Last night, Frank DiLella of NY1’s On Stage hosted the 65th annual Drama Desk Awards (watch here), originally scheduled for May 31. Leading the nominations were the musicals Soft Power (11), The Wrong Man (9), and Octet (8), but only Octet converted any of those accolades into wins.
The big winner of the night, though, was the Off-Broadway musical A Strange Loop (winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Drama), which picked up five trophies, including Outstanding Musical. Additionally, Larry Owens won Outstanding Actor in a Musical, Stephen Brackett won Outstanding Director of a Musical, and Michael R. Jackson won for both Outstanding Lyrics and for Outstanding Book of a Musical.
The Broadway musical Moulin Rouge! also picked up five wins, nearly sweeping the design awards. Its winners included Sonya Tayeh for Outstanding Choreography, Derek McLane for Outstanding Scenic Design for a Musical, Catherine Zuber for Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical, Justin Townsend for Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical, and Peter Hylenski for Outstanding Sound Design for a Musical.
Other multiple award-winning musicals included Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors, named Outstanding Revival of a Musical, which brought Christian Borle honors as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. While Broadway’s Tina: The Tina Turner Musical garnered wins for Adrienne Warren as Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Campbell Young Associates as Outstanding Wig and Hair Design.
Lauren Patten was named Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical and Tom Kitt won Outstanding Orchestrations for their work on the Broadway production of Jagged Little Pill, and Dave Malloy was honored for his Outstanding Music for the Off-Broadway musical Octet, whose cast (Adam Bashian, Kim Blanck, Starr Busby, Alex Gibson, Justin Gregory Lopez, J.D. Mollison, Margo Seibert, Kuhoo Verma) won the Ensemble Award for their tight a cappella work.
The remaining musical honors went to Luke Halls for his Outstanding Projection Design of West Side Story on Broadway and Martha Redbone for her Outstanding Music in a Play for the Off-Broadway revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. Finally, the late Harold Prince was the inaugural winner of the Drama Desk’s new lifetime achievement award, named in his honor.