees:
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Thomas Kail, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Play
Leopoldstadt
Outstanding Musical
Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Piano Lesson
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Parade
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play
Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Brandon Uranowitz, Leopoldstadt
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical
Kevin Del Aguila, Some Like It Hot
Alex Newell, Shucked
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Max Webster, Life of Pi
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Thomas Kail, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Choreography
Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Music
Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, Shucked
Outstanding Lyrics
Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Orchestrations
Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Music in a Play
Suzan-Lori Parks, Plays for the Plague Year
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play
Tim Hatley, Life of Pi
Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical|
Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
Outstanding Costume Design of a Play
Emilio Sosa, Ain’t No Mo’
Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play
Natasha Chivers and Willie Williams (video), Prima Facie
Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical
Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Projection and Video Design
Andrzej Goulding, Life of Pi
Outstanding Sound Design of a Play
Ben & Max Ringham, A Doll’s House
Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann, Into the Woods
Outstanding Wig and Hair
Mia M. Neal, Ain’t No Mo’
Outstanding Solo Performance
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Unique Theatrical Experience
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Outstanding Fight Choreography
B.H. Barry, Camelot
Outstanding Adaptation
A Doll’s House by Amy Herzog
Outstanding Puppetry
Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, Life of Pi
Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award
Stephen McKinley Henderson
Ensemble Award
The cast of Soho Rep’s Public Obscenities – Tashnuva Anan, Abrar Haque, Golam Sarwar Harun, Gargi Mukherjee, NaFis, Jakeem Dante Powell, and Debashis Roy Chowdhury
Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award
Ryan J. Haddad
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