The Broadway musical Six leads the pack with 10 nominations and a special award for the entire ensemble. The off-Broadway (and Broadway-bound) musical Kimberly Akimbo is a close second with 9 noms. The Broadway revival of Company, the new opera Intimate Apparel, and MJ(Broadway's Michael Jackson musical) were also lavished with nominations.
The nominators considered 115 productions in New York, with the season beginning with the first live and in-person performances to return to New York in summer 2021, and ending on May 1, 2022. Only live performances were eligible – if performances were also available for streaming, 21 or more unique live performances were required.
In determining eligibility of the Broadway productions of A Strange Loop, For Colored Girls, Hangmen, Is This a Room, Skeleton Crew, The Lehman Trilogywhich had recent Off-Broadway runs in previous seasons, the nominating committee considered only those elements that constituted new work. A Strange Loop is the winner of the 2020 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, for the off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons.
Additional productions on and off Broadway not eligible as they were considered in their entirety in prior seasons included Beyond Babel, Coal Country, Dana H., Get On Your Knees, Girl from the North Country, The Patsy, and What to Send Up When It Goes Down.
Trouble in Mind was considered a revival due to its Drama Desk eligible 1955 off-Broadway production.
Here is a full list of the nominees:
Outstanding Play Cullud Wattah, by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, The Public Theater English, by Sanaz Toossi, Atlantic Theater Company Prayer for the French Republic, by Joshua Harmon, Manhattan Theatre Club Sanctuary City, by Martyna Majok, New York Theatre Workshop Selling Kabul, by Sylvia Khoury, Playwrights Horizons The Chinese Lady, by Lloyd Suh, The Public Theater
Outstanding Musical Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Six The Hang, HERE Arts Center
Outstanding Revival of a Play for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf How I Learned to Drive Lackawanna Blues Skeleton Crew Trouble in Mind Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre
Outstanding Revival of a Musical Assassins, Classic Stage Company Baby, Out of the Box Theatrics Caroline, or Change Company
Outstanding Actor in a Play Brandon J. Dirden, Skeleton Crew Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out Jacob Ming-Trent, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Lackawanna Blues John Douglas Thompson, The Merchant of Venice, Theatre for a New Audience
Outstanding Actress in a Play Tala Ashe, English, Atlantic Theater Company Ruth Negga, Macbeth Andrea Patterson, Cullud Wattah, The Public Theater Phylicia Rashad, Skeleton Crew Shannon Tyo, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater Michelle Wilson, Confederates, Signature Theatre
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night Myles Frost, MJ Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop Chip Zien, Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Outstanding Actress in a Musical Kearstin Piper Brown, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Sharon D Clarke, Caroline, or Change Jeanna de Waal, Diana Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play Joshua Boone, Skeleton Crew Chuck Cooper, Trouble in Mind Daniel K. Isaac, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater Billy Eugene Jones, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop Ron Cephas Jones, Clyde's
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Francis Benhamou, Prayer for the French Republic, Manhattan Theatre Club Stephanie Berry, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop Sonnie Brown, what you are now, Ensemble Studio Theatre Page Leong, Out of Time, NAATCO and The Public Theater Kenita R. Miller, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf Kara Young, Clyde's
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical Justin Austin, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Matt Doyle, Company Jared Grimes, Funny Girl Tavon Olds-Sample, MJ
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Judy Kuhn, Assassins, Classic Stage Company Tamika Lawrence, Black No More, The New Group Patti LuPone, Company Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Jennifer Simard, Company
Outstanding Director of a Play Knud Adams, English, Atlantic Theater Company Saheem Ali, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park Rebecca Frecknall, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop Taibi Magar, Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre Whitney White, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop
Outstanding Director of a Musical John Doyle, Assassins, Classic Stage Company Marianne Elliott, Company Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, Six Bartlett Sher, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Jessica Stone, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company
Outstanding Choreography presented by LaDuca Dance Shoes Ayodele Casel (tap choreography), Funny Girl Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, Six Bill T. Jones, Garrett Coleman & Jason Oremus (Irish Hammerstep), Gelan Lambert & Chloe Davis (associates), Paradise Square Liam Steel, Company Christopher Wheeldon, Michael Balderrama (associate), Rich and Tone Taleuega (Michael Jackson Movement), MJ
Outstanding Music Presented by Music Theatre International Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, Six Jason Howland, Paradise Square Matt Ray, The Hang, HERE Arts Center Carrie Rodriguez, ¡Americano!, New World Stages Jeanine Tesori, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company
Outstanding Lyrics Presented by Music Theatre International Amanda Green, Mr. Saturday Night Taylor Mac, The Hang, HERE Arts Center Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, Six David Lindsay-Abaire, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Shaina Taub, Suffs, The Public Theater
