This night (Sunday, Could 17), winners of the seventieth Annual Drama Desk Awards, honoring excellent achievements of the 2025-26 season of NYC theater, had been introduced at The City Corridor, marking the Awards’ first return to NYC’s historic venue because the 2020 Broadway shutdown, in a star-studded occasion hosted by Titaníque‘s Marla Mindelle. Previous Drama Desk Award winners and nominees returning as presenters included Raúl Esparza, Norbert Leo Butz, Christopher Fitzgerald, Donna McKechnie, Beth Leavel, BD Wong, Doug Wright, Bess Wohl, Robin de Jesús, Jenn Colella, Ethan Slater, Javier Muñoz, Nikiya Mathis, Daniel Breaker, Helen J Shen, Whitney White, Toni-Leslie James, Alex Brightman, Hunter Foster, Lea DeLaria, Zhailon Levingston, and John Ortiz, with extra shows by Constance Wu, Whitney Leavitt, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, Ali Louis Bourzgui, Liisi LaFontaine, Solea Pfeiffer, Ann Harada, and David Zayas.
Along with the honors in 32 aggressive non-gendered classes, during which Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions had been thought of collectively, the recipients of particular awards had been acknowledged, and Tom Schumacher, former President of Disney Theatrical Productions, was beforehand named the recipient of the Harold S. Prince Award.
As a result of the efficiency classes are gender-free and have twice as many nominations, two winners in every had been named. Main this yr’s awards are Ragtime with 5, adopted by Demise of a Salesman and Oedipus with 4 every.
And the winners of the 70th Annual Drama Desk Awards are:
Excellent Play: The Balusters
Excellent Revival of a Play: Demise of a Salesman
Excellent Musical: Schmigadoon!
Excellent Revival of a Musical: Ragtime
Excellent Lead Efficiency in a Play: John Lithgow, Large; and Lesley Manville, Oedipus
Excellent Lead Efficiency in a Musical: Joshua Henry, Ragtime; and Caissie Levy, Ragtime
Excellent Featured Efficiency in a Play: Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw; and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Excellent Featured Efficiency in a Musical: Judy Kuhn, The Baker’s Spouse; and Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime
Excellent Solo Efficiency: Jack Holden, Kenrex
Excellent Path of a Play: Joe Mantello, Demise of a Salesman
Excellent Path of a Musical: Lear deBessonet, Ragtime
Excellent Choreography: Christopher Gattelli, Schmigadoon!; and Omari Wiles & Arturo Lyons, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Excellent Music: Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus
Excellent Lyrics: Jim Barne & Equipment Buchan, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Throughout New York)
Excellent Ebook of a Musical: Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, Mexodus
Excellent Orchestrations: David M. Lutken, Morgan Morse, Lisa Helmi Johanson, and Sherry Stregack Lutken, The Porch on Windy Hill
Excellent Music in a Play: John Patrick Elliott, Kenrex
Excellent Scenic Design of a Play: Chloe Lamford, Demise of a Salesman
Excellent Scenic Design of a Musical: Dane Laffrey, The Misplaced Boys
Excellent Costume Design of a Play: Paul Tazewell, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Excellent Costume Design of a Musical: Qween Jean, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Excellent Lighting Design of a Play: Jack Knowles, Demise of a Salesman
Excellent Lighting Design of a Musical: Jen Schriever and Michael Arden, The Misplaced Boys
Excellent Sound Design of a Play: Tom Gibbons, Oedipus
Excellent Sound Design of a Musical: Mikhail Fiksel, Mexodus (consists of looping programs structure)
Excellent Projection and Video Design: Tal Yarden, Oedipus
Excellent Wig and Hair Design: Nikiya Mathis, CATS: The Jellicle Ball
Excellent Puppetry: Axtell Expressions, Amaze
Excellent Battle Choreography: Gerry Rodriguez, The Monsters
Excellent Adaptation: Oedipus, by Robert Icke
Excellent Revue: About Time
Distinctive Theatrical Expertise: Burnout Paradise
Particular Awards:
Ensemble Awards: Danny Burstein, Christopher Lowell, Cynthia Nixon, and June Squibb, Marjorie Prime; Daniel Bravo Hernández, Ricardy Fabre, Danny Gómez, Ishmael Gonzalez, and Jaden Perez, Unfold;
Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: Xhloe Rice and Natasha, A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God and What If They Ate The Child?
Further Particular Awards: Else Went, Emma Rosa Went, and the solid of Initiative (Olivia Rose Barresi, Brandon Burk, Greg Cuellar, Harrison Densmore, Carson Higgins, Andrea Lopez Alvarez, Jamie Sanders, and Christopher Dylan White); the inventive collaborators of Off-Broadway’s immersive Masquerade, led by Diane Paulus
Different Awards:
Harold S. Prince Award: Tom Schumacher
The William Wolf Award (given by the Board of the Drama Desk):Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire.
Congratulations to all of the winners and particular honorees!
