69th Drama Desk Awards Honors Theater Excellence

The 2024-2025 theater season’s stars shone on Sunday at the 69th Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess at NYU Skirball.

The Drama Desk Awards benefits the Entertainment Community Fund, which supports arts workers and industry professionals. Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions compete together in the same performance and design categories, which became genderless in 2023. Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending took home six awards, the most of the night.

BOOP!” The Musical received 11 nominations, the most of the season. It won three awards, including Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for Jasmine Amy Rogers’ portrayal of Betty Boop. Rogers told The Knockturnal about her experience bringing the iconic character to life in her debut performance.

“It’s been really special,” Rogers said. “It’s scary at times because there are people who love her so much — and I’m one of them now — who have grown up with her or held her close to them for so long. To pay homage to her, bring to her life, and pray that it was something they felt did her justice was really nerve-wracking, but once I felt I figured it out, it’s been the most exciting experience of my life.”

Broadway play The Picture of Dorian Gray won three awards, including “Succession” actress Sarah Snook’s Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play win. Snook’s Broadway debut has consisted of playing 26 different characters in the show white surrounded by five camera operators. Snook spoke to The Knockturnal about how she prepared for the production.

“It’s certainly been something new to work with, but with ‘Succession’ we had lots of cameras around us that were absorbed into the texture of the scene anyhow, so there was a familiarity with having cameras so close,” Snook said. “The challenge of keeping up with cues and the pace and making sure that the audience has moments of respite, rest, joy, tension, excitement, and fear is really important in a one-person show.”

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” also won the Unique Theatrical Experience award, which director Kip Williams accepted.

I conceived this production during the [COVID-19] pandemic at a time where we didn’t know if we would ever get to make theater again or be in a room with other audiences again,” Williams said. “[The production] is the most technically complex piece of work I’ve ever directed or conceived, but it was also joyous because Oscar Wilde himself was taking so much risk when writing the novel and pushing himself to create a very complex and moving piece of art.”

Pirates! The Penzance Musical received the Outstanding Fight Choreography award, a category that originated in 2017. Father-son choreographer duo Rick Sordelet and Christian-Kelly Sordelet opened up about this recognition in a field that is traditionally underrecognized.

“The Drama Desk Awards are the only awards group that recognizes fight direction, so it’s an incredible honor and very humbling to be able to accept an award like this in front of our peers and feel the love in the room,” Sordelet said.

Off-Broadway production Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now! was nominated for Outstanding Revue. The revue was a reunion for Broadway legends Marissa Jaret Winokur, Laura Bell Bundy, and Kerry Butler as well as a celebration of their friendship and careers.

“We are more excited about this nomination than any nomination we’ve ever had because our hands were in everything,” Bundy said. “We created this show, we wrote this show, we co-directed this show, we co-produced this show, and we put in our own money. This just proved to us that we’re more than actors, and the power of good creative partners and friendship.”

A report from The Broadway League found that the 2024-2025 Broadway season was the highest-grossing in recorded history, yielding over $1.89 billion. Actors like Nicole Scherzinger, nominee for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for her role as Norma Desmond in the revival of Sunset Boulevard, spoke about being a part of the theater community during such a pivotal time.

“I’ve always dreamed of coming to Broadway,” Scherzinger said. “Now I get to be here and be with so many of the greats in a beautiful season. Especially since [the COVID-19 pandemic], it’s so wonderful to know that theater is alive and thriving and we are penetrating the hearts of so many.”

(Feature photo by Tricia Baron)