#lucille lortel award

[droughtofapathy]

Just some bulleted thoughts about the Lucille Lortel Awards nominations. I saw about 23 of the 32(?) nominated productions, so that's pretty damn good this year. And there's still time to add in a few of the recent ones if I get cheap tickets.

That's a lot of men... but I already made a big post on that, so moving on.

So happy for (pray). That show was one of the most accessible of the season with a pay-what-you-can model. I paid $8 and it was a lovely night.

Surprised to see all the love for Wet Brain. No shock on the technical award front. That set was a fucking delight. But as for the actual story? Word was pretty heavily mixed, leaning negative. Good for them on getting top nominations.

Overlooked in my opinion: Christine Lahti in Russian Troll Farm, Mary Beth Fisher in Swing State, Marie Mullen in The Saviour, Juliette Stevenson in The Doctor... yeah all of them are old women, so what? Ooh, and Cynthia Nixon in The Seven Year Disappear (very weird, but very compelling).

Omission of even more women: Marin Ireland in Spain, any of the Manahatta actresses, Judy Kuhn or at the very least scene-stealing Julia Lester in I Can Get It for You Wholesale.

Nothing for the last Sondheim? Not even one? Wild.

Excuse me, not a single acting nod for Sunset Baby despite it getting a Best Revival nomination? Nothing for Moses Ingram, another overlooked actor?

I did not like Teeth. There, I said it.

[denimbex1986]

'Producers Wessex Grove, Gavin Kalin Productions, and Kater Gordon announced today that the Olivier Award®-winning actor Andrew Scott will reprise his wildly acclaimed performance in Vanya, a radical new adaptation of Chekhov’s masterwork, Uncle Vanya, which Mr. Scott co-created with adaptor Simon Stephens, designer Rosanna Vize and director Sam Yates, in its American Premiere. Performances of the Olivier Award-winning production will commence Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), with opening night set for Tuesday, March 18.260 West 39th Street, Penthouse  New York  NY 10018  t 212 695 7400  omdkc.com

Lortel members may now purchase tickets by visiting HERE and www.lortel.org. The Lucille Lortel Box Office (121 Christopher Street) will also be open three hours prior to the currently running show’s curtain time. Advance sales are not available 30 minutes prior to curtain. Vanya is being presented by special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

General on-sale will begin on Monday, September 30 at 12pm ET at vanyaonstage.com...

In a statement, Mr. Scott said, “I love this masterpiece of a play. I love these heartbreaking, hilarious, sexy, characters. I love my colleagues with whom I made this show. I love New York. So, I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring Vanya to the audiences at the Lortel Theatre. See you then!”

“We are absolutely thrilled to bring Vanya to New York next Spring with the incomparable Andrew Scott making his highly anticipated return to the New York stage,” said Wessex Grove producers Benjamin Lowy and Emily Vaughan-Barratt. “This production is not just a reimagining of a classic, but a deeply personal and intimate exploration of the human spirit, helmed by one of the finest actors of his generation.

Andrew, Simon, Sam, and Rosie have created something so deeply theatrical that is profound, funny, and heartbreaking in equal measure. We had a wonderful time creating this show in London last year, and we are delighted we will be able to share this show with new audiences in New York.”

In addition to Ms. Vize, the design team for Vanya includes lighting design by James Farncombe, sound design by Dan Balfour, video design by Jack Phelan, movement direction by Michela Meazza, music by Kelly Moran, and costume design by Natalie Pryce. Vanya will be Executive Produced by Wagner Johnson Productions.'

[frontmezzjunkies]

The 2024 Lucille Lortel Award Winners

#frontmezzjunkies reports: The 2024 #LucilleLortelAwards for Outstanding Achievement #OffBroadway were handed out on the evening of May 5th, 2024 to recipients in 16 categories, with three honorary awards also bestowed

The cast of Ars Nova’s (pray). Photo by Marc J. Franklin. 39TH ANNUAL LUCILLE LORTEL AWARD RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED “(pray),” produced by Ars Nova and National Black Theatre, leads the pack with 3 awards, including Outstanding Musical Signature Theatre’s “The Comeuppance” was awarded Outstanding Play New York, NY (May 5, 2024) – The 2024 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement…