Outstanding Book of a Musical Presented by Music Theatre International Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, Mr. Saturday Night Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, Six Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater Bruce Sussman, Harmony, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Outstanding Orchestrations Tom Curran, Six Greg Jarrett, Assassins, Classic Stage Company Mark Hartman & Yasuhiko Fukuoka, The Streets of New York, Irish Repertory Theatre Jason Michael Webb & David Holcenberg, MJ
Outstanding Music in a Play Te'La & Kamauu, Thoughts of a Colored Man Bill Sims Jr., Lackawanna Blues Michael Thurber & Farai Malianga (drum compositions), Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Play Beowulf Boritt, Merry Wives, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park Wilson Chin, Pass Over Marsha Ginsberg, English, Atlantic Theater Company Takeshi Kata, Clyde's Junghyun Georgia Lee, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, New York Theatre Workshop
Outstanding Scenic Design for a Musical Presented by Hudson Scenic Emma Bailey, Six Beowulf Boritt, Flying Over Sunset Bunny Christie, Company David Zinn, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company
Outstanding Costume Design for a Play Linda Cho, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater Gregory Gale, Fairycakes, Greenwich House Theater Tilly Grimes, The Alchemist, Red Bull Theater Qween Jean, On Sugarland, New York Theatre Workshop Jennifer Moeller, Clyde's
Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical Presented by Production Resource Group Machine Dazzle, The Hang, HERE Arts Center Susan Hilferty, Funny Girl Santo Loquasto, The Music Man Gabriella Slade, Six Catherine Zuber, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play Christopher Akerlind, Clyde's Reza Behjat, English, Atlantic Theater Company Isabella Byrd, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop Amith Chandrashaker, Prayer for the French Republic, Manhattan Theatre Club Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Cullud Wattah, The Public Theater
Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical Natasha Katz, Diana Natasha Katz, MJ Bradley King, Flying Over Sunset Jennifer Tipton, Intimate Apparel, Lincoln Center Theater
Outstanding Projection Design 59 Productions, Flying Over Sunset David Bengali, Twilight: Lost Angeles, 1992, Signature Theatre Stephania Bulbarella & Alex Basco Koch, Space Dogs, MCC Theater Shawn Duan, The Chinese Lady, The Public Theater Sven Ortel, Thoughts of a Colored Man
Outstanding Sound Design for a Play Tyler Kieffer, Seven Deadly Sins, Tectonic Theater Project & Madison Wells Live Hidenori Nakajo & Ryan Rumery, Autumn Royal, Irish Repertory Theatre Ben & Max Ringham, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Jamie Lloyd company at Brooklyn Academy of Music Mikaal Sulaiman, Sanctuary City, New York Theatre Workshop Lee Kinney, Selling Kabul, Playwrights Horizons
Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Company Paul Gatehouse, Six Kai Harada, Kimberly Akimbo, Atlantic Theater Company Gareth Owen, MJ
Outstanding Wig and Hair Matthew B. Armentrout, Paradise Square David Brian Brown, Mrs. Doubtfire Paul Huntley, Diana Charles LaPointe, MJ
Outstanding Solo Performance Alex Edelman, Just for Us, The Cherry Lane Theatre Arturo Luís Soria, Ni Mi Madre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Kristina Wong, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, New York Theatre Workshop
The Chase Award for Unique Theatrical Experience Seven Deadly Sins, Tectonic Theater Project & Madison Wells Live
Outstanding Adaptation Merry Wives, by Jocelyn Bioh, The Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park The Alchemist, by Jeffrey Hatcher, Red Bull Theater
Outstanding Puppet Design Amanda Villalobos, Wolf Play, Soho Rep. James Ortiz, The Skin of Our Teeth Rockefeller Productions, Winnie the Pooh, The Hundred Acre Theatre at Theatre Row
Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award: In four decades as playwright, novelist, actor, and director, Alice Childress (1912-1994) challenged racism with engrossing stories and memorable characters. When a New York producer demanded revisions to soften the impact of Trouble in Mind, Childress withdrew the script. Sixty-five years later, the Drama Desk celebrates the long-delayed Broadway premiere of this timeless masterpiece and salutes Childress as a towering figure in contemporary theater history.
Ensemble Award: In Six, Adrianna Hicks, Andrea Macasaet, Brittney Mack, Abby Mueller, Samantha Pauly, and Anna Uzele bring to musical life the women who married England's King Henry VIII. The fanciful result is a buoyant dramatization of their individually purposeful and collectively empowering journeys.
The Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award:This season, as a woman hiding her brother from the Taliban in Sylvia Khoury's Selling Kabul and an English instructor straddling two very different cultures in Sanaz Toossi's English, Marjan Neshat embodied disparate characters so fully that it was hard to recognize the single actor in the two roles. Whether in drama or comedy, Neshat mines the playwright's text for a vast panoply of emotions that yield vivid, intricate portrayals of the parts she undertakes.
Additional Special Awards:
Dede Ayite seems to have costumed half the actors of this theater season with her designs for Merry Wives, Seven Deadly Sins, The Last of the Love Letters, Chicken and Biscuits, Slave Play, Nollywood Dreams, American Buffalo, and How I learned to Drive. Whether dressing working-class Marylanders of the 1960s, amateur criminals of the 1970s, or West African immigrants in today's Harlem, Ayite has a knack for conveying characters' means, values, and aspirations before the actors utter a word.
