New York : The 2007 Drama Desk awards were handed out last night at the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. The ceremony was hosted by the goofy but loveable Kristin Chenoweth who presented several awards with a rubber boot on her head in tribute to Grey Gardens .
The big winner of the evening was Tom Stoppard's trilogy of plays, The Coast of Utopia taking home seven awards including Outstanding Play, Outstanding Featured Actress (Martha Plimpton), Director of a Play (Jack O'Brien), Music For a Play, as well as three other design awards. Spring Awakening virtually swept all of the top musical awards winning Outstanding Musical, Director (Michael Mayer), Music (Duncan Sheik), and Lyrics (Steven Sater).
The box-office struggling Journey's End was named Outstanding Revival of a Play with Company taking the Outstanding Revival of a Musical award.
The acting awards were spread out over several productions. Outstanding Actor in a Play went to Frank Langella for his portrayal of Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon . Eve Best won Outstanding Actress in a Play for her much praised performance in A Moon for the Misbegotten . Outstanding Actor in a Musical was awarded to Company's Raul Esparza, while the award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical was a tie. Audra McDonald and Donna Murphy were both awarded the prize for 110 in the Shade and LoveMusik respectively.
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play went to Boyd Gaines for Journey's End . Martha Plimpton was the only actor from The Coast of Utopia to win a Drama Desk. She won Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. Gavin Lee was awarded Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for playing chimney sweep, Bert, in Mary Poppins . Finally, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical went to Debra Monk for Curtains .
Special Awards were given to John Kander and Fred Ebb, Austin Pendleton, Transport Group, and The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.
Besides actual awards there were several performances from the nominated productions. Jason Danieley performed “I Miss the Music” from Curtains ; Silvia Garcias Da Ves, Michael Feigenbaum, Ido Kagen, Yael Mahler, Eva Boucherite, Aka Jean Claude Themiele and Hila Yaffe did a musical number from Be ; Lea Michele, Remy Zaken, Phoebe Strole, Lauren Pritchard and Lilli Cooper performed “Mama Who Bore Me” from Spring Awakening ; and Raul Esparza sang “Marry Me A Little” from Company .
Outstanding Play
Outstanding Musical
Outstanding Revival of a Play Journey's End
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Outstanding Actor in a Play
Outstanding Actress in a Play
Outstanding Actor in a Musical Raul Esparza, Company
Outstanding Actress in a Musical Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Outstanding Director of a Play
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Outstanding Choreography
Outstanding Music Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Outstanding Lyrics
Outstanding Book of a Musical Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone, Curtains
Outstanding Music for a Play Mark Bennett, The Coast of Utopia
Outstanding Orchestrations
Outstanding Set Design of a Play
Outstanding Set Design of a Musical
Outstanding Costume Design
Outstanding Lighting Design
Outstanding Sound Design
Outstanding Solo Performance
Unique Theatrical Experience Edward Scissorhands
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