Danny Burstein Wins Drama League Award; Moulin Rouge!, The Inheritance & More Triumph

Six-time Tony nominee and Moulin Rouge! standout Danny Burstein was named the winner of the Drama League's Distinguished Performance Award on June 18. Burstein's triumph 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 Inheritance, A Soldier's Play, Moulin Rouge! and Little Shop of Horrors, respectively.

In addition to dazzling audiences as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge!, Burstein received Tony nods for Fiddler on the Roof, The Drowsy Chaperone, Follies, Golden Boy and South Pacific. His other Broadway credits include The Snow Geese, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, A Class Act, Titanic, Company, My Fair Lady and many more. He is married to three-time Tony nominee Rebecca Luker. 

As previously announced, 2020 Special Recognition Award Recipients include Company director Marianne Elliott as the recipient of the Founders Award for Excellence in Directing, and the late 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 COVID-19.

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 2020 Drama League Award winners can be found below in bold and preceded by an asterisk.

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play
Cambodian Rock Band
Dana H.
Grand Horizons
The Hot Wing King
*The Inheritance
The Michaels
Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
One in Two
Sea Wall/A Life
Seared
Slave Play
Stew

Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play
Betrayal
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Fires in the Mirror
Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune
Judgment Day
Medea
Native Son
The Rose Tattoo
*A Soldier's Play
The Woman in Black

Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical
Girl From the North Country
Jagged Little Pill
*Moulin Rouge!
Octet
The Secret Life of Bees
Sing Street
Six
Soft Power
A Strange Loop
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical
Enter Laughing
*Little Shop of Horrors
Rock of Ages
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
West Side Story

Nominees for the Distinguished Performance Award
David Acton, The Woman in Black
Jeffrey Bean, Dublin Carol
Ato Blankson-Wood, The Rolling Stone and Slave Play
Christian Borle, Little Shop of Horrors
Danielle Brooks, Much Ado About Nothing
*Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge!
Rose Byrne, Medea
Len Cariou, Harry Townsend's Last Stand
Patrice Johnson Chevannes, runboyrun & In Old Age
Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Kate del Castillo, the way she spoke
Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements
Raúl Esparza, Seared
Francesca Faridany, The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Halley Feiffer, The Pain of My Belligerence
Danyel Fulton, Broadbend, Arkansas
Annie Golden, Broadway Bounty Hunter
Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Where We Stand
David Alan Grier, A Soldier's Play
Jonathan Groff, Little Shop of Horrors
Jake Gyllenhaal, Sea Wall/A Life
Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal
Paul Hilton, The Inheritance
Kathryn Hunter, Timon of Athens
Galen Ryan Kane, Native Son
Brittney Mack, Six
April Matthis, Toni Stone
Susannah Millonzi, The Crucible
Kate Mulgrew, The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Joe Ngo, Cambodian Rock Band
Deirdre O'Connell, Dana H.
Brenock O'Connor, Sing Street
Okwui Okpokwasili, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge!
Larry Owens, A Strange Loop
Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill
Chris Perfetti, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
Ben Porter, The Woman in Black
Isaac Powell, West Side Story
Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm
Elizabeth Rodriguez, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
Michael Shannon, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
Tom Sturridge, Sea Wall/A Life
Marisa Tomei, The Rose Tattoo
Blair Underwood, A Soldier's Play
Michael Urie, Grand Horizons
Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror
Portia, Stew

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.
Harvey Fierstein, Bella Bella
Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside
Audra McDonald, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune