The five shows opening on Broadway this week have all gotten an awards-season boost, with the Drama League naming a wide-ranging slate of nominations that includes “Macbeth,” “The Testament of Mary,” “The Trip to Bountiful,” “I’ll Eat You Last” and “Pippin.”
The Drama League’s take on the 2012-13 awards season sees Broadway and Off Broadway productions compete in the same categories, with as many as eight competitors per category and, for the League’s single thesping award, a list of 60 nominees.
Off Broadway tuners outnumber Rialto offerings in the League’s musical category, with Main Stem titles “Kinky Boots,” “Matilda” and “Motown” vying for the title with Off Broadway’s “Dogfight,” “Here Lies Love” and two past successes soon to launch commercial runs, “Murder Ballad” and “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.”
In the mix for the acting kudo are Alec Baldwin (“Orphans”), Vanessa Redgrave (“The Revisionist”), Michael Shannon (“Grace”), Better Midler (“I’ll Eat You Last”), Scarlett Johansson (“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) and Tom Hanks (“Lucky Guy”), among others.
The kudos from the League, a legit aud and artist development nonprofit, add to the awards momentum for titles that had already picked up steam with the announcement of the Outer Critics Circle noms, which were led by “Pippin” (11 nods) and “Kinky Boots” (nine). It’s all part of a run-up that includes the Drama Desk nominations April 29 ahead of the April 30 announcement of the Tony noms.
League winners will be announced at a May 17 ceremony hosted by David Hyde Pierce, nommed for his work in current Rialto offering “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”
The nominations for the 79th annual Drama League Awards are:
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
“The Assembled Parties”
“I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers”
“Lucky Guy”
“Old Hats”
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
“Dogfight”
“Here Lies Love”
“Kinky Boots”
“Matilda the Musical”
“Motown: The Musical”
“Murder Ballad”
“Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812”
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
“As You Like It”
“Golden Boy”
“Macbeth”
“The Trip to Bountiful”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
“Annie”
“Marry Me a Little”
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
“Passion”
“Pippin”
“Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD
Alec Baldwin, “Orphans”
Danny Burstein, “Talley’s Folly”
Bobby Cannavale, “The Big Knife” and “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Bertie Carvel, “Matilda the Musical”
Tracee Chimo, “Bad Jews”
Lilla Crawford, “Annie”
Alan Cumming, “Macbeth”
Brandon J. Dirden, “The Piano Lesson”
Brandon Victor Dixon, “Motown: The Musical”
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Revisionist”
Edie Falco, “The Madrid”
America Ferrera, “Bethany”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “If There is I Haven’t Found it Yet”
Tom Hanks, “Lucky Guy”
Jessica Hecht, “The Assembled Parties” and “Harvey”
Shuler Hensley, “The Whale”
Bill Irwin, “Old Hats”
Judith Ivey, “The Heiress”
Brian d’Arcy James, “Giant”
Scarlett Johansson, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
Judy Kuhn, “Passion”
Nathan Lane, “The Nance”
Valisia LeKae, “Motown: The Musical”
Tracy Letts, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Judith Light, “The Assembled Parties”
Constantine Maroulis, “Jekyll and Hyde”
Andrea Martin, “Pippin”
Rob McClure, “Chaplin”
Lindsay Mendez, “Dogfight”
Laurie Metcalf, “The Other Place”
Bette Midler, “I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers”
Patina Miller, “Pippin”
Amy Morton, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Donna Murphy, “Into the Woods”
Kristine Nielsen, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Jim Norton, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Seth Numrich, “Golden Boy”
Laura Osnes, “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella”
Tina Packer, “Women of Will”
David Hyde Pierce, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”
Billy Porter, “Kinky Boots”
Lily Rabe, “As You Like It”
Vanessa Redgrave, “The Revisionist”
Chita Rivera, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
Paul Rudd, “Grace”
Roslyn Ruff, “The Piano Lesson”
Stark Sands, “Kinky Boots”
Tony Shalhoub, “Golden Boy”
Michael Shannon, “Grace”
Fiona Shaw, “The Testament of Mary”
Ryan Silverman, “Passion”
Phillipa Soo, “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812”
Tom Sturridge, “Orphans”
Holland Taylor, “Ann”
Cicely Tyson, “The Trip to Bountiful”
Michael Urie, “Buyer and Cellar”
Courtney B. Vance, “Lucky Guy”
Anthony Warlow, “Annie”
Stephen Tyrone Williams, “My Children! My Africa!”
Vanessa Williams, “The Trip to Bountiful”
The following thesps are acknowledged for outstanding work but ineligible for the acting award this year, because they’ve won it in a prior year:
Norbet Leo Butz, “Dead Accounts”
Kathleen Chalfant, “Red Dog Howls”
Stockard Channing, “The Exonerated”
Patti Lupone, “The Anarchist”
Bebe Neuwirth, “Golden Age”
Francis Sternhagen, “The Madrid”
DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL THEATER
Bernadette Peters
UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEATER
Madison Square Garden Entertainment and The Rockettes
FOUNDERS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING
