Monday, May 13, 2024

2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards Announced

 

Jenn Colella, center, Carrie-Chapman-Catt and the Suffs Company. Photo: Joan Marcus


The Cast of Stereophonic. Photo: Julieta Cervantes
Outer Critics Circle Awards 2024

Winners noted in bold

 

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Jaja's African Hair Braiding

Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions

Patriots

Stereophonic

The Shark Is Broken

 

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
King of the Jews
King James

Primary Trust
Swing State

 

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)

Job

Manahatta

Oh, Mary!

The Apiary

Wet Brain

 

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 (tie)

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 (tie)

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

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

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

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

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

Knud Adams – Primary Trust

Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic

Robert Falls – Swing State

Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious

Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate

 

Outstanding Choreography

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 (tie)

David Korins – Here Lies Love

David Zinn – Stereophonic

Dots – Appropriate

Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage

Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby

 

Outstanding Costume Design

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

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
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

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

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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