The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction.
Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was designed by Eugene De Rosa for producer Fortune Gallo and opened in 1927 as the Gallo Opera House. The current Broadway theater is named after a nightclub founded by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, which operated within the theater's space in the late 1970s and the 1980s.
Broadway theatre, or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theaters, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world.
The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers. Its first production was the musical Hair in 1967. Since Papp, the theatre has been led by JoAnne Akalaitis (1991–1993), and George C. Wolfe (1993–2004), and is currently under Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham.
Dinner theater is a form of entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical. "Dinner and a show" can also refer to a restaurant meal in combination with live concert music, where patrons listen to a performance during a break in the meal. In the case of a theatrical performance, sometimes the play is incidental entertainment, secondary to the meal. In the style of a night club, the play may be the main feature of the evening, with dinner less important or optional. Dinner theater requires the management of three distinct entities: a live theater, a restaurant and, usually, a bar.
The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspired style and was constructed for Irving Berlin and Sam H. Harris. It has 1,025 seats across two levels and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks.
Andrew Scott Rannells is an American actor. He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. He received his second Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance as Whizzer in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos. Other Broadway credits include Hairspray (2005), Jersey Boys (2009), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), Hamilton (2015), and The Boys in the Band (2018).
Memphis is a musical with music by David Bryan, lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro, and a book by DiPietro.
Fat Pig is a play by Neil LaBute. The play premiered Off-Broadway in 2004 and won the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. The play had its London premiere in 2008 and was nominated for Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. The play involves a romantic relationship between a plus-size woman and a young professional man whose friend denigrates the woman as being "fat". The play was also adapted into an opera in 2022 by composer Matt Boehler.
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American actor and singer. He began his career on Broadway, rising to prominence for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in the original production of Spring Awakening (2006–08), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway to portray King George III in the original production of Hamilton (2015), for which he earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He currently stars opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez in the first Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.
Tyler Maynard is an American stage and film actor. He is best known for playing Mark in the 2005 musical Altar Boyz, for which he won a Theatre World Award and received a nomination for a Drama Desk Award.
Karen Olivo, also known as KO, is an American stage and television actor, theater educator, and singer.
The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, also known as Way Off Broadway or WOB, is a regional dinner theater and children's theater located in Frederick, Maryland, United States.
Thomas Kail is an American theatre director, known for directing the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, garnering the 2016 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the latter. Kail was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018.
Luba Mason is an American actress, singer, songwriter and dancer. She has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theaters in plays and musicals and television and film. As a singer, she has performed in International Jazz and Music Festivals as well as major jazz and music clubs around the country. Mason has trademarked her own musical format called Mixtura, "a blend of different musical currents."
Hamilton is a sung-and-rapped-through biographical musical with music, lyrics, and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Based on the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the musical covers the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and his involvement in the American Revolution and the political history of the early United States. Composed over a seven-year period from 2008 to 2015, the music draws heavily from hip hop, as well as R&B, pop, soul, and traditional-style show tunes. It casts non-white actors as the Founding Fathers of the United States and other historical figures. Miranda described Hamilton as about "America then, as told by America now."
Phillipa Anne Soo is an American actress and singer. Known for her leading roles on Broadway primarily in musicals, she has received two Grammy Awards along with nominations for a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Michael Luwoye is an American actor of Nigerian descent, known for playing the title role in the Broadway musical Hamilton. In 2022, was nominated for the Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice Performance in a Preschool Animated Program for his role in Baby Shark's Big Show!.
Suffs is a stage musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Shaina Taub, based on suffragists and their American women's suffrage movement. It premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in April 2022.