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Round 2B

Annette Bening (1958) “ANNETTE BENING (Kate Keller) New York: King Lear (Shakespeare in the Park), Spoils of War (Second Stage), Costal Disturbances (Tony nomination, Clarence Derwent Award). Los Angeles: Ruth Draper Monologues, The Female of the Species, Hedda Gabler (Geffen Playhouse), The Cherry Orchard (Mark Taper Forum). San Francisco ACT Repertory Company: Our Town Macbeth. Films: The Grifters, Bugsy. The American President, American Beauty, Being J, The Kids Are All Right, The Seagull, 20th Century Women, Captain Marvel, The Report (fall 2019), Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, Emmy nominations and four Academy Award nominations. Graduate of San Francisco State University and A.C.T. Conservatory Training Program. Board member: The Actors Fund.” – Playbill bio from All My Sons, May, 2019.

Kelli O'Hara (1976) “KELLI O’HARA (Young Hattie/Ensemble). Broadway: Jekyll & Hyde after playing Emma in the national tour. Favorite credits: Christine in the Yeston/Kopit Phantom (Lucille Lortel Debut Award); Kitty in Where’s Charley?  At MTW; Lili in Carnival; and the title role in Naughty Marietta. She graduated from OCU and won the 1998 State Metropolitan Opera Auditions. Thanks to the family and Mrs. Birdwell. God is good.” – Playbill from Follies, June 2001. Playbill insert indicates she went on as Young Phyllis at this performance.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

"You know, looking at these production photos, I like Annette Bening as a brunette. Anyway, I sat a few rows behind her at this horrid little play reading a few weeks ago. She was there with Camryn Manheim, and frankly, I'd rather have watched them watching the show than watch the show myself."

"I continue to be in awe of this woman's unending beauty. A few weeks ago, I stage-doored after the final performance of Days of Wine and Roses, and she wafted outside looking like a million dollars in this silky little cami, her freckled chest on full display. Even in heels, she was maybe a head taller than me (4'7"), and I had the pleasure of gazing up at her in awe. She is a stunning woman, and that voice... It's a sexual experience."

Fuck it: extra Kelli propaganda (with Audra bonus) because this duet could wake me from the dead.

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Lucille Lortel

Lucille Lortel, known as the "the Queen of Off Broadway", was born in New York City in 1900. Lortel produced more than 500 musicals and plays. Her production of The Threepenny Opera won the only Tony Awards ever given to an Off-Broadway show. In 1955, Lortel established the Theatre de Lys, now known at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, which still operates to this day. Since 1986, the Lucille Lortel Awards have been given to honor excellence in Off-Broadway theater.

Lucille Lortel died in 1999 at the age of 98.

[jgroffdaily]

Wow neither Jonathan or Daniel were nominated for a Lucille Lortell award. Lindsey, Reg Rogers and Krystal Joy Brown were.

Yes. Merrily was nominated for Outstanding Revival, and the three more 'stand-out/show-off' Merrily performers were nominated, but Jonathan and Daniel (less surprising) weren't nominated.

An older female who was on a podcast recently, and who voted on the awards, liked Jonathan's performance but thought he could have been more animated in a few parts in act one. (It's the role, and it certainly doesn't have the dynamic numbers that other lead actors would often have in musicals. It can also be seen as more of an acting role than a musical one.)

The gender neutral categories also reduced the overall number of nominees.

[oldbaton]

I’m trying to think of performances that truly won every New York theatre award. Which by the way would require your show start off Broadway and would also require you hadn’t won the drama league for distinguished performance since it can only be won once in a lifetime. The only one I can think of is Mary-Louise Parker for Proof. She won the following: Tony, Drama Desk, OCC, Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and the Obie.

And before you see Christine Ebersole she is missing one of those listed: the Lucille Lortel. Which is frankly SHOCKING.

[sophiaannecarusos]

Sophia Anne Caruso Interviewed for Teen Vogue Sophia Anne Caruso is the star of The School for Good and Evil, but one could say that she’s been a star for years, since she was only nine.

