Helping to put together the OCC's slate of nominees is a task I never take lightly but it’s one that I’m particularly proud to be a part of this year because this season marks the 75th anniversary of the OCC, which was started by a group of critics who didn’t write for the major New York newspapers (there were seven of them) but who were just as passionate about the theater as those who did.
The major force behind the OCC back then was John Gassner, who emigrated with his family from Hungary to this country when he was eight. He had planned to go to medical school but gave that up while still a college student at Columbia University to pursue his true love of theater.
Over the following years, Gassner, who died in 1967 at the age of just 64, headed the play department at the Theatre Guild, wrote and edited several books, taught playwriting at the Yale School of Drama, chaired the drama jury for the Pulitzer Prize for many years and served as an early booster of and mentor to many of the leading midcentury playwrights including Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. So it’s fitting that every year, the OCC gives a special award in his honor to a new playwright.
This year’s nominees for the Gassner Award are an eclectic group but all of their works deal in one way or another with important contemporary topics including climate change, free speech and gender politics. They are:
Amy Berryman for Walden
George Clooney and Grant Heslov for Good Night, and Good Luck
Marin Ireland for Pre-Existing Condition
Lia Romeo for Still
Emil Weinstein for Becoming Eve
It's been a fascinating season (whittling down our choices was tough) and the competition for awards—ours and others—is going to be fierce and fun to watch over the next six weeks until the Tonys are given out on June 8.
Our OCC winners, who will be voted on by our full membership, will be announced a few weeks before that on Monday, May 12 and we’ll celebrate them at a ceremony on May 22, which is always one of my favorite events of the year. In the meantime, below is the full list of our nominees:
*OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Cult of Love
The Hills of California
John Proctor Is the Villain
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
*In case you're wondering, we nominated both Job and Oh, Mary! when those productions ran off-Broadway last season; in fact, Oh, Mary!'s co-stars Cole Escola and Conrad Ricamora graciously announced all of our nominees for this year
*OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Boop! The Musical
Death Becomes Her
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves
*And we nominated both Buena Vista Social Club and Dead Outlaw when those productions ran off-Broadway last season
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
The Antiquities
Grangeville
Here There Are Blueberries
Liberation
Table 17
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
The Big Gay Jamboree
Drag: The Musical
We Live in Cairo
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
Glengarry Glen Ross
Romeo + Juliet
Vanya
Yellow Face
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Once Upon a Mattress
Sunset Boulevard
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMER IN A BROADWAY PLAY
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMER IN A BROADWAY PLAY
Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Mare Winningham, Cult of Love
Kara Young, Purpose
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMER IN AN OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Caroline Aaron, Conversations with Mother
F. Murray Abraham, Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
Jayne Atkinson, Still
Adam Driver, Hold On to Me Darling
Anthony Edwards, The Counter
Paul Sparks, Grangeville
OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMER IN AN OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Betsy Aidem, Liberation
Sean Bell, The Beacon
Michael Rishawn, Table 17
Richard Schiff, Becoming Eve
Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMER IN A BROADWAY MUSICAL
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMER IN A BROADWAY MUSICAL
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Michele Pawk, Just in Time
Christopher Sieber, Death Becomes Her
Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress
OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMER IN AN OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Nick Adams, Drag: The Musical
Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree
Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Safety Not Guaranteed
Alaska Thunderfuck, Drag: The Musical
Taylor Trensch, Safety Not Guaranteed
OUTSTANDING FEATURED PERFORMER IN AN OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Ali Louis Bourzgui, We Live in Cairo
Paris Nix, The Big Gay Jamboree
Eddie Korbich, Drag: The Musical
J. Elaine Marcos, Drag: The Musical
Andre De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Henry Stram, Three Houses
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
David Greenspan, I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Khawla Ibraheem, A Knock on the Roof
Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings
Andrew Scott, Vanya
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY
Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, We Live in Cairo
Bob Martin, Boop! The Musical
Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING SCORE (BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY)
Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, Boop! The Musical
Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves
Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS (BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY)
Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
Doug Besterman, Death Becomes Her
Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Daniel Lazour and Michael Starobin, We Live in Cairo
Andrew Resnick, Just in Time
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Trip Cullman, Cult of Love
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Phylicia Rashad, Purpose
Danya Taymor, John Proctor Is the Villain
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Jerry Mitchell, Boop! The Musical
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY
Jenny Arnold, Operation Mincemeat
Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Shannon Lewis, Just in Time
Jerry Mitchell, Boop! the Musical
OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN
Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Dane Laffrey, Maybe Happy Ending
Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
Gregg Barnes, Boop! The Musical
Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, Real Women Have Curves
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
Kevin Adams, Swept Away
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN
Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Adam Fisher, Sunset Boulevard
Peter Hylenski, Death Becomes Her
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
John Shivers, Swept Away
OUTSTANDING VIDEO PROJECTIONS
59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Boulevard
David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Hana S. Kim, Redwood
Finn Ross, Boop! The Musical
In case you're counting, Death Becomes Her lead the pack with 12 nominations and Stranger Things: The First Shadow was the most nominated play with 7 nominations. Other multiple nominees were Maybe Happy Ending with 9, Boop! The Musical with 8, The Hills of California and Operation Mincemeat with 6 each, Drag: The Musical and Purpose with 5 each and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Sunset Blvd. and We Live in Cairo with 4 each. And then we spread our appreciation around to lots of other shows.
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