While many of the nominations were anticipated, or even expected, such as the 11 nominations bestowed on the celebrated new Broadway musical, Maybe Happy Ending, there were quite a few surprise omissions, not to mention quite a few unexpected nominations (and in some cases, these nominations are just as important to the recipient as a win).
Among the most shocking snubs was the wonderful Jon Michael Hill’s omission from a Best Lead Performance in a Play nomination despite his terrific turn in Purpose. In fact, Purpose, as a whole, despite being critically acclaimed and considered by many to be the best play of the year, received only two nominations. There will undoubtedly be some head-scratching and soul searching here.
The other major story is the number of celebrities completely ignored, most notably Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhall for their performances in Othello (and despite the producers not inviting Drama Desk voters to the play, it was, nonetheless, eligible for nominations); not to mention David Hyde Pierce for Pirates!; Lea Salonga and Bernadette Peters for Old Friends; Bill Burr, Bob Odenkirk, Michael McKean and Kieran Culkin for Glengarry Glen Ross; George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck; Jim Parsons for Our Town; Adam Driver for Hold On to Me Darling; and Billy Crudup for Ghosts, to name but a few. Considering the outsized number of celebrities being cast in Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, this is dire news indeed. They may be helping boost ticket prices, but they’re not getting the critical acknowledgement, something that must hurt indeed.
Finally, the nominations seem to shed light on another trend, though it may only hold true for this season: traditional Broadway musicals, like Boop, Just in Time, and Maybe Happy Ending are getting the bulk of the nominations; whereas top quality straight plays on Broadway, like Purpose, Hills of California and Cult of Love were either nearly shut out or completely ignored. It will be interesting to see if this trend holds true today when the Tony nominations are announced. We’ll be analyzing those picks for you tomorrow.
2025 DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS
Outstanding Play
Blood of the Lamb, by Arlene Hutton
Deep Blue Sound, by Abe Koogler
Grangeville, by Samuel D. Hunter
John Proctor is the Villain, by Kimberly Belflower
Liberation, by Bess Wohl
Purpose, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Outstanding Musical
BOOP! The Musical
Death Becomes Her
Just in Time
Maybe Happy Ending
Music City
Outstanding Revival of a Play
Eureka Day
Garside’s Career
Home
Wine in the Wilderness
Yellow Face
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Once Upon a Mattress
See What I Wanna See
Sunset Blvd.
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play
Betsy Aidem, The Ask
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Patsy Ferran, A Streetcar Named Desire
Danny J. Gomez, All of Me
Doug Harris, Redeemed
Patrick Keleher, Fatherland
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Lily Rabe, Ghosts
Jay O. Sanders, Henry IV (Theatre for a New Audience)
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Paul Sparks, Grangeville
Olivia Washington, Wine in the Wilderness
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical
Tatianna Córdoba, Real Women Have Curves
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Sutton Foster, Once Upon a Mattress
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
Grey Henson, Elf
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play
Greg Keller, Pre-Existing Condition
Julia Lester, All Nighter
Adrienne C. Moore, The Blood Quilt
Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
Maria-Christina Oliveras, Cymbeline
Maryann Plunkett, Deep Blue Sound
Michael Rishawn, Table 17
Jude Tibeau, Bad Kreyòl
Anjana Vasan, A Streetcar Named Desire
Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling
Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young, Purpose
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash
Nicholas Barasch, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
André De Shields, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
John El-Jor, We Live in Cairo
Jason Gotay, Floyd Collins
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Lesli Margherita, Gypsy
Zachary Noah Piser, See What I Wanna See
Jenny Lee Stern, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress
Natalie Walker, The Big Gay Jamboree
Outstanding Solo Performance
David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water
Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings
Mark Povinelli, The Return of Benjamin Lay
Andrew Scott, Vanya
Outstanding Direction of a Play
David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, The Antiquities
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve
Jack Serio, Grangeville
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain
Whitney White, Liberation
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Alex Timbers, Just in Time
George C. Wolfe, Gypsy
For the full list of nominations see here: https://www.dramadeskaward.
