After two delays, the Village Voice and the American Theatre Wing presented the 65th annual Obie Awards last night in a recorded livestream on YouTube (watch here), celebrating the 2019-20 Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theater season. Host Cole Escola opened the evening with “The Show Must Go On,” including a special appearance from Donna Murphy. Other entertainment highlights were “Our Time” from Merrily We Roll Along sung by the original 1981 cast with members of the 1994 and 2019 revivals, Michael R. Jackson accompanying himself on “Memory Song” from A Strange Loop, and a clip of the 2010 Obie performance from Fela! featuring Saycon Sengbloh.
The show also included an In Memoriam segment accompanied by Shaina Taub and closed with Adam Michael Tilford and Kenney M. Green from Marie’s Crisis singing “Seasons of Love” from Rent, aided by LaChanze and her daughter Celia Rose Gooding.
Among the musical winners, Michael R. Jackson picked up a playwriting award for A Strange Loop, which also brought its creative team and ensemble a Special Citation, while its set designer Arnulfo Maldonado and lighting designer Jen Schriever were both also honored for Sustained Excellence.
Choreographer Camille A. Brown, who worked on last season’s revival of the choreo-poem for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, was honored for Sustained Excellence as well, while Cambodian Rock Band brought Joe Ngo a performance award.
Special citations also went to David Cale, for writing and performing his musical memoir We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time, and to composer Dave Malloy, music director Or Matias, and sound designer Hidenori Nakajo for their collaboration on the music and sound of Malloy’s a cappella musical Octet.