69th Drama Desk Awards

The 69th Drama Desk Awards were held on June 1, 2025, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, recognizing excellence in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions during the 2024–25 season. Nominations were announced on April 30, 2025, with Boop! The Musicalreceiving the most nominations with 11. Stranger Things: The First Shadow and The Picture of Dorian Gray were the most nominated play productions, receiving five nominations each.

Maybe Happy Ending won the most awards of the evening, winning six including Outstanding Musical. Among the other big winners were Purpose, which won Outstanding Play, Eureka Day, which received Outstanding Revival of a Play and Gypsy, which won Outstanding Revival of a Musical.

Winners and nominees

The 69th Drama Desk Award nominations were announced on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, by Norm Lewis. The winners were announced on June 1, 2025, in an awards gala held at The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess.

Category

Winner and nominees

Outstanding Play

* Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

  • 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

Outstanding Musical

*Maybe Happy Ending

  • Boop! The Musical
  • Death Becomes Her
  • Just in Time
  • Music City

Outstanding Revival of a Play

*Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector

  • Garside's Career by Harold Brighouse
  • Home by Samm-Art Williams
  • Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress
  • Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

*Gypsy

  • Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
  • Floyd Collins
  • Once Upon a Mattress
  • See What I Wanna See
  • Sunset Blvd.

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play

*Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California'' andSarah Snook,The Picture of Dorian Gray''

  • Betsy Aidem, The Ask
  • 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

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play

*Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain'' andKara Young,Purpose''

  • 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

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical

*Audra McDonald, Gypsy'' andJasmine Amy Rogers,Boop! The 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

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical (tie)

*Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash, Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat'' andMichael Urie,Once Upon a Mattress''

  • 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

Outstanding Solo Performance

*Andrew Scott, Vanya

  • 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

Outstanding Direction of a Play

*Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain

  • David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, The Antiquities
  • Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
  • Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve
  • Jack Serio, Grangeville
  • 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

*Jerry Mitchell, Boop! The Musical

  • 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”
  • 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

*Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending

  • Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
  • 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

*Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time

  • Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
  • Doug Besterman, Boop! The Musical
  • Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
  • Michael Starobin, All the World’s a Stage

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play

*Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

  • Miriam Buether, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
  • Rob Howell, The Hills of California
  • Johan Kølkjær, Dark Noon
  • Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher, Life and Trust
  • Matt Saunders, Walden

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical

*Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending

  • Clifton Chadick, Music City
  • Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
  • Derek McLane, Just in Time
  • David Rockwell and Finn Ross, Boop! The Musical

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play

*Dede Ayite, Our Town

  • Brenda Abbandandolo, The Antiquities
  • 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

*Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

  • Isabella Byrd, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
  • Natasha Katz, John Proctor is the Villain
  • Tyler Micoleau, The Antiquities
  • Paul Whitaker, SUMO

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical

*Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.

  • Kevin Adams, Swept Away
  • Adam Honoré, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
  • Philip S. Rosenberg, Boop! The Musical
  • Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun, 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

*Peter Hylenski, Just in Time

  • Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.
  • Scott Lehrer, Gypsy
  • Mick Potter, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
  • Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins

Outstanding Projection and Video Design

*David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray

  • Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Blvd.
  • Jake Barton, McNeal
  • Jesse Garrison, The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]
  • Hana S. Kim, Redwood

Outstanding Wig and Hair

*Charles G. LaPointe, Death Becomes Her

  • Alberto “Albee” Alvarado, SUMO
  • Sabana Majeed, Boop! The Musical
  • Nikiya Mathis, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
  • Nikiya Mathis, Liberation

Outstanding Puppetry

*Amanda Villalobos, Becoming Eve

  • Dorothy James, Bill’s 44th
  • Tom Lee, See What I Wanna See
  • Simple Mischief Studio, Small Acts of Daring Invention
  • Kirjan Waage, Dead as a Dodo

Outstanding Fight Choreography

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

  • Drew Leary, Romeo + Juliet
  • Chelsea Pace and James Yaegashi, SUMO
  • Bret Yount, King Lear

Outstanding Adaptation

*Pirates! The Penzance Musical by Rupert Holmes

  • Becoming Eve by Em Weinstein
  • Cymbeline by Andrea Thome
  • Medea: Re-Versed by Luis Quintero
  • 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

*The Picture of Dorian Gray

  • Odd Man Out
  • The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]
  • The Voices in Your Head
  • The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar

Special awards

Award

Recipient

Ensemble Award

The cast of Liberation: Betsy Aidem, Audrey Corsa, Kayla Davion, Susannah Flood, Kristolyn Lloyd, Irene Sofia Lucio, Charlie Thurston, and Adina Verson

Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award

Stephen Michael Spencer

Drama Desk Special Award

Pregones/PRTT

Stacey Derosier

Danger and Opportunity

References

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