Drama Desk Awards Love GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE

Benanti with her own Drama Desk Award in 2011

It doesn't get much better than Laura Benanti if you need a host for your awards. The Drama Desk Awards were lucky enough to have the lovely Ms. Benanti there this week to glam up their awards, given to outstanding Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway shows from the 2013-14 season. Benanti is a Tony-winner herself, and she was joined by a fleet of stars like Christian Borle, David Byrne, Marge Champion, Toni Collette, Sutton Foster, Michael C. Hall,  Judy Kuhn, Tracy Letts, John Cameron Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Laura Osnes, Steven Pasquale and Billy Porter.

And who came out on top? The musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder was a big winner, with seven awards, including Outstanding Musical and a share of Outstanding Actor in a Musical for star Jefferson Mays. That one was a tie, with Mays and Neil Patrick Harris, for Hedwig and the Angry Inch, sharing the honors. Gentleman's Guide also nabbed trophies for director Darko Tresnjak and for its book, by Robert L. Freedman, and lyrics, by Freedman and Steven Lutvak, but not for its music. Instead, Jason Robert Brown picked up the award for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Orchestrations for The Bridges of Madison County.

Gentleman's Guide was part of another tie, too, with both Anika Larsen, from Beautiful--The Carole King Musical, and Lauren Worsham from Gentleman's Guide getting a piece of the Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical prize.

Beautiful won three awards overall, for Outstanding Actress in a Musical Jessie Mueller, who plays Carole King, and Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical for Brian Ronan, along with Larsen's award.

Robert Schenkkan's All the Way, a play about President Lyndon Johnson that originated at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and won the prestigious ATCA/Steinberg Award, won Outstanding Play, and star Bryan Cranston, who plays LBJ, won Outstanding Actor in a Play.

Audra McDonald added to her already crowded trophy case with an award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.

This year's special awards went to Soho Rep, Veanne Cox, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, and the ensembles of Off-Broadway’s The Open House (Hannah Bos, Michael Countryman, Peter Friedman, Danny McCarthy and Carolyn McCormick) and Broadway’s The Realistic Joneses (Toni Collette, Michael C. Hall, Tracy Letts and Marisa Tomei) as well as Will Eno, the playwright behind The Open House and The Realistic Joneses.

You'll find nominees in all the categories at the Drama Desk site or listed below, with winners listed first and given two asterisks. 

Outstanding Play
**Robert Schenkkan, All the Way
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar

Outstanding Revival of a Play
**Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe Production)
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man's Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment

Outstanding Actor in a Play
**Bryan Cranston, All the Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man's Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O'Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Actress in a Play
**Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama 
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
**Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
**Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Director of a Play
**Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All the Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Outstanding Music in a Play
**Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
Duncan Sheik, A Man's a Man

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
**Matt Tierney, Machinal
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All the Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information

Outstanding Musical
**A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
**Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
**Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
**Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
**Jessie Mueller, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
**James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
Rory O’Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
**Anika Larsen, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
**Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!

Outstanding Director of a Musical
**Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky

Outstanding Choreography
**Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love's Labour's Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu

Outstanding Music
**Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home

Outstanding Lyrics
**Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Michael Friedman, Love's Labour's Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Outstanding Book of a Musical
**Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Orchestrations
**Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
**Brian Ronan, Beautiful--The Carole King Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Set Design
**Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll's House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club

Outstanding Costume Design
**William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent

Outstanding Lighting Design
**Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth

Outstanding Projection Design
**Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shawn Sagady, All the Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn
Ben Rubin, Arguendo

Outstanding Revue
**After Midnight
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

Outstanding Solo Performance
**John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson's How I Learned What I Learned

Unique Theatrical Experience
**Cirkopolis
Charlatan
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill Vol. 2