Outer Critics Circle Awards Announced

Off-Broadway’s Dead Outlaw leads the musical pack with nine nominations. Stereophonic is the most nominated Broadway show, with seven.   Nominees for the 2024 John Gassner Award for New American Play are Job by Max Wolf Friedlich Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola The Apiary by Kate Douglas (NEW YORK, NY – Tuesday, April 23, 2024) The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications, today announced the nominees for the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2023-2024 Broadway and Off-Broadway season. The announcement was made by the stars of the hit revival of Merrily We Roll Along, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, and livestreamed by BroadwayWorld.com from the Museum of Broadway.   Leading the pack with the most honors of the season is the Off-Broadway musical Dead Outlaw, with nine nominations, followed by The Connector with seven nominations.  Stereophonic leads in the play categories with seven nominations, followed by Primary Trust, with five nominations.   Nominees for the annual John Gassner Award — for a new American play, preferably by a new playwright — are Job by Max Wolf Friedlich, Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle, Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola, The Apiary by Kate Douglas, and Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.   Winners of the 2024 Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards will be announced via press release on Monday, May 13, followed by an awards ceremony held on Thursday, May 23, 2024.   Founded during the 1949-50 Broadway season by respected theater journalist John Gassner, The Outer Critics Circle is an esteemed association with members affiliated with more than ninety newspapers, magazines, broadcast stations, and online news organizations, in America and abroad. Led by its current President David Gordon, the OCC Board of Directors also includes Vice President Richard Ridge, Recording Secretary Joseph Cervelli, Corresponding Secretary Patrick Hoffman, Treasurer David Roberts, Cynthia Allen, Harry Haun, Dan Rubins, Janice Simpson and Doug Strassler. Simon Saltzman is President Emeritus & Board Member (Non-nominating) and Stanley L. Cohen serves as Financial Consultant & Board Member (Non-nominating). Lauren Yarger serves as the Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony executive producer.   2024 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS   Outstanding New Broadway Play Jaja's African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions by Paula Vogel Patriots by Peter Morgan Stereophonic by David Adjmi The Shark Is Broken by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw   Outstanding New Broadway Musical Days of Wine and Roses Suffs The Great Gatsby The Outsiders Water for Elephants   Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Buena Vista Social Club Dead Outlaw Illinoise Teeth The Connector   Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play Dig by Theresa Rebeck King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein King James by Rajiv Joseph Primary Trust by Eboni Booth Swing State by Rebecca Gilman   John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright) Job by Max Wolf Friedlich Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola The Apiary by Kate Douglas Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.   Outstanding Revival of a Musical Cabaret Here Lies Love I Can Get It for You Wholesale Monty Python's Spamalot The Who's Tommy   Outstanding Revival of a Play An Enemy of the People Appropriate Doubt: A Parable Mary Jane Philadelphia, Here I Come! Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch   Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play Jessica Lange – Mother Play Rachel McAdams – Mary Jane Sarah Paulson – Appropriate Jeremy Strong – An Enemy of the People Michael Stuhlbarg – Patriots   Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play Billy Eugene Jones – Purlie Victorious Celia Keenan-Bolger – Mother Play Alex Moffat – The Cottage Jim Parsons – Mother Play Sarah Pidgeon - Stereophonic Kara Young – Purlie Victorious   Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical Ali Louis Bourzgui – The Who's Tommy Brian d'Arcy James – Days of Wine and Roses Casey Likes – Back to the Future Kelli O'Hara – Days of Wine and Roses Maryann Plunkett – The Notebook   Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical Roger Bart – Back to the Future Justin Guarini – Once Upon a One More Time Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer – Spamalot Kecia Lewis – Hell's Kitchen Bebe Neuwirth – Cabaret   Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical Jeb Brown – Dead Outlaw Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw Alyse Alan Louis - Teeth Ben Levi Ross – The Connector Ricky Ubeda - Illinoise   Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical Ben Cook – Illinoise Hannah Cruz – The Connector Julia Knitel – Dead Outlaw Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale Jessica Molaskey – The Connector Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw   Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play Cole Escola – Oh, Mary! Mary Beth Fisher – Swing State William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust Marie Mullen – The Saviour Paul Sparks – Waiting for Godot   Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play Gus Birney – Our Class April Matthis – Primary Trust Conrad Ricamora – Oh, Mary! Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust Bubba Weiler – Swing State   Outstanding Solo Performance Eddie Izzard – Hamlet Patrick Page – All the Devils are Here Mona Pirnot – I Love You So Much I Could Die Robert Montano – Small John Rubenstein – Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground   Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury - Illinoise Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson – Teeth Itamar Moses – Dead Outlaw Jonathan Marc Sherman – The Connector Shaina Taub - Suffs   Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Jason Robert Brown – The Connector Will Butler – Stereophonic Adam Guettel – Days of Wine and Roses David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna – Dead Outlaw Shaina Taub - Suffs   Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Timo Andres - Illinoise Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence – Days of Wine and Roses Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club Michael Starobin – Suffs Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek – Dead Outlaw   Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) David Cromer – Dead Outlaw Michael Greif – Days of Wine and Roses Daisy Prince – The Connector Leigh Silverman - Suffs Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants Outstanding Direction of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Knud Adams – Primary Trust Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic Robert Falls – Swing State Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate   Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll – Water for Elephants Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman – The Outsiders Lorin Latarro – The Who's Tommy Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck – Buena Vista Social Club Justin Peck — Illinoise   Outstanding Scenic Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby Dots – Appropriate David Korins – Here Lies Love David Zinn – Stereophonic   Outstanding Costume Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Dede Ayite – Jaja's African Hair Braiding Enver Chakartash – Stereophonic Enver Chakartash – Teeth Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby Sydney Maresca – The Cottage   Outstanding Lighting Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Bradley King – Water for Elephants Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders Justin Townsend – Here Lies Love Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone – Back to the Future Amanda Zieve – The Who's Tommy   Outstanding Sound Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Tom Gibbons – Grey House Gareth Owen – Back to the Future Gareth Owen – The Who's Tommy Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer – Here Lies Love   Outstanding Video/Projections (Broadway or Off-Broadway) David Bengali – Water for Elephants Paul Tate dePoo III — The Great Gatsby Peter Nigrini – The Who's Tommy Finn Ross – Back to the Future Ash J. Woodward - Patriots