Performing her way from her hometown of Spokane, Washington to New York City, the actress collected a handful of onstage and onscreen credits before she even turned 16. Sophia’s talent as a dynamic stage performer earned her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for her role as Iris in The Nether and critical acclaim for her hypnotizing presence as Lydia in Broadway’s Beetlejuice: The Musical. Now, the 21-year-old is bringing that talent to the screen for one of her first major film roles as Sophie in the Netflix fantasy film The School for Good and Evil.

Based on the New York Times bestselling series by Soman Chainani, The School for Good and Evil centers on two childhood best friends Sophie and Agatha (played by Sofia Wylie). The duo’s lives are turned upside down when they’re kidnapped from their village and sent to an enchanted institution. At the academy, aspiring heroes and villains are trained to become legendary enough for their own fairytales, and ultimately protect the balance of good and evil.

The regally-dressed students in the School for Good, nicknamed the “Evers,” learn the power of smiling and finding true love’s kiss, while the witchy punk-goth “Nevers” learn how to look menacing and incite chaos.

An avid reader of fairy tales, Sophia’s character Sophie has long dreamt of becoming a princess. Sophie saw attending the school as her ticket out of her “mediocre” provincial village life. But when she winds up being placed in the School for Evil instead of Good, she embarks on a thorny journey of self-discovery. Refusing to accept her new status, Sophie relentlessly tries to prove that she’s a princess, not a witch. But she eventually learns she doesn’t have to be a princess to get what she wants.

“I was excited by [Sophie]... the variety, all of the colors that there is to play in her,” Sophia tells Teen Vogue, admitting that she’d probably be a Never in real life. “When I first looked at the character description, I was like, ‘Hm, princess. Let me read this script.’ And I was like, ‘Oh no, she's not just a princess, she's also kind of a devil.’”

Throughout the film, Sophia’s character teeters between protagonist and antagonist as she tries to take unapologetic reign of her own destiny. Sophie effectively enters her villain era — if that’s what it truly means to forge your own path.

“I think it can be difficult, especially for young women, not knowing exactly who you are and not knowing or not feeling comfortable pushing the boundaries as a young woman, but I think Sophie very clearly does that,” says Sophia. “She pushes everybody. She just crosses every boundary.”

Sophie’s redemptive qualities, from standing up for her outcast best friend to empowering her Never peers, is what makes her an unexpected antihero. According to Sophia, Sophie’s journey across the spectrum good and evil teaches audiences a valuable lesson.

“There's a little bit of both [good and evil] in all of us, and that's okay,” she says. “You don't have to be perfect [or] really good all of the time, because that's just not how humans work. It's not how people work.”

Her complex character arc also shows young women that they don’t have to conform. Like her character, Sophia doesn’t conform to a label either.

“With my fashion choices, with my music, or the work I choose, I want to push boundaries and just be ever-changing and reinventing myself all the time, because it's how you figure out who you are,” she says. “You experiment in all the different versions of yourself. There's a million versions of me and who I am. I'm not just one thing. I'm not completely solved in who I am, [I’m still] figuring that out. I always say to myself, ‘We're all just growing ourselves up all the time.’ We're all still realizing who we are… ever-changing and morphing, and I'm always reinventing myself in search of self.”

Throughout the film, Sophie’s wickedly stylish costumes signaled each stage of her search of self. Sophia explains that the costume her character wears at the start of the film, a quilted patchwork village dress, represents “making the most of what she has.” “She’s trying her hardest,” says Sophia. Once the character unwillingly enters the School for Evil, however, she wears what Sophia calls a “sack dress.”

“[It’s] actually one of my favorite costumes, because I love the ropes that she adds. They symbolize being bound, but it's also like she's trying to make a fashion statement with it, which is so cool… I love that costume, because it's just so badass.”

While Sophie eventually becomes a powerhouse in her own right, Sophia notes that she was surrounded by real-life powerhouses on set. Sophia’s co-stars included high-profile actors like Michelle Yeoh, Charlize Theron, and Kerry Washington. “The women on set really held it together,” says Sophia. “It was really awesome to be in a female-forward story, a story about young girls, and also be surrounded by so many well-established actresses and strong women.”

Ultimately, the truest love in the film is not between a princess and prince but friends Agatha and Sophie — two strong women themselves. Sophie and Agatha formed their friendship at an early age, but behind the scenes, Sophia says her bond with Sofia began with a chemistry test over Zoom. While on set, they deepened their connection by hanging out during lunch breaks and sharing a “mutual love of chocolate.” Soon enough, Sophia and Sofia became real-life friends.

