Stereophonic Leads 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award Winners; Oh, Mary! Receives Award for New American Play

The winners of the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards have been announced. The rock group drama Stereophonic leads with four wins, including for Outstanding New Broadway Play, out of a total of seven nominations. The off-Broadway musical Dead Outlaw and play Primary Trust—the latter the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama—have three wins each. The 2024 John Gassner Award for New American Play goes to Cole Escola's Broadway-bound Oh, Mary!

The Outer Critics Circle is the official organization of writers on New York theater for out-of-town newspapers and national publications. The awards ceremony will be held in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for The Performing Arts on May 23.

Read the complete list of nominees and winners below. Winners are indicated in bold with an asterisk.

Outstanding New Broadway Play
Jaja's African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh
Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions by Paula Vogel
Patriots by Peter Morgan
*Stereophonic by David Adjmi
The Shark Is Broken by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Days of Wine and Roses
*Suffs
The Great Gatsby
The Outsiders
Water for Elephants

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
*Dead Outlaw
Illinoise
Teeth
The Connector

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
Dig by Theresa Rebeck
King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein
King James by Rajiv Joseph
*Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
Swing State by Rebecca Gilman

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)
Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle
*Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola
The Apiary by Kate Douglas
Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Cabaret
Here Lies Love
*I Can Get It for You Wholesale
Monty Python's Spamalot
The Who's Tommy

Outstanding Revival of a Play
An Enemy of the People
*Appropriate
Doubt: A Parable
Mary Jane
Philadelphia, Here I Come!
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play
* Jessica Lange – Mother Play
Rachel McAdams – Mary Jane
Sarah Paulson – Appropriate
Jeremy Strong – An Enemy of the People
Michael Stuhlbarg – Patriots

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play
Billy Eugene Jones – Purlie Victorious
Celia Keenan-Bolger – Mother Play
Alex Moffat – The Cottage
Jim Parsons – Mother Play
Sarah Pidgeon — Stereophonic
*Kara Young – Purlie Victorious

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui – The Who's Tommy
Brian d'Arcy James – Days of Wine and Roses
Casey Likes – Back to the Future
*Kelli O'Hara – Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett – The Notebook

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Roger Bart – Back to the Future
Justin Guarini – Once Upon a One More Time
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer – Spamalot
*Kecia Lewis – Hell's Kitchen
Bebe Neuwirth – Cabaret

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
Jeb Brown – Dead Outlaw
*Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw
Alyse Alan Louis — Teeth
Ben Levi Ross – The Connector
Ricky Ubeda — Illinoise

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical (tie)
Ben Cook – Illinoise
Hannah Cruz – The Connector
Julia Knitel – Dead Outlaw
*Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale
Jessica Molaskey – The Connector
*Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play (tie)
*Cole Escola – Oh, Mary!
Mary Beth Fisher – Swing State
*William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust
Marie Mullen – The Saviour
Paul Sparks – Waiting for Godot

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
Gus Birney – Our Class
April Matthis – Primary Trust
Conrad Ricamora – Oh, Mary!
*Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust
Bubba Weiler – Swing State

Outstanding Solo Performance
Eddie Izzard – Hamlet
*Patrick Page – All the Devils are Here
Mona Pirnot – I Love You So Much I Could Die
Robert Montano – Small
John Rubenstein – Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury - Illinoise
Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson – Teeth
Itamar Moses – Dead Outlaw
Jonathan Marc Sherman – The Connector
*Shaina Taub - Suffs

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Jason Robert Brown – The Connector
Will Butler – Stereophonic
Adam Guettel – Days of Wine and Roses
David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna – Dead Outlaw
*Shaina Taub - Suffs

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Timo Andres - Illinoise
Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence – Days of Wine and Roses
*Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Starobin – Suffs
Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow and David Yazbek – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
David Cromer – Dead Outlaw
Michael Greif – Days of Wine and Roses
Daisy Prince – The Connector
Leigh Silverman – Suffs
*Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants

Outstanding Direction of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Knud Adams – Primary Trust
*Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic
Robert Falls – Swing State
Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious
Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll – Water for Elephants
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman – The Outsiders
Lorin Latarro – The Who's Tommy
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck – Buena Vista Social Club
*Justin Peck — Illinoise

Outstanding Scenic Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) (tie)
Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage
*Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby
Dots – Appropriate
David Korins – Here Lies Love
*David Zinn – Stereophonic

Outstanding Costume Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Dede Ayite – Jaja's African Hair Braiding
Enver Chakartash – Stereophonic
Enver Chakartash – Teeth
*Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby
Sydney Maresca – The Cottage

Outstanding Lighting Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Bradley King – Water for Elephants
*Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders
Justin Townsend – Here Lies Love
Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone – Back to the Future
Amanda Zieve – The Who's Tommy

Outstanding Sound Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Tom Gibbons – Grey House
Gareth Owen – Back to the Future
Gareth Owen – The Who's Tommy
*Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer – Here Lies Love

Outstanding Video/Projections (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
David Bengali – Water for Elephants
Paul Tate dePoo III — The Great Gatsby
*Peter Nigrini – The Who's Tommy
Finn Ross – Back to the Future
Ash J. Woodward - Patriots