Adam Rigg devised wildly varying scenic designs this season including: a house in wood, shadow, and reflective glass that draws the audience into the Flint, Michigan water crisis in Cullud Wattah; a community cul-de-sac where trauma and history are celebrated in On Sugarland; and the falling walls, flower-covered hillsides, and functional seaside fun ride of The Skin of Our Teeth.
With the category-defying Oratorio for Living Things, Heather Christian aims to encompass all human existence in a single inventive and startlingly beautiful work. In times of pandemic, war, and social upheaval, Christian's work (directed by Lee Sunday Evans and brought to life by a superb cast and creative team) is an awe-inspiring reminder that, even in the darkest times, there will always be artistic peaks to scale.
Wow there are major misfires from The Drama Desk again. This tiny pool of nominators sure missed the mark. Perhaps the worst noms of the year.
Where is Cyrano - Best Play revival. Best Director? -Lloyd. Best Actor - McAvoy. Best Supporting Actor - Figueredo . Best Supporting Actress -Miller.
Take Me Out - Best Play revival. (Olberhotzer? Adams?) . Are Morse and Parker are ineligible from Off-Bway run years ago? Case of Existence of God? Cromer (Case or Prayer)
Happy For Oratorio For The Living things & The Hang but wow these are off. The pool size of nominators needs expansion for these to feel legit. Embarassing & questionable
The fact Paradise Square and MJ couldn’t crack into Best Musical here does suggest their performance in the Tony nominations was indeed due to a lack of viable alternatives.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
I find it funny that Take Me Out saw Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Patrick J. Adams both get nominations as leading men, but not Jesse Williams, the actual central character.
Lol, I was about to go nuts that Oratorio for Living Things didn't get nominated and then I saw the special award! So glad for them!
As I've said for some of the other awards this season: I would've done some things differently, but in general it's a strong set of nominees, and I love to see Off-broadway get its due recognition in the percentage of nominations. Though the winners tend to skew toward Broadway.
Glad to see love for: Chinese Lady, English, Prayer for the French Republic, Sanctuary City, The Hang, Tamika Lawrence in Black no More, and many more.
Like I said, I'm mostly pretty happy with these nominations, and a lot of great shows got well-deserved noms. But here are some thing I would've changed:
--Tambo & Bones and Letters of Suresh instead of Cullud Watah and Selling Kabul.
--the Best Musical lineup isn't really my cup of tea. I would've thrown in Islander, Flying Over Sunset, and even Space Dogs.
--As for actors I think the people I most would've liked to see included are: Katrina Lenk, Nana Mensah (Hollywood Dreams), Caleb Eberhardt (On Sugarland), Gabby Beans (Skin of Our Teeth), Elizabeth Marvel and Bill Camp (Long Day's Journey)
I wonder if A Case for the Existence of God opened too late for eligibility.
No nomination of best revival of a play for Cyrano de Bergerac and for McAvoy for lead actor? He gave a master class of a performance and the play was outstanding.
Suffs was nominated for lyrics so it seems like it was passed on for everything else.
I’m also thrilled that Tamika Lawrence was nominated. If for no other reason, I need Black No More to somehow make it to Broadway so she can be in the Tony race.
I am soooo happy for de Waal's nomination! Saw "Diana" here in La Jolla. Loved de Waal's performance enough that we returned a week later. Sending her our very best wishes.
I'm not as in love with Katrina Lenk's performance as a lot of others are, but I thought she did a great job and it's really unfortunate that she's walked out of this season without a single nomination.
We have 4 awards for Broadway and yet Lenk missed all of them? It's very unfair to her. Even Beanie Feldstein and Jeanna de Waal got nominated for something!
So, the only Broadway performers to get nominated at the Tonys, DD, Outer and Drama League are:
- David Morse (counting the Off-Broadway run of ''Drive''
- Deirdre O'Connell, Dana H.
- Sharon D. Clarke, Caroline or change
- Joaquina Kalukango, Paradise Square
- Myles Frost, MJ
- Jaquel Spivey, A Strange Loop
- Rob McClure, Mrs. Doubtfire
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Take Me Out
- Matt Doyle, Company
- Patti LuPone, Company
I know it's exactly means anything, but I think Ferguson, Doyle and LuPone are winning their categories. Also, the race between Frost/Spivey and Clarke/Kalukango must be something!
And the cast of ''Kimberly Akimbo'' has now nominations for all the Off-Broadway awards, right? Bonnie is such a queen, hoping the Tonys will be hers next year.
MadsonMelo said: "We have 4 awards for Broadway and yet Lenk missed all of them? It's very unfair to her. Even Beanie Feldstein and Jeanna de Waal got nominated for something!"
I would hardly group Beanie and Jeanna together here.
Jeanna gave a wonderful performance in a highly flawed musical (even though I personally loved said musical), while Beanie, by most accounts, can't sing the score in a show that was basically specifically revived for her.
I know it's exactly means anything, but I think Ferguson, Doyle and LuPone are winning their categories. Also, the race between Frost/Spivey and Clarke/Kalukango must be something!
You know, I also know it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but also noted how interesting it would be if those three won. And I agree the Actor and Actress in a Musical categories are indeed down to those match ups.