Mary Poppins, Coast of Utopia Tops Among Outer Critics Circle Nominees

Mary Poppins and The Coast of Utopia topped the list of nominees for the 2007 Outer Critics Circle Awards, announced on April 23 by former winners John Lloyd Young Jersey Boys and Victoria Clark The Light in the Piazza at the Algonquin Hotel. Disney's newest Broadway musical garnered 11 nominations, and Tom Stoppard's three-part epic drew nine nods.

Among other high-profile shows, Legally Blonde drew only one nomination, for Orfeh's featured performance as Paulette. The Pirate Queen got two nominations, for its choreography and costumes. Grey Gardens was considered ineligible this year because it was a part of last year's awards; Deuce was not considered because of its late opening date, but special achievement awards will be presented to its stars, Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes. In the featured actress category, mother and daughter Jill Clayburgh and Lily Rabe will go head to head for their performances in The Clean House and Heartbreak House, respectively.

The complete list of nominees follows:

Outstanding New Broadway Play
The Coast of Utopia
Coram Boy
Frost/Nixon
Radio Golf

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Curtains
LoveMusik
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Outstanding Off-Broadway Play
Exits and Entrances
Indian Blood
The Pain and the Itch
The Scene

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
In the Heights
Evil Dead: The Musical
Floyd and Clea Under the Western Sky
Gutenberg! The Musical!

Outstanding New Score Broadway or Off-Broadway
Curtains
In the Heights
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Journey's End
Talk Radio
The Voysey Inheritance

Outstanding Revival of Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

Outstanding Director of a Play Lucille Lortel Award
Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
David Grindley, Journey's End
Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia

Oustanding Director of a Musical
John Doyle, Company
Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne, Mary Poppins
Thomas Kail, In the Heights
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

Outstanding Choreography
Rob Ashford, Curtains
Andy Blankenbuehler, In the Heights
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Carol Leavey Joyce and Graciela Daniele, The Pirate Queen

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Carla Gugino, Suddenly Last Summer
Alison Pill, Blackbird

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Ashley Brown, Mary Poppins
Kristin Chenoweth, The Apple Tree
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
David Greenspan, Some Men
Stephen Kunken, Frost/Nixon

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Robin Bartlett, Prelude to a Kiss
Jill Clayburgh, The Clean House
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia
Lily Rabe, Heartbreak House

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Jason Danieley, Curtains
Daniel Jenkins, Mary Poppins
David Pittu, LoveMusik
Bobby Steggert, 110 in the Shade

Oustanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Outstanding Solo Performance
Daniel Beaty, Emergence-SEE
Ed Harris, Wrecks
Jay Johnson, The Two and Only
Nilaja Sun, No Child…

Outstanding Set Design
Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Ti Green and Melly Still, Coram Boy
Derek McLane, The Voysey Inheritance

Outstanding Costume Design
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Judith Dolan, LoveMusik
Martin Pakledinaz, The Pirate Queen
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

Outstanding Lighting Design
Neil Austin, Frost/Nixon
Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner & Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia

John Gassner Award for an American play, preferably by a new playwright
Daisy Foote, Bhutan
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Bruce Norris, The Pain and the Itch
Nilaja Sun, No Child…

Show receiving more than two nominations were as follows:
Mary Poppins: 11
The Coast of Utopia: 9
Curtains: 6
Frost/Nixon: 5
LoveMusik: 5
Coram Boy: 4
In the Heights: 4
Spring Awakening: 3
110 in the Shade: 3
Journey's End: 3
Company: 3

The Outer Critics Circle is an organization of writers covering New York theater for out-of-town newspapers, national publications and other media beyond Broadway. The nominating committee consisted of Simon Saltzman President, Marjorie Gunner President Emerita, Mario Fratti Vice-President Patrick Hoffman Corresponding Secretary, Louis A. Rachow Treasurer, Glenn Loney Historian and Member-at-Large, Rosalind Friedman Recording Secretary and Aubrey Reuben and Thomas Gentile Members-at-Large.

The winners will be announced on May 14, and the awards ceremony will be held on May 24 at Sardi's.