Nominations for the 2005 Drama League Awards were announced on April 19. The Drama League honors both Broadway and off-Broadway shows and is the oldest theatrical institution to give awards pre-dating the Tony Awards by 12 years.
The 71st Annual Drama League Awards luncheon and ceremony will be held on May 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Cherry Jones, a previous recipient of the Drama League's Distinguished Performance Award, will host the ceremony.
The Drama League Awards pays tribute to the season's best performers by including the nominees of The Distinguished Performance Award on a dais. This year the awards will feature plenty of stars from the 2004-2005 Broadway and off-Broadway season, including co-chairs Lea DeLaria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sutton Foster, John Lithgow, Frances Sternhagen and Leslie Uggams. The cut-off date for this year's nominations was April 13.
Some notes on this year's nominees:
--In the Distinguished Production of a Play category, the committee snubbed the now-shuttered Broadway production of Democracy, which received mostly positive reviews.
--Sweet Charity is among this season's shows that will be considered for next season's Drama League Awards, as the nominating committee was not able to see these shows prior to the eligibility cut-off date.
--At the luncheon, the Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing will go to Mike Nichols, the Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award will be presented to the Billy Rose Theatre Collection at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center and the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award will be presented to the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.
Here are the nominees:
Distinguished Production of a Play:
The Day Emily Married Primary Stages
Death and the Ploughman Classic Stage Company
Doubt Manhattan Theatre Club/Walter Kerr Theatre
A Number New York Theatre Workshop
Orson's Shadow Barrow Street Theatre
The Pillowman Booth Theatre
Svejk Theatre for a New Audience
Distinguished Production of a Musical:
Altar Boyz Dodger Stages
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Imperial Theatre
The Frogs Lincoln Center Theatre
Ghetto Superstar The Public Theater
The Light in the Piazza Lincoln Center Theatre
The Musical of Musicals: The Musical York Theatre Company/Dodger Stages
Spamalot Shubert Theatre
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Second Stage Theatre/Circle in the Square Theatre
Nominees for Distinguished Revival of a Play:
Glengarry Glen Ross Royale Theatre
Hurlyburly The New Group/37 Arts
Reckless Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore Theatre
Rose Rage Chicago Shakespeare Company/The Duke on 42nd Street
Twelve Angry Men Roundabout Theatre Company/American Airlines Theatre
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Longacre Theatre
Nominees for Distinguished Revival of a Musical:
La Cage Aux Folles Marquis Theatre
Pacific Overtures Roundabout Theatre Company/Studio 54
Shockheaded Peter Little Shubert Theatre
Alan Alda, Glengarry Glen Ross
Ensemble, Altar Boyz**
Roger Bart, The Frogs
Gary Beach, La Cage aux Folles
Matthew Broderick, The Foreigner
Larry Bryggman, Romance
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza
Billy Crystal, 700 Sundays
Kieran Culkin, After Ashley
Jim Dale, Address Unknown
Lea DeLaria, Happy Days
Peter Dinklage, Richard III
Alvin Epstein, Endgame
Eve Ensler, The Good Body
Eden Espinosa, Brooklyn
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Dan Fogler, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Cameron Folmar, Five By Tenn
Sutton Foster, Little Women: The Musical
Whoopi Goldberg, Whoopi
Jeff Goldblum, The Pillowman
Heather Goldenhersh, Doubt
Julie Halston, White Chocolate
Ethan Hawke, Hurlyburly
Geraldine Hughes, Belfast Blues
Bill Irwin, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Judith Ivey, Dirty Tricks
Cheyenne Jackson, All Shook Up
Cherry Jones, Doubt
James Earl Jones, On Golden Pond
Judy Kaye, Souvenir
T.R. Knight, Boy
Nathan Lane, The Frogs
Jessica Lange, The Glass Menagerie
Laura Linney, Sight Unseen
John Lithgow, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Anthony Mackie, McReele
Bebe Neuwirth, Here Lies Jenny
Brían F. O'Byrne, Doubt
Ensemble, Orson's Shadow**
Mary Louise Parker, Reckless
Estelle Parsons, The Daily Emily Married
Jeremy Piven, Fat Pig
Martha Plimpton, The False Servant
Billy Porter, Ghetto Superstar
Heather Raffo, 9 Parts of Desire
Sara Ramirez, Monty Python's Spamalot
Phylicia Rashad, Gem of the Ocean
Dallas Roberts, A Number
Ensemble, Rose Rage**
Adam Rothenberg, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
John Rubinstein, Counsellor at Law
Mercedes Ruehl, Woman Before A Glass
Liev Schreiber, Glengarry Glen Ross
Sherie Rene Scott, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Stephen Spinella, Svejk
Frances Sternhagen, Steel Magnolias
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Pillowman
Kathleen Turner, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Ensemble, Twelve Angry Men**
Leslie Uggams, On Golden Pond
Eamonn Walker, Julius Caesar
Denzel Washington, Julius Caesar
Fritz Weaver, Trying
Julie White, Fiction
B.D. Wong, Pacific Overtures
Rachel York, Dessa Rose
**Those shows that have nominated ensembles will be represented on the dais by two members of said ensemble.