La Boheme
and Varekai, the latest effort from Cirque du Soleil, led the pack in nominations for Drama Desk Awards in the design categories. The nominations were announced this morning.
The Drama Desk breaks up the set design category into two, for set design of a play and of a musical. In the first category, John Lee Beatty was nominated twice, for the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of Dinner at eight and the short-lived Off Broadway drama My Old Lady. Other nominees included Troy Hourie for the Off Broadway thriller Temporary Help, Scott Pask for the baseball drama Take Me Out, Neil Patel for the publisihing house melodrama Endpapers, and B. T. Whitehall for the Charles Busch vehicle Shanghai Moon.
In the set design for a musical category, Riccardo Hernandez, and projection designers Batwin + Robin Productions share a nomination for the musical Radiant Baby, a fast flop about the life of artist Keith Haring. Other nominees include Catherine Martin for La Boheme, Scott Pask for Amour, Stephane Roy for Varekai, and David Rockwell for Hairspray. Interestingly, Pask was nominated for Amour, one of the season’s biggest flops, and not for Nine, which has been far better received.
In the costume designer category, the nominees are Michael Bottari and Ronald Case for Shanghai Moon, Jess Goldstein for Enchanted April, Eiko Ishioka for ( Varekai, William Ivey Long for Hairspray, Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie for La Boheme, and Catherine Zuber for Dinner at Eight.
In the lighting design category, Donald Holder received two nominations, for the Billy Joel-Twyla Tharp musical Movin’ Out and the World War I drama Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme. The category is filled out with Kevin Adams for Take Me Out , Russell H. Champa for the drama Yellowman at Manhattan Theatre Club, Nigel Levings for La Boheme, and Peter Mumford for Vincent in Brixton,
In the sound design category, Mark Bennett earned two nominations, for the solo drama Golda’s Balcony at Manhattan Ensemble Theatre and for the Theatre for a New Audience revival of Julius Caesar. His competition includes Acme Sound Partners for La Boheme, Francois Bergeron for Varekai, Janet Kalas for Take Me Out, and David Mesxhter and Mel Mercier for Medea. The nod for Acme Sound Partners nod is a rare case of recognition for a design rooted in amplification rather than sound effects.
A full list of nominees follows:
Outstanding Play:
Buicks by Julian Sheppard
Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Peter and Vandy by Jay DiPietro
Take Me Out by Richard Greenberg
Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith
Outstanding Musical: Amour
Avenue Q
Hairspray
A Man of No Importance
Movin' Out
Zanna, Don't!
Outstanding Revival of a Play
: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Dinner at Eight
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Medea
Twelfth Night
Uncle Vanya
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
: Gypsy
La Bohème
Man of La Mancha
Nine
Outstanding Actor in a Play
: Simon Russell Beale, Uncle Vanya
Norbert Leo Butz, Buicks
Jim Dale, Comedians
Brian Dennehy, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Eddie Izzard A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Daniel Sunjata, Take Me Out
Outstanding Actress in a Play
: Jayne Atkinson, Enchanted April
Marylouise Burke, Kimberly Akimbo
Clare Higgins. Vincent in Brixton
Dael Orlandersmith, Yellowman
Vanessa Redgrave, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Fiona Shaw, Medea
Outstanding Actor in a Musical
: Antonio Banderas, Nine
Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray
Malcolm Gets, Amour
Brian Stokes Mitchell. Man of La Mancha
Jason Petty, Hank Williams: Lost Highway
John Selya, Movin' Out
Outstanding Actress in a Musical
: Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Avenue Q
Ann Duquesnay, Cookin' at the Cookery
Wei Huang, La Bohème
Elizabeth Parkinson, Movin' Out
Bernadette Peters, Gypsy
Marissa Jaret Winokur, Hairspray
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:
Simon Russell Beale, Twelfth Night
Walter Bobbie, Polish Joke
