BOOP! THE MUSICAL Leads 2025 Drama Desk Nominations; Full List Here

Another day, another list of nominations! Earlier this afternoon, nominations were announced for the 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards that celebrates the best of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway during the 24/25 New York Season. 

This year, the awards will be hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess on Sunday, June 1st at 6:15pm at NYU Skirball. Stay tuned to Theatrely for all the latest information on winners.  

As was the case last year, all performance categories are gender-free. The updated gender-free categories are: Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, and Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. Each of these categories has twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories and voters will cast two votes for each category. These categories will also have two winners each. If there is a tie, there may be more than two winners in a category.

The 2025 Drama Desk Nominations

Outstanding Play

Blood of the Lamb, by Arlene Hutton

Deep Blue Sound, by Abe Koogler

Grangeville, by Samuel D. Hunter

John Proctor is the Villain, by Kimberly Belflower

Liberation, by Bess Wohl

Purpose, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Outstanding Musical

BOOP! The Musical

Death Becomes Her

Just in Time

Maybe Happy Ending

Music City

Outstanding Revival of a Play

Eureka Day

Garside’s Career

Home

Wine in the Wilderness

Yellow Face

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Floyd Collins

Gypsy

Once Upon a Mattress

See What I Wanna See

Sunset Blvd.

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play

Betsy Aidem, The Ask

Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California

Patsy Ferran, A Streetcar Named Desire

Danny J. Gomez, All of Me

Doug Harris, Redeemed

Patrick Keleher, Fatherland

Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Lily Rabe, Ghosts

Jay O. Sanders, Henry IV (Theatre for a New Audience)

Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Paul Sparks, Grangeville

Olivia Washington, Wine in the Wilderness

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical

Tatianna Córdoba, Real Women Have Curves

Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending

Sutton Foster, Once Upon a Mattress

Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.

Jonathan Groff, Just in Time

Grey Henson, Elf

Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins

Audra McDonald, Gypsy

Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical

Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.

Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending

Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play

Greg Keller, Pre-Existing Condition

Julia Lester, All Nighter

Adrienne C. Moore, The Blood Quilt

Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Maria-Christina Oliveras, Cymbeline

Maryann Plunkett, Deep Blue Sound

Michael Rishawn, Table 17

Jude Tibeau, Bad Kreyòl

Anjana Vasan, A Streetcar Named Desire

Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling

Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain

Kara Young, Purpose

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical

Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash

Nicholas Barasch, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

André De Shields, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

John El-Jor, We Live in Cairo

Jason Gotay, Floyd Collins

Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time

Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat

Lesli Margherita, Gypsy

Zachary Noah Piser, See What I Wanna See

Jenny Lee Stern, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song

Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress

Natalie Walker, The Big Gay Jamboree

Outstanding Solo Performance

David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan

Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water

Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings

Mark Povinelli, The Return of Benjamin Lay

Andrew Scott, Vanya

Outstanding Direction of a Play

David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, The Antiquities

Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve

Jack Serio, Grangeville

Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain

Whitney White, Liberation

Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Direction of a Musical

Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending

Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.

Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical

Alex Timbers, Just in Time

George C. Wolfe, Gypsy

Outstanding Choreography

Camille A. Brown, Gypsy

Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Jakob Karr, Ain’t Done Bad

Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical

Sergio Trujillo, Real Women Have Curves

Outstanding Music

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

David Foster, BOOP! The Musical

Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves

Zoe Sarnak, The Lonely Few

The Lazours, We Live in Cairo

Outstanding Lyrics

Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat

Adam Gwon, All the World’s a Stage

Marla Mindelle and Philip Drennen, The Big Gay Jamboree

Luis Quintero, Medea: Re-Versed

Outstanding Book of a Musical

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat

Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver, Just in Time

Bob Martin, BOOP! The Musical

Marla Mindelle and Jonathan Parks-Ramage, The Big Gay Jamboree

Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Orchestrations

Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending

Doug Besterman, BOOP! The Musical

Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time

Michael Starobin, All the World’s a Stage

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play

Miriam Buether, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Miriam Buether, and Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher (illusions and visual effects), Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Rob Howell, The Hills of California

Johan Kølkjær, Dark Noon

Grace Laubacher, Life and Trust

Matt Saunders, Walden

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical

Clifton Chadick, Music City

Rachel Hauck, Swept Away

Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending (includes video design)

Derek McLane, Just in Time

David Rockwell and Finn Ross (projections), BOOP! The Musical

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play

Brenda Abbandandolo, The Antiquities

Dede Ayite, Our Town

Christopher Ford, The Beastiary

Camilla Lind, Dark Noon

Karl Ruckdeschel, Twelfth Night

Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical

Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical

Sarah Cubbage, The Big Gay Jamboree

Toni-Leslie James, Gypsy

Qween Jean, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her

Catherine Zuber, Just in Time

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play

Isabella Byrd, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Natasha Katz, John Proctor is the Villain

Tyler Micoleau, The Antiquities

Paul Whitaker, SUMO 

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Swept Away

Adam Honoré, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.

Philip S. Rosenberg, BOOP! The Musical

Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun (projections), Floyd Collins 

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play

Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Johnny Gasper, Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods

Matt Otto, All of Me

Bray Poor, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Clemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Fan Zhang, Good Bones

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical

Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.

Peter Hylenski, Just in Time

Scott Lehrer, Gypsy

Mick Potter, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends

Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins

Outstanding Projection and Video Design

Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Blvd.

Jake Barton, McNeal

David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Jesse Garrison, The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]

Hana S. Kim, Redwood

Outstanding Wig and Hair

Alberto “Albee” Alvarado, SUMO

Charles G. LaPointe, Death Becomes Her

Sabana Majeed, BOOP! The Musical

Nikiya Mathis, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”

Nikiya Mathis, Liberation

Outstanding Puppetry

Dorothy James, Bill’s 44th

Tom Lee, See What I Wanna See

Simple Mischief Studio, Small Acts of Daring Invention

Amanda Villalobos, Becoming Eve

Kirjan Waage, Dead as a Dodo

Outstanding Fight Choreography

Drew Leary, Romeo + Juliet

Chelsea Pace and James Yaegashi, SUMO

Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet, Pirates! The Penzance Musical

Bret Yount, King Lear

Outstanding Adaptation

Becoming Eve, by Emil Weinstein

Cymbeline, by Andrea Thome

Medea: Re-Versed, by Luis Quintero

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, by Rupert Holmes

The Devil’s Disciple, by David Staller

Outstanding Revue

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song

Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!

The Jonathan Larson Project

The World According to Micki Grant

Unique Theatrical Experience

Odd Man Out

The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Voices in Your Head

The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar