Patti LuPone to Host 2010 Drama Desk Awards
Three-time Drama Desk Award winner Patti LuPone (Evita, Anything Goes, Gypsy) will host the 2010 Drama Desk Awards, presented by an organization composed of theater critics, writers and editors. The 55th annual ceremony will be held on May 23 at LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. Nominees for the awards, which honor Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway, will be announced on May 3 at the Friars Club.
LuPone won Tony Awards for Gypsy and Evita and was nominated for Tonys for Sweeney Todd and Anything Goes. She won an Olivier Award her West End performances in Les Miserables and The Cradle Will Rock and created the role of Norma Desmond in the West End production of Sunset Boulevard. Recent stage credits include her debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Mahagonny (resulting in a CD that won two Grammys) and the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s opera To Hell and Back with San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. She has toured as a solo concert artist and with Mandy Patinkin.
Organized in 1949, the Drama Desk first presented awards in 1955. The 2009-2010 awards nominating committee is chaired by Barbara Siegel (TalkinBroadway.com, TheaterMania.com) and includes Christopher Byrne (Gay City News), Patrick Christiano (TheaterLife.com, Dan’s Papers), David Kaufman, Gerard Raymond (Back Stage, The Advocate), Richard Ridge (Broadway Beat TV) and PaulAnne Simmons (CurtainUp.com, NY Theatre-wire.com).
