By DEIDRA BRISCO
Tony winner Laura Benanti and Hamilton standout Javier Munoz on Thursday announced the nominations for the 62nd Drama Desk Awards and — to few theater fans’ surprise — the Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler took the laurels with ten nominations.
Not far behind came the new musicals Come Far Away and Anastasia, each nominated in nine categories.
On the smaller stages of Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway, bows go to The Hairy Ape and The Band’s Visit, each garnering seven nominations. The announcements were made at Feinstein’s 54/Below.
Hello Dolly was recognized in the following categories: Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actress in a Musical for Bette Midler, Outstanding Featured Actor for Gavin Creel, Outstanding Featured Actress for Kate Baldwin, Outstanding Director of a Musical for Jerry Zaks, Outstanding Choreography for Warren Carlyle, Outstanding Set Design for Santo Loquasto, Outstanding Costume Design, Outstanding Sound design.
Surprisingly, the producers of Sunday in the Park with George did not wish to be considered for reasons unknown. Glenn Close’s performance and costumes for Sunset Boulevard were ineligible due to having been considered last year but were considered in other categories like direction, choreography, and design.
Other well-known names among the nominees were Bobby Cannavale for The Hairy Ape, Laurie Metcalf for A Doll’s House, Part 2, Kevin Kline for Present Laughter, Daniel Craig for Othello and Kate Blanchett for The Present.
The Drama Desk awards were originally named the Vernon Rice Awards, which was named after New Post theater critic Vernon Rice but the name was changed in 1955.
The Drama Desk is a non-profit entity that uniquely grants awards by the same criteria to all theater professional whether on of off Broadway. The group also espouses diversity and inclusion in the world of theater.
Though many attendees at Feinstein’s seemed pleased with the nominations, chatter grew later as some theater critics who refused to go on record, complained that worthy plays were shunted aside by the many nominations for Hello, Dolly!
“They practically gave it away to them,” said one disgruntled critic.
The awards was scheduled to be hosted by actor Michael Urie at Town Hall on June 4.
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