2023 Drama League Awards: ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘Sweeney Todd,’ ‘A Doll’s House’ lead nominations; Jessica Chastain, Jodie Comer earn first nods

The Drama League has announced the 2023 Drama League Awards nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Direction of a Play, Outstanding Direction of a Musical, and the Distinguished Performance Award, which honor achievements on and Off-Broadway. the 89th Annual Drama League Awards will be held at the Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 West 54th Street, New York City) on Friday, May 19, 2023 at 12:00PM.

55 performers will vie for the Distinguished Performance Award, which encompasses all genders and roles in both musicals and plays. Among them is Oscar winner Jessica Chastain for her work in A Doll’s House, Emmy winner Jodie Comer in Prima Facie. Comer recently won the Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award for Best Actress for her performance. Other high profile names among the nominees were: Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan for The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks for The Piano Lesson. Theatre legends and favorites Laura Linney, Ben Platt, Annaleigh Ashford, Norbert Leo Butz, Audra McDonald and Bebe Neuwirth were also among the nominees.

Just one week ahead of the Tony Awards nominations, the Drama League Awards nomination leaders included new productions of Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd and A Doll’s House. First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theater awards chosen by a cross-section of the theater community – the industry professionals, producers, artists, audiences, and critics who are Drama League members nationwide.

“I don’t think I’ve experienced a theater season in New York ever like this one,” said Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. “There’s been a range, a breadth, an expansion of possibility that has been truly astonishing to witness. Theater makers have inspired not only with their creativity, but also with their drive and determination to serve audiences with vision and talent. These nominees reflect the promise and greatness inherent in the work of theater folk, and I can’t help but be deeply proud.”

The Drama League previously announced the 2023 Special Recognition Award recipients will be Tony Award winner André De Shields with the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award; director Lear deBessonet with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; The Drama Book Shop with the Contribution to the Theater Award; and Darin Oduyoye will receive the Gratitude Award.

2023 DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Distinguished Performance Award
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topdog/Underdog
Hiran Abeysekera, Life of Pi
Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sara Bareilles, Into the Woods
Stephanie Berry, the bandaged place
Brittany Bradford, Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story In Black And White
Danielle Brooks, The Piano Lesson
Rachel Brosnahan, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Marylouise Burke, Epiphany
D’Arcy Carden, The Thanksgiving Play
Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
Sharon D. Clarke, Death of a Salesman
Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Jordan E. Cooper, Ain’t No Mo’
Lorna Courtney, & Juliet
Micaela Diamond, Parade
K. Todd Freeman, Downstate
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot
Josh Groban, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan J. Haddad, Dark Disabled Stories
Corey Hawkins, Topdog/Underdog
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Oscar Isaac, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Tarra Conner Jones, White Girl in Danger
Esco Jouléy, Wolf Play
Somi Kakoma, Dreaming Zenzile
David Krumholtz, Leopoldstadt
Linda Lavin, You Will Get Sick
Laura Linney, Summer, 1976
Jefferson Mays, A Christmas Carol
Patina Miller, Into the Woods
Marla Mindelle, Titanique
Arian Moayed, A Doll’s House
Gargi Mukherjee, Public Obscenities
Alex Newell, Shucked
Jeremy Pope, The Collaboration
Colton Ryan, New York, New York
Phillipa Soo, Camelot
Marcel Spears, Fat Ham
Katy Sullivan, Cost of Living
Will Swenson, A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
John Douglas Thompson, Endgame
Anna Uzele, New York, New York
John David Washington, The Piano Lesson
Betsy Wolfe, & Juliet
David Zayas, Cost of Living

The League also acknowledges previous Distinguished Performance Award winners, ineligible to win the honor again, showing exemplary work in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions this season, including Danny Burstein in Pictures From Home, Norbert Leo Butz in Cornelia Street, Kathleen Chalfant in The Year of Magical Thinking, Neil Patrick Harris in Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Nathan Lane in Pictures From Home, Audra McDonald in Ohio State Murders, Bebe Neuwirth in The Bedwetter, and Ben Platt in Parade.

Outstanding Production of a Play
The Bandaged Place
Cost of Living
Dark Disabled Stories
Downstate
Elyria
Fat Ham
Good Night, Oscar
Leopoldstadt
Life of Pi
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Prima Facie
Public Obscenities
Summer, 1976

Outstanding Revival of a Play
A Doll’s House
Ohio State Murders
Hamlet/Oresteia
The Piano Lesson
A Raisin in the Sun
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
The Thanksgiving Play
Topdog/Underdog
Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
Wolf Play

Outstanding Production of a Musical
& Juliet
A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical
Dreaming Zenzile
New York, New York
Shucked
Some Like It Hot
Titanique
White Girl in Danger
Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
Camelot
Into the Woods
A Man of No Importance
Parade
1776
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Outstanding Direction of a Play
Jo Bonney, Cost of Living
Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Public Oscenities
Anne Kauffman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Kenny Leon, Topdog/Underdog
Jamie Lloyd, A Doll’s House
David Mendizábal, the bandaged place
Awoye Timpo, Elyria and Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
Dustin Wills, Wolf Play

Outstanding Direction of a Musical
Lileana Blain-Cruz, Dreaming Zenzile and White Girl in Danger
Lear DeBessonet, Into the Woods
Thomas Kail, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Casey Nicholaw, Some Like It Hot
Jack O’Brien, Shucked
Barlett Sher, Camelot
Susan Stroman, New York, New York

Off-Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along will be considered next season, in conjunction with its upcoming Broadway transfer. Kimberly Akimbo was eligible during its 2021 Off-Broadway run, making the Broadway transfer ineligible this season. Cost of Living was deemed a transfer of the earlier Off-Broadway production, and thus was ruled eligible in the Outstanding Production of a Play categories. Between Riverside and Crazy, The Thanksgiving Play, and Wolf Play were deemed different enough from earlier runs that they were ruled eligible in the revival categories.