Spamalot, Piazza & Scoundrels Top 2005 Drama Desk Noms

Nominations for The 50th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced by The Constant Wife's Lynn Redgrave, La Cage aux Folles' Robert Goulet and Drama Desk President William Wolf at the New York Friars Club on April 28.

Spamalot topped the list of nominees with 12 nods, including Outstanding Musical. Another Outstanding Musical contender, The Light in the Piazza, followed with 11 nominations. The most honored off-Broadway show was Altar Boyz, which picked up seven nominations. It will compete for Outstanding Musical with the aforementioned shows and The Audience which recently completed a run at the Connelly Theatre, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Here are some notes on this year's awards:

--The Drama Desk committee chose to honor three off-Broadway shows--David Edgar's Pentacost, John Patrick Shanley's Sailor's Song and Sin A Cardinal Deposed--in the Outstanding Play category alongside Democracy, Doubt and The Pillowman. That left the shuttered Broadway shows Gem of the Ocean and Brooklyn Boy, at least one of which will receive a Tony nomination unless the Tony committee drops the number of nominees, without a nomination in the important category.

--There are three closed Broadway musicals from this season The Frogs, Dracula and Good Vibrations and one that is still running Brooklyn that failed to pick up a single Drama Desk nominations.

--On Golden Pond, currently running at the Cort Theatre, received zero nominations, not even one for headliner James Earl Jones, who will definitely be a contender come Tony time.

Here's the complete list of the nominees:

Outstanding Play
Democracy by Michael Frayn
Doubt by John Patrick Shanley
Pentecost by David Edgar
The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
Sailor's Song by John Patrick Shanley
Sin A Cardinal Deposed by Michael Murphy

Outstanding Musical
Altar Boyz
The Audience
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Light in the Piazza
Monty Python's Spamalot
The 25 th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Glengarry Glen Ross
Hurlyburly
Outward Bound
Pullman Car Hiawatha
Twelve Angry Men

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
La Cage aux Folles
On Second Avenue
Sweet Charity

Outstanding Revue
Absolutely Fascinating
Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit
Newsical

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Adam Arkin, Brooklyn Boy
John Cullum, Sin A Cardinal Deposed
Bill Irwin, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Brían F. O'Byrne, Doubt
Jeremy Piven, Fat Pig
John Turturro, Souls of Naples

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Veanne Cox, Last Easter
Cherry Jones, Doubt
Judy Kaye, Souvenir
Laura Linney, Sight Unseen
Frances Sternhagen, Echoes of the War
Kathleen Turner, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Hank Azaria, Monty Python's Spamalot
Mike Burstyn, On Second Avenue
Norbert Leo Butz, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Matthew Morrison, The Light in the Piazza
David Hyde Pierce, Monty Python's Spamalot
Bill Thompson, God Hates the Irish: The Ballad of Armless Johnny

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Christina Applegate, Sweet Charity
Victoria Clark, The Light in the Piazza
Sutton Foster, Little Women
LaChanze, Dessa Rose
Sherie Rene Scott, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Rachel York, Dessa Rose

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Philip Bosco, Twelve Angry Men
Larry Bryggman, Romance
Jeff Goldblum, The Pillowman
Josh Hamilton, Hurlyburly
Paul Sparks, Orange Flower Water
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Pillowman

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Julie Halston, White Chocolate
Adriane Lenox, Doubt
Portia, McReele
Lily Rabe, Steel Magnolias
Lee Roy Rogers, Orson's Shadow
Mary Testa, String of Pearls

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Christian Borle, Monty Python's Spamalot
Gregory Jbara, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Norm Lewis, Dessa Rose
Tyler Maynard, Altar Boyz
Michael McGrath, Monty Python's Spamalot
Denis O'Hare, Sweet Charity

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Sarah Uriarte Berry, The Light in the Piazza
Joanna Gleason, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Kecia Lewis, Dessa Rose
Jan Maxwell, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Maureen McGovern, Little Women
Jennifer Simard, Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit

Outstanding Director of a Play
Joshua Carlebach, Frankenstein
Scott Elliott, Hurlyburly
Scott Ellis, Twelve Angry Men
Edward Hall, Rose Rage
Doug Hughes, Doubt
Joe Mantello, Glengarry Glen Ross

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Matthew Bourne, Play Without Words
Jack Cummings III, The Audience
Mark Dornford-May, The Mysteries
James Lapine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Mike Nichols, Monty Python's Spamalot
Bartlett Sher, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Choreography
Matthew Bourne, Play Without Words
Christopher Gattelli, Altar Boyz
Barry McNabb, Sailor's Song
Jerry Mitchell, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Jerry Mitchell, La Cage aux Folles
Casey Nicholaw, Monty Python's Spamalot

Outstanding Music
Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker, Altar Boyz
Terry Davies, Play Without Words
William Finn, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Stephen Flaherty, Dessa Rose
Adam Guettel, The Light in the Piazza
David Yazbek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Lyrics
Gary Adler & Michael Patrick Walker, Altar Boyz
Douglas J. Cohen, Children's Letters to God
Rick Crom, Newsical
William Finn, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Eric Idle, Monty Python's Spamalot
David Yazbek, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe, Cam Jensen
Kevin Del Aguila, Altar Boyz
Mark Harelik, The Immigrant
Eric Idle, Monty Python's Spamalot
Jeffrey Lane , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Rachel Sheinkin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding Orchestrations
Steven M. Alper, The Immigrant
Larry Hochman, Monty Python's Spamalot
Doug Katsaros & Lynne Shankel, Altar Boyz
Kim Scharnberg, Little Women
Ted Sperling, Adam Guettel, Bruce Coughlin, The Light in the Piazza
Harold Wheeler, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outstanding Set Design of a Play
Robert Brill, A Streetcar Named Desire
Marisa Frantz, Frankenstein
Nathan Heverin, Outward Bound
Richard Hoover, After the Fall
David Korins, Orange Flower Water
Santo Loquasto, Glengarry Glen Ross

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical
Lez Brotherston, Play Without Words
Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
Scott Pask, Sweet Charity
David Rockwell, All Shook Up
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Michael Yeargan, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Costume Design
Lez Brotherston, Play Without Words
Tim Hatley, Monty Python's Spamalot
William Ivey Long, La Cage aux Folles
Jeff Mahshie, Hurlyburly
Anthony Ward, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Catherine Zuber, The Light in the Piazza

Outstanding Lighting Design
Christopher Akerlind, Belle Epoque
Christopher Akerlind, The Light in the Piazza
Mark Henderson, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Donald Holder, Gem of the Ocean
R. Lee Kennedy, The Audience
James Japhy Weideman, Frankenstein

Outstanding Sound Design
ACME Sound Partners, The Light in the Piazza
Paul Arditti, The Pillowman
Jill B.C. DuBoff, Miss Julie
Jill B.C. DuBoff, Spatter Pattern Or, How I Got Away With It
Jeff Lorenz, Frankenstein
Darron L. West, Hot 'n' Throbbing

Outstanding Solo Performance
Billy Crystal, 700 Sundays
Dave Gorman, Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure
Barry Humphries, Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance
Jackie Mason, Jackie Mason:Freshly Squeezed
Tim Miller, Us
James Urbaniak, Thom Pain based on nothing

Unique Theatrical Experience
all wear bowlers
Belle Epoque
The Mysteries
Play Without Words
Slava's Snowshow
Typo

The following noncompetitive awards will be presented by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:

Outstanding Ensemble Performance
The cast of Glengarry Glen Ross
The cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee