McKechnie & Hamlisch Announce Drama Desk Nods 4/27

Nominations for the 51st Annual Drama Desk Awards will be announced on Thursday, April 27, 2006, at 9:45 AM at a ceremony at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. A continental breakfast will be available at 9:00 AM.

Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, who created the score for the ground-breaking Pulitzer Prize-winning 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line (which will be revived on Broadway in the fall), and actress Donna McKechnie, who starred in the original production, will announce the nominations in various categories. In addition, there will be remarks by Drama Desk President William Wolf, Drama Desk Awards Executive Producer Robert R. Blume, and Randie Levine-Miller, Drama Desk Director of Special Events and a member of the Board of Governors of the Friars Club, who annually produces this event.

The Drama Desk, which presented its first awards in 1955, is the only organization of professional theatre critics, writers and editors that regularly covers all sectors of New York's theatre, including Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway and not-for-profit theatre.

The 51st Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted for the third consecutive year by Harvey Fierstein, will be held Sunday, May 21, at 9:00 PM in the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. A two-hour version of the awards ceremony will be televised by PBS stations nationally on a delayed schedule. The special will air on Thirteen/WNET on Monday, May 29, at 3:00 PM, and on NYC TV 25 on Tuesday, May 30, and Thursday, June 1, at 8:00 PM. The ceremony will be webcast live for the fourth year in a row by TheaterMania.com with commentators Rex Reed and Jim Caruso.

Drama Desk nominees will receive their Official Nomination Certificates at a Cocktail Reception on Tuesday, May 2, 4:00 to 7:00 PM, at Arte' Cafe, 106 West 73rd Street, between Broadway and Columbus Avenue.

Members of the Drama Desk Nominating Committee for the 2005/2006 season include: Barbara Siegel, Committee Chair (TheaterMania.com and Siegel Entertainment Syndicate); Michael Buckley ("Channeling Theatre" column at Playbill On-Line); Christopher Byrne (Gay City News and The Villager); Matthew Murray (TalkinBroadway.com, Stage Directions magazine); Andy Propst (AmericanTheaterWeb.com and XM Satellite Radio); Richard Ridge (Broadway Beat TV); and William Wolf (wolfentertainmentguide.com), President, The Drama Desk.

The Drama Desk Board of Directors is comprised of: William Wolf, President; Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Vice President; Charles Wright, Treasurer and Second Vice President; Joyce Hauser, Secretary; and Members-at-Large: Michael Bracken, David Kaufman, Ellis Nassour, Sam Norkin, Barbara Siegel and Elyse Sommer.

Robert R. Blume is Executive Producer of the 51st Annual Drama Desk Awards. Lauren Class Schneider is Producer and Jeff Kalpak is Director. The show is being written by Terry Berliner. Elias EL-Hage is General Manager and Les Schecter is Director of Publicity and Promotions. For television, Terry Rohnke is Production Consultant and Roy A. Somlyo is Consulting Producer.

Visit www.dramadesk.org for more information.