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Long Day's Journey Into Night
T.R. Knight, Scattergood
Denis O'Hare, Take Me Out
Frederick Weller, Take Me Out
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:
Christine Ebersole, Talking Heads
Jan Maxwell, My Old Lady
Helen McCrory, Uncle Vanya
Nancy Opel, Polish Joke
Lynn Redgrave, Talking Heads
Jeanine Serralles, Hold Please
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
: John Dossett, Gypsy
Christopher Fitzgerald, Amour
Charles Keating, A Man of No Importance
Dick Latessa, Hairspray
Steven Pasquale, A Man of No Importance
Corey Reynolds, Hairspray
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Kerry Butler, Hairspray
Jane Krakowski, Nine
Mary Stuart Masterson Nine
Sally Mayes, Urban Cowboy
Chita Rivera, Nine
Debra Walton, Cookin' at the Cookery
Outstanding Director of a Play
Robert Falls, Long Day's Journey Into Night
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Our Lady of 121st Street
Joe Mantello, Take Me Out
Sam Mendes, Twelfth Night
Sam Mendes, Uncle Vanya
Deborah Warner, Medea
Outstanding Director of a Musical
James Lapine, Amour
David Leveaux. Nine
Baz Luhrmann. La Bohème
Joe Mantello, A Man of No Importance
Jack O'Brien, Hairspray
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out
Outstanding Choreography
Jerry Mitchell, Hairspray
Ken Roberson, Harlem Song
Twyla Tharp, Movin' Out
Tommy Tune, Tommy Tune: White Tie and Tails
Outstanding Musi
: Tim Acito Zanna, Don't!
Stephen Flaherty, A Man of No Importance
Michel Legrand, Amour
Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx,.Avenue Q
Keb' Mo', Anderson Edwards, Keith Glover, Thunder Knocking on the Door
Marc Shaiman. Hairspray
Outstanding Lyrics
Tim Acito, Alexander Dinelaris< Zanna, Don't!
Lynn Ahrens. A Man of No Importance
Craig Carnelia. Imaginary Friends
Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx. Avenue Q
Jeremy Sams, Didier van Cauwelaert. Amour
Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman, Hairspray
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Tim Acito, Alexander Dinelaris. Zanna, Don't!
Terrence McNally, A Man of No Importance
Mark O'Donnell, Thomas Meehan., Hairspray
Jeremy Sams, Didier van Cauwelaert. Amour
Jeff Whitty, Avenue Q
Outstanding Orchestration
Luther Henderson. Little Ham
Michel Legrand, Amour
Harold Wheeler. Hairspray
Outstanding Set Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, Dinner at Eight
John Lee Beatty, My Old Lady
Troy Hourie. Temporary Help
Scott Pask, Take Me Out
Neil Patel, Endpapers
B.T. Whitehall, Shanghai Moon
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical
: Riccardo Hernandez, Batwin + Robin Productions, Radiant Baby
Catherine Martin, La Bohème
Scott Pask., Amour
Stephane Roy, Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
David Rockwell, Hairspray
Outstanding Costume Design
Michael Bottari, Ronald Case, Shanghai Moon
Jess Goldstein, Enchanted April
Eiko Ishioka, Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
William Ivey Long, Hairspray
Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie, La Bohème
Catherine Zuber, Dinner at Eight
Outstanding Lighting Design
Kevin Adams, Take Me Out
Russell H. Champa, Yellowman
Donald Holder. Movin' Out
Donald Holder, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme
Nigel Levings, La Bohème
Peter Mumford, Vincent in Brixton
Outstanding Sound Design
Acme Sound Partners, La Bohème
Mark Bennett, Golda's Balcony
Mark Bennett, Julius Caesar
Francois Bergeron, Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
Janet Kalas, Take Me Out
David Meschter, Mel Mercier, Medea
Outstanding Solo Performance:
Barbara Cook, Mostly Sondheim
Tovah Feldshuh, Golda's Balcony
Frank Gorshin, Say Goodnight, Gracie
Ricky Jay, Ricky Jay: On the Stem
Priscilla Lopez, Class Mothers '68
Charlayne Woodard, In Real Life)
Unique Theatrical Experience
: Cirque du Soleil: Varekai
The Exonerated
The Play What I Wrote
Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway Special award winners are Brooklyn Academy of Music, Charles Busch and Geoffrey Johnson and Vincent Liff of Johnson-Liff Casting. Awards will be given out on May 18.