Idina Menzel, Aaron Tveit, Kristin Chenoweth & Many More Stars Offer Nominations for the Gratitude Awards

Nominations for the previously announced Gratitude Awards, which replaces the previously planned 86th Annual Drama League Awards, have arrived. As previously reported, the Gratitude Awards, a pre-recorded digital fundraiser, will air on April 30 at 7:30PM ET. The program will include appearances from Idina Menzel, Nathan Lane, Aaron Tveit, Adrienne Warren, Condola Rashad, Elizabeth Stanley, Jeremy Pope, Kelli O’Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Marianne Elliott, Megan Hilty, Sutton Foster and more.

Broadway stars submitted videos in which they shared their Gratitude Award nominees as well as heartwarming reasons for their selections. The nominators and nominees are listed below:

Kristin Chenoweth: Rosie O'Donnell

Marianne Elliott: Company associate director Gina Rattan

Sutton Foster: Jeff Calhoun

Megan Hilty: Tony winner Idina Menzel

Nathan Lane: Ken Brown, Lane's dresser since 1992

Kelli O'Hara: Director Scott Ellis

Jeremy Pope: Karen Szpaller

Idina Menzel: Joby Horrigan, her longtime dresser

Condola Rashad: Press agent and producer Irene Gandy

Elizabeth Stanley: Jagged Little Pill dresser Dyanna Hallick

Aaron Tveit: Scotty Cain, Tveit's dresser at Moulin Rouge!

Adrienne Warren: Cate Goetschius, Warren's dresser of nearly 10 years

The broadcast will also include a special cameo from previous Distinguished Performance Award recipient Patti LuPone.

As previously announced, there will also be acceptance videos from honorees nominated before the COVID-19 crisis. Those include Company director Marianne Elliott as the recipient of the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing, James Lapine as the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award and Terrence McNally as the recipient of the Unique Contribution to Theater Award. Tom Kirdahy will accept on behalf of McNally, who died at the age of 81 on March 24 due to complications from coronavirus. The program will be inclusive of an In Memoriam, presented by Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross (producers of the documentaryTerrence McNally: Every Act of Life).

As previously reported, nominations for the Drama League’s 86th Annual Artistic Awards will be presented during the Gratitude Awards program by Beetlejuice co-stars Alex Brightman and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer. All proceeds raised during the program will go toward the Ghost Light Campaign, with 25 percent of funds allocated to the Directors Emergency Relief Fund, a direct micro-grant program for stage directors who have lost work due to the COVID-19 crisis.