‘Carousel,’ ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ Lead 2018 Drama Desk Nominations (Full List)
Julieta Cervantes
The Broadway revival of “Carousel” and the new musical “SpongeBob SquarePants” led the list of nominations for the 2018 Drama Desk Awards, with “Carousel” snagging a dozen nods (including outstanding musical revival) and “SpongeBob” landing 11 (among them outstanding musical).
“Mean Girls” — the only other Broadway show competing with “SpongeBob” for new musical in this year’s Drama Desks — scored ten nods total. Among plays, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” already an awards-favorite in London, took eight, while the high-profile revival of “Angels in America,” starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane, walked away with seven.
The Drama Desks are one of a number of theater awards that cluster around the Broadway-centric Tony Awards in the late spring. The Drama Desks, however, serve as an imperfect indicator of Tony love, since the they consider Off Broadway shows eligible to compete against Broadway productions. This year, too, one of the Broadway’s season’s biggest contenders, “The Band’s Visit,” didn’t make the Drama Desk list because it would have been eligible last year for its Off Broadway staging.
Earlier this week, the Outer Critics Circle also announced their nominations. “SpongeBob” led that pack with 11 noms, while “Harry Potter” scored ten.
The 2018 Drama Desks Awards will be held June 3 at midtown Manhattan venue Town Hall. The full list of nominations follows.
2018 DRAMA DESKS AWARDS NOMINATIONS
Outstanding Play
Admissions, by Joshua Harmon, Lincoln Center Theater
Mary Jane, by Amy Herzog, New York Theatre Workshop
Miles for Mary, by The Mad Ones, Playwrights Horizons
People, Places & Things, by Duncan Macmillan, National Theatre/St. Ann’s Warehouse/Bryan Singer Productions/Headlong
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh, MCC Theater
Outstanding Musical
Desperate Measures, The York Theatre Company
KPOP, Ars Nova/Ma-Yi Theatre Company/Woodshed Collective
Mean Girls
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, 2b Theatre Company/59E59
SpongeBob SquarePants
Outstanding Revival of a Play
Angels in America
Hindle Wakes, Mint Theater Company
In the Blood, Signature Theatre Company
Three Tall Women
Travesties, Menier Chocolate Factory/Roundabout Theatre Company
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Amerike-The Golden Land, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Carousel
My Fair Lady, Lincoln Center Theater
Once on This Island
Pacific Overtures, Classic Stage Company
Outstanding Actor in a Play
Johnny Flynn, Hangmen, Royal Court Theatre/Atlantic Theater Company
Andrew Garfield, Angels in America
Tom Hollander, Travesties, Menier Chocolate Factory/Roundabout Theatre Company
James McArdle, Angels in America
Paul Sparks, At Home at the Zoo, Signature Theatre Company
Finn Ross and Ash J. Woodward, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Brendan Aanes, Balls, One Year Lease Theater Company/Stages Repertory Theatre/59E59
Gareth Fry, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Tom Gibbons, 1984
Tom Gibbons, People, Places & Things, National Theatre/St. Ann’s Warehouse/Bryan Singer Productions/Headlong
Stefan Gregory, Yerma, Young Vic/Park Avenue Armory
Palmer Hefferan, Today is My Birthday, Page 73 Productions
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, The Band’s Visit
Scott Lehrer, Carousel
Will Pickens, KPOP, Ars Nova, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Woodshed Collective
Dan Moses Schreier, Pacific Overtures, Classic Stage Company
Outstanding Wig and Hair
Carole Hancock, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Campbell Young Associates, Farinelli and the King
Cookie Jordan, School Girls;, or The African Mean Girls Play, MCC Theater
Charles G. LaPointe, SpongeBob SquarePants
Josh Marquette, Mean Girls
Outstanding Solo Performance
Billy Crudup, Harry Clarke, Vineyard Theatre
David Greenspan, Strange Interlude, Transport Group
Jon Levin, A Hunger Artist, The Tank/Flint & Tinder
Lesli Margherita, Who’s Holiday!
Sophie Melville, Iphigenia in Splott, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff/59E59
The Chase Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
Derren Brown: Secret, Atlantic Theater Company
Master, Foundry Theatre
Say Something Bunny!
Outstanding Fight Choreography
J. David Brimmer, Is God Is, Soho Rep
Steve Rankin, Carousel
Unkle Dave’s Fight House, Oedipus El Rey, The Public Theater/The Sol Project
Outstanding Puppet Design
Finn Caldwell, Nick Barnes, Angels in America
Michael Curry, Frozen
Charlie Kanev, Sarah Nolan, and Jonathan Levin, A Hunger Artist, The Tank/Flint & Tinder
Vandy Wood, The Artificial Jungle, Theatre Breaking Through Barriers
SPECIAL AWARDS
To Sean Carvajal and Edi Gathegi of Jesus Hopped the A Train whose last-minute entrances into the Signature production of this powerful play ensured it had a happy real-life ending
Ensemble Award: To Nabiyah Be, MaameYaa Boafo, Paige Gilbert, Zainab Jah, Nike Kadri, Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Mirirai Sithole, and Myra Lucretia Taylor of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, whose characters learn the facts of life but whose portrayers taught us all a thing or two about the way things are.
Sam Norkin Award: To Juan Castano, whose varied performances this season in Oedipus El Rey, A Parallelogram, and Transfers not only make a complex statement about American life but also indicate great things to come for this talented performer.