“I love what the girls represent,” Sophia says of Sophie and Aggie. “I hope that it can set a positive example by the end of the movie for girls and their friendships.”

Overall, Sophia aims to continue inspiring girls with her portrayal of realistic young women. “I suppose my whole life I'm going to be looking to play authentic women and represent what that is versus the Hollywood version of what a woman or a teenage girl is,” she says. “I'm sort of anti-that. I'm pro-real-girls and representing them, because that's what the female demographic [wants] and that's what I want to put forward… I hope that it inspires them and they feel like they can relate to it.”

Sophia isn’t entering her villain era — she’s entering her transformation era, inspiring all those watching at home to live our most authentic lives. Good, evil, and everything in between.

[lboogie1906]

Anika Noni Rose (September 6, 1972) is an actress and singer. She is known for voicing Tiana, Disney’s first African-American movie protagonist, as seen in The Princess and the Frog. She was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

She is known for her starring role as Lorrell Robinson in the Academy Award-winning film Dreamgirls and for playing LaVerne “Jukebox” Ganner in the hit series Power. She is known for her performances in theatre, particularly for her starring roles as Emmie Thibodeaux in the Broadway production of Caroline, or Change, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Beneatha Younger in the Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

She earned a BA in Theatre from FAMU and studied drama at the American Conservatory Theater.

She moved to New York without a job. After three months, she played the role of Rusty in Broadway’s Footloose. She followed Footloose with numerous workshops and two musicals using pre-existing song catalogs, Eli’s Comin’ Off-Broadway and Me and Mrs. Jones with Lou Rawls. She was awarded the Theatre World Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress.

After her film debut, King of the Bingo Game, and performed in Temptation, followed by Surviving Christmas. She appeared in the films Just Add Water, For Color Girls, and Razor.

She starred in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

She was born in Bloomfield, Connecticut, to Claudia and John Rose, a corporate counsel. She began her acting career at Bloomfield High School, appearing in a school production during her freshman year. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[newyorktheater]

2024 Off Broadway Alliance Award Winners

“Dead Outlaw” won Best New Musical and “Oh, Mary!” Best New Play among the six competitive categories of the 13th annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards. The ceremony will take place June 18th at Sardi’s. Full list of 2024 nominations Don’t know what the Off Broadway Alliance Awards are, or how they differ from the Off Broadway League’s Lucille Lortel Awards, or from any of the other awards?…

[droughtofapathy]

Time for me to be throw a wrench in progress and gender binary abolishment in awards shows. I'll be the bitch, I don't care. It's a complicated question that needs a significant data set before any major conclusions can be drawn, but so far, I see a glaring issue.

For the past three years, the Lucille Lortel Awards has abolished gender-based acting categories, instead opting to evaluate and nominate all genders equally within the four respective categories. In 2022, the first year gender-based categories were removed, each category held five nominees. This has since expanded to seven in order to recognize a wider pool.

The gender of the nominees were as follows:

2022: 8 Male, 12 Female Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play: 1(M), 4(F) Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical: 2(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: 2(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical: 3(M), 2(F)

2023: 18 Male, 10 Female Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play: 5(M), 2(F) Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical: 4(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: 4(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical: 5(M), 2(F)

2024: 18 Male, 10 Female Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play: 5(M), 2(F) Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical: 4(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: 4(M), 3(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical: 5(M), 2(F)

Combined Nominees: 44 Male, 33 Female Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play: 11(M), 8(F) Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical: 10(M), 9(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Play: 11(M), 8(F) Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical: 12(M), 7(F)

In theory, it is an excellent idea to do away with archaic binary sex assumptions. Actors are actors regardless of gender. This prevents awkward and/or offensive cases where non-binary actors would have to "choose" where they might theoretically be nominated. It should be something seriously worth considering for awards.

