The Ferryman, Tootsie, Constitution Win 2019 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards; Yiddish Fiddler Earns Special Citation

The New York Drama Critics' Circle has named The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth best play of the 2018-19 season. Robert Horn and David Yazbek's Tootsie was given the prize for best musical. What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck was named best American play. The selections were made at the organization's 84th annual voting meeting on May 6. Awards will be presented at a private cocktail reception on May 13.

The award for best play carries a cash prize of $2,500; the award for best American play is a cash prize of $1,000. The prizes are made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

Special citations were voted to theater companies Irish Repertory Theatre and Page 73, as well as the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof.

The Ferryman, directed by Sam Mendes, had its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in April 2017 and transferred to the West End's Gielgud Theatre in June 2017. The play opened at Broadway's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in October 2018.

Directed by Scott Ellis, Tootsie made its world premiere at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago in September 2018. The Broadway production opened at the Marquis Theatre in April 2019.

What the Constitution Means to Me, directed by Oliver Butler, received its world premiere at off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop in October 2018 and made its Broadway premiere in March 2019 at the Helen Hayes Theater.

The New York Drama Critics' Circle comprises 19 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area.

The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, which has been presented every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and special achievements), is the nation's second-oldest theater award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.