Bryan Cranston Wins Drama League Distinguished Performance Award; Hadestown, Ferryman Also Triumph

Bryan Cranston, Tony-nominated star of Network, was named the winner of the Drama League's Distinguished Performance Award at the 85th annual Drama League Awards ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Times Square on May 17. Cranston's win was announced along with winners in the Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Production of a Musical and Outstanding Revival of a Musical categories—which went to The Ferryman, The Waverly Gallery, Hadestown and Kiss Me, Kate!, respectively. The event was hosted by Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus stars Kristine Nielsen and Julie White.

Cranston triumphed in a category that included 53 Distinguished Performance nominees. His acclaimed turn as Howard Beale in the Broadway premiere of Network marks his return to the Great White Way following a 2014 Tony-winning Broadway-debut turn as President Lyndon Baines Johnson in All the Way. On-screen, Cranston earned six Emmys and a Golden Globe Award for Breaking Bad and an Academy Award nomination for Trumbo.

As previously announced, the Drama League's 2019 Special Recognition Awards went to Tony-winning actress Kelli O'Hara (Kiss Me, Kate!) who received the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater Award; Tony-nominated director Alex Timbers (Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge!), who was honored with the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing; and Pulitzer-finalist playwright Taylor Mac (Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus), who received the Unique Contribution to the Theater Award.

First awarded in 1922 and formalized in 1935, The Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. They are the only major theater awards chosen by a cross-section of the theater community—specifically, by the industry professionals, producers, artists, audiences and critics who are Drama League members nationwide.

The full list of 2019 Drama League Award winners can be found below in bold and preceded by an asterisk.

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play
Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties
Dance Nation
Fairview
*The Ferryman
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
The House That Will Not Stand
The Jungle
The Lehman Trilogy
Network
Paradise Blue
Teenage Dick
To Kill a Mockingbird
What the Constitution Means to Me

Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play
All My Sons
Boesman and Lena
Burn This
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
Choir Boy
King Lear
Torch Song
Twelfth Night
*The Waverly Gallery

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical
Ain't Too Proud
Beetlejuice
Be More Chill
The Cher Show
*Hadestown
Head Over Heels
The Hello Girls
King Kong
The Prom
Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future
Tootsie

Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical
Carmen Jones
Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
*Kiss Me, Kate!
Oklahoma!
Ordinary Days
Smokey Joe's Cafe

Nominees for the Distinguished Performance Award
Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom
Annette Bening, All My Sons
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Our Lady of 121st Street
Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show
Eboni Booth, Dance Nation
Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Josh Charles, Straight White Men
Paddy Considine, The Ferryman
Jordan E. Cooper, Ain't No Mo'
*Bryan Cranston, Network
Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jessica Frances Dukes, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
André De Shields, Hadestown
Adam Driver, Burn This
Edie Falco, The True
Santino Fontana, Tootsie
Harriett D. Foy, The House That Will Not Stand
Lynda Gravatt, The House That Will Not Stand and The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd
Amber Gray, Hadestown
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Ammar Haj Ahmad, The Jungle
Ethan Hawke, True West
Marin Ireland, Blue Ridge and Summer and Smoke
Zainab Jah, Boesman and Lena
Nikki M. James, Twelfth Night
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
Leslie Kritzer, Beetlejuice
Beth Leavel, The Prom
Tracy Letts, All My Sons
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton
Bonnie Milligan, Head Over Heels
Gregg Mozgala, Teenage Dick
Kelli O'Hara, Kiss Me, Kate
Jeremy Pope, Ain't Too Proud and Choir Boy
Carey Mulligan, Girls and Boys
Anika Noni Rose, Carmen Jones
Debra Jo Rupp, The Cake
Stacey Sargeant, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future
Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me
Steven Skybell, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish
Keith Randolph Smith, Paradise Blue
Ali Stroker, Oklahoma!
Michael Stuhlbarg, Socrates
Ephraim Sykes, Ain't Too Proud
Ben Turner, The Jungle
Ana Villafañe, Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Kerry Washington, American Son
Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ruth Wilson, King Lear
BD Wong, The Great Leap

The Drama League also acknowledges previous recipients who appeared in Broadway or Off-Broadway productions this season. As the award can only be won once in a performer's lifetime, they are ineligible to be nominated again.
Stockard Channing, Apologia
Glenn Close, Mother of the Maid
Glenda Jackson, King Lear
Cherry Jones, The Lifespan of a Fact
Nathan Lane, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
John Lithgow, Hillary and Clinton
Stephen Rea, Cyprus Avenue