Unfortunately, we do live in a society. And society is biased towards men. Men are consistently more likely to receive recognition, praise, etc. for arguably lesser work (with the caveat that there are also other identities at play that elevate some over others, obviously.) Roles for men, especially in plays that get broader critical recognition, are more plentiful. At this point, the dataset is statistically insignificant. If, however, nominees remain consistent, women will be underrepresented at every turn. (Non-gendered categories like director, choreographer, lighting, etc. are already heavily male-dominated because it's a male-dominated top-heavy industry.) In the last two years, male nominees have nearly doubled female ones, and this became even more egregious when the categories expanded.

So the question is: how do we remain contemporary in de-gendering award shows while still acknowledging the fact of our male-dominated prejudices?

[denimbex1986]

'The list of acting greats who have taken on the role of Uncle Vanya is a long one: Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, Peter O’Toole, Simon Russell Beale, Derek Jacobi. Earlier this year, Steve Carrell brought his distinct pathos—and humor—to Anton Chekhov’s classic meditation on money, class, work, the environment, and masculinity in a production at Lincoln Center Theater. Yet none of these actors have, it’s safe to say, attempted to turn it into a one-man play.

Last fall, in London, Andrew Scott did just that, playing all the parts in Uncle Vanya—and somehow, by all accounts, carrying it off. That stripped-down, modernized production offered no distraction from Scott as he nimbly pivoted between the eight characters: the professor returning to his country home with his young wife, the brother-in-law (Vanya) who has been bitterly managing the estate that has funded the professor’s exploits, and everyone in between. The performance was described as virtuosic, the foundation for a captivating show that included a one-man sex scene. Scott (also one of the co-creators) was, unsurprisingly, nominated for best actor at the Olivier Awards, and the play won best revival.

Though widely known (now and probably forever) as the “hot priest” from Fleabag, Scott has moved definitively beyond the role that made millions of viewers question their inclinations toward the clergy. He starred last year in Andrew Haigh’s gently devastating All of Us Strangers, and earlier this year in Ripley, the moody Netflix adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley that earned 13 Emmy nominations, in part due to his sinister reinvention of the chameleonic central character.

And now, Scott, along with co-creator and adaptor Simon Stephens, designer Rosanna Vize, and director Sam Yates, is bringing Vanya to New York for its American premiere. (Vanya will arrive just over a century after the vodka-soaked tragicomedy had its Broadway premiere in 1923.) “Performing this play in front of an audience was one of the most magical, exhausting and thrilling experiences of my life," says Scott. "I’m so excited to come back to New York and share that experience with the audiences at the Lortel.”

“The connection between the wondrous Andrew Scott and audiences in London was unlike anything I’ve witnessed before in the theater,” says Yates. “I am honored and excited to share this production and Andrew’s remarkable performance with audiences in New York.”

Previews will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre off-Broadway on March 11, with an opening night set for March 18. Tickets are on sale today.'

[frontmezzjunkies]

The 2024 Lucille Lortel Award Nominations Announced

#frontmezzjunkies reports: Nominations for the 39th Annual #LucilleLortelAwards for Outstanding Achievement #OffBroadway were announced today @LortelAward #WetBrain #Stereophonic #BuenaVistaSocialClubMusical @phnyc @mcctheater @atlantictheater

Andrew R. Butler, Sarah Pidgeon, Chris Stack, and Juliana Canfield in Playwrights Horizons’s Stereophonic. Photo by Chelice Parry. 39TH ANNUAL LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS: NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED Wet Brain, produced by Playwrights Horizons and MCC Theater, has the most nominations with 8; followed by Playwrights’ Stereophonic and Atlantic Theater’s Buena Vista Social Club with 7 – the latter being the…

[broadwaydivastournament]

The 2024 Lucille Lortel Awards Nominations will be announced on Playbill's youtube channel at 2:00 p.m. EST (or in about fifteen minutes).

Best of luck to all the Divas of a certain age.

[thenerdsofcolor]

'Every Brilliant Thing' to be performed by Daniel K. Isaac

'Every Brilliant Thing' to be performed by Daniel K. Isaac at the Geffen Playhouse

Rehearsals have begun for Geffen Playhouse’s production of Every Brilliant Thing, written by Olivier Award–nominated playwright Duncan Macmillan (Lungs; People, Places, and Things) with Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nominee Jonny Donahoe (Thirty Christmases, Forgiveness). The one-person play features Drama Desk Award nominee Daniel K. Isaac (Billions, The…