Off-Broadway Review: Tuesdays with Morrie with Len Cariou

 

Chris Domig and Len Cariou. Photo: Jeremy Varner

Tuesdays with Morrie
By Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, based on the book by Mitch Albom

Directed by Erwin Maas
Presented by Sea Dog Theater
St. George’s Episcopal Church, 209 East 16 St. NYC

Through April 20

By Lauren Yarger
Len Cariou gives a truly moving performance in a story of friendship and forgiveness in an Off-Broadway adaptation of Mitch Albom's bestselling book Tuesdays with Morrie.

Cariou is Morrie Schwartz, a sociology professor at Brandeis University who strikes up a friendship with his student,  Mitch Albom, (Cris Domig). The two meet at office hours, mostly on Tuesdays and soon find they are chatting about much more than the various classes Mitch takes during his college years. They talk about life and whether Mitch will follow his dream of being a jazz pianist. It is a friendship that has the student calling Morrie "Coach" and promising to stay in touch with his mentor after graduation.

But he doesn't. Time speeds ahead with Mitch becoming a sports writer accumulating all that someone earning big bucks at the top of his profession can enjoy. He seems to be cruising with the addition of a wife who is a professional singer, but his life comes to a screeching halt when he hears that Morrie is dying of ALS, the debilitating disease that claimed Lou Gehrig's life.

Mitch begins flying from Detroit to Boston every Tuesday to visit with Morrie, who encourages Mitch to ask any questions he would like. The first visit is awkward for Mitch . He feels guilty. Why didn't he keep up with this friend after he promised he would. Morrie's attempts to reach out had gone unanswered. But Morrie holds no grudge. He is genuinely thrilled to see his old friend and the men take up where they left off 16 years ago. What follows is a masterclass on the meaning of life. 

The more he prepares to die, Morrie, rells us, the more he knows about how to live.

Domig effectively portrays the conflicted Mitch who wonders whether he is a good person or whether he knows how to really love.

"It was taught from experience." he tells us "There was no required reading, but many topics were covered: love, work, aging, family, community, forgiveness ... and death. The class met

on Tuesdays and had only one student. I was that student." 

Cariou himself gives a masterclass in acting. Direction by Erwin Maas is minimal with Cariou hugging the grand piano dominating Guy de Lancey's set, or sitting in a wheel chair as the disease takes hold of Morrie's body. We have no doubt of the man's spirit, conveyed by Cariou through dialogue, body movement (or lack of it) and facial expressions. Morrie helps Mitch forgive himself and discover that his life has meaning. He gives him hope through his own death-- not a bad trick for the professor who used to be agnostic.

It's moving and like the book (which Albom adapted with Jeffrey Hatcher), leaves us wishing we all had a Morrie in our lives. The old church setting lends to some echoing and sound and music effects can be stark and overwhelming at times. And the seats are exceptionally uncomfortable -- bring a pillow. But the experience is worth the trip and Tuesdays with Morrie has just been extended through April 20.  seadogtheater.org

Additional credits:

Lighting, Set, and Costume Designer: Guy de Lancey; Sound Designer: Eamon Goodman; 

Recorded Vocal Performance: Sally Shaw; Original Music Composition: Chris Domig; 
Sound Mixer: Chris White

Family-Friendly Factors:

No notes

Artist Portrait Series: Len Cariou + Heather Summerhayes Cariou from Sea Dog Theater on Vimeo.