Maybe Happy Ending, BOOP!, John Proctor is the Villain and More Win 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards

The winners of the 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards have been announced. The Broadway musical Maybe Happy Ending is the biggest winner, receiving a total of four awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical. BOOP! The Musical star Jasmine Amy Rogers, meanwhile, bested the competitive Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical category—one of three total awards for the production. George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Good Night, and Good Luck additionally won the John Gassner Award, the category reserved for new American plays, while Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor is the Villain won Outstanding New Broadway Play and Bess Wohl's Liberation earned the prize for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. 

The 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony will be held on May 22. Read the full list of winners below, marked in bold with an asterisk. 

Outstanding New Broadway Play
Cult of Love
The Hills of California
*John Proctor is the Villain
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
BOOP! The Musical
Death Becomes Her
*Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
The Big Gay Jamboree
*Drag: The Musical
We Live in Cairo

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
The Antiquities
Grangeville
Here There Are Blueberries
*Liberation
Table 17

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)
Amy Berryman, Walden
*George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck
Marin Ireland, Pre-Existing Condition
Lia Romeo, Still
Emil Weinstein, Becoming Eve

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
*Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Once Upon a Mattress
Sunset Boulevard

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
Glengarry Glen Ross
Romeo + Juliet
*Vanya
Yellow Face

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
*Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play
Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
*Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Mare Winningham, Cult of Love
Kara Young, Purpose

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
*Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
*Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Michele Pawk, Just in Time
Christopher Sieber, Death Becomes Her
Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
*Nick Adams, Drag: The Musical
Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree
Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Safety Not Guaranteed
Alaska Thunderf*ck, Drag: The Musical
Taylor Trensch, Safety Not Guaranteed

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui, We Live in Cairo
Paris Nix, The Big Gay Jamboree
Eddie Korbich, Drag: The Musical
J. Elaine Marcos, Drag: The Musical
*André De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Henry Stram, Three Houses

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
Caroline Aaron, Conversations with Mother
F. Murray Abraham, Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
Jayne Atkinson, Still
*Adam Driver, Hold On to Me Darling
Anthony Edwards, The Counter
Paul Sparks, Grangeville

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
Betsy Aidem, Liberation
Sean Bell, The Beacon
*Michael Rishawn, Table 17
Richard Schiff, Becoming Eve
Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling

Outstanding Solo Performance
David Greenspan, I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Khawla Ibraheem, A Knock on the Roof
Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings
Andrew Scott, Vanya
*Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
*Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, We Live in Cairo
Bob Martin, BOOP! The Musical
Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
*Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, BOOP! The Musical
Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves
Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
Doug Besterman, Death Becomes Her
Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Daniel Lazour and Michael Starobin, We Live in Cairo
*Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time

Outstanding Direction of a Musical
*Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat
Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical

Outstanding Direction of a Play
Trip Cullman, Cult of Love
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Phylicia Rashad, Purpose
*Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain

Outstanding Choreography
Jenny Arnold, Operation Mincemeat
Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Shannon Lewis, Just in Time
*Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! the Musical

Outstanding Scenic Design
*Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Dane Laffrey, Maybe Happy Ending
Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Costume Design
*Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical
Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, Real Women Have Curves
Rob Howell, The Hills of California
Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Lighting Design
Kevin Adams, Swept Away
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
*Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Sound Design
*Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Adam Fisher, Sunset Boulevard
Peter Hylenski, Death Becomes Her
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
John Shivers, Swept Away

Outstanding Video/Projections
59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Boulevard
*David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Hana S. Kim, Redwood
Finn Ross, BOOP! The Musical

Special Awards
Patrick Hoffman, the recently retired curator of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in honor of over three decades of service to the theater community, during which time he ensured the preservation of over 1,200 productions.