A Catered Affair Receives 12 Drama Desk Nominations

A Catered Affair drew 12 nominations for the 2008 Drama Desk Awards, which were announced on April 28 by Bebe Neuwirth and Len Cariou at the Friars Club. The off-Broadway musical Adding Machine received nine nods, followed by Young Frankenstein and South Pacific with eight. Among plays, August: Osage County came out on top with seven nominations.

The 53rd annual Drama Desk Awards will be presented on May 18 at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center, hosted by the cast of [title of show] Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff.

The complete list of nominees follows:

Outstanding Play
Alan Ayckbourn, Intimate Exchanges
Rinde Eckert, Horizon
Liz Flahive, From Up Here
Horton Foote, Dividing the Estate
Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll

Outstanding Musical
A Catered Affair
Adding Machine
Passing Strange
The Glorious Ones
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Xanadu

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
Happy Days
Macbeth
The Country Girl
The Dining Room
The Return of the Prodigal

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Black Nativity
Gypsy
South Pacific
Sunday in the Park with George
Take Me Along

Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening
Fugitive Songs
Make Me a Song

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Bill Champion, Intimate Exchanges
Kevin Kline, Cyrano de Bergerac
Bill Pullman, Peter and Jerry
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Tobias Segal, From Up Here
Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Frances McDormand, The Country Girl
Amy Morton, August: Osage County
Fiona Shaw, Happy Days
Julie White, From Up Here

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
André De Shields, Black Nativity
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
Cheyenne Jackson, Xanadu
Matthew Morrison, 10 Million Miles
Paulo Szot, South Pacific

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Sierra Boggess, The Little Mermaid
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
John Cullum, The Conscientious Objector
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Arian Moayed, Masked
Jeff Perry, August: Osage County
Michael T. Weiss, Scarcity

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Elizabeth Ashley, Dividing the Estate
Johanna Day, Peter and Jerry
Zoe Kazan, 100 Saints You Should Know
Linda Lavin, The New Century
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
Marisa Tomei, Top Girls

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, South Pacific
Christopher Fitzgerald, Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
Shuler Hensley, Young Frankenstein
Bobby Steggert, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Leslie Kritzer, A Catered Affair
Andrea Martin, Young Frankenstein
Mary Testa, Xanadu
Amy Warren, Adding Machine
Mare Winningham, 10 Million Miles

Outstanding Director of a Play
David Schweizer, Horizon
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Leigh Silverman, From Up Here
Jonathan Silverstein, The Dining Room
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
Deborah Warner, Happy Days

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Xanadu
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
David Cromer, Adding Machine
John Doyle, A Catered Affair
Bob McGrath, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Bartlett Sher, South Pacific

Outstanding Choreography
Karole Armitage, Passing Strange
Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby The Musical
Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, Traces
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu
Peter Pucci, Queens Boulevard the musical
Susan Stroman, Young Frankenstein

Outstanding Music
John Bucchino, A Catered Affair
Stephen Flaherty, The Glorious Ones
Tom Kitt, Next to Normal
Mark Mulcahy, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange

Outstanding Lyrics
Lynn Ahrens, The Glorious Ones
Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein
John Bucchino, A Catered Affair
Ben Katchor, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
Stew, Passing Strange

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Douglas Carter Beane, Xanadu
Harvey Fierstein, A Catered Affair
Ben Katchor, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt, Adding Machine
Stew, Passing Strange
Eric H. Weinberger, Wanda's World

Outstanding Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, Young Frankenstein
Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Michael Starobin, The Glorious Ones
Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair
Tim Weil, 10 Million Miles

Outstanding Set Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, Spain
Scott Bradley, Eurydice
David Korins, Hunting and Gathering
Santo Loquasto, Trumpery
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Clint Ramos, The Return of the Prodigal

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical
David Gallo, A Catered Affair
Takeshi Kata, Adding Machine
Derek McLane, 10 Million Miles
George Tsypin, The Little Mermaid
Robin Wagner, Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, South Pacific

Outstanding Costume Design
Mara Blumenfeld, The Glorious Ones
Michael Bottari and Ronald Case, Jessica Jahn, Die Mommie Die!
Ann Hould-Ward, A Catered Affair
Ana Kuzmanic, August: Osage County
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
William Ivey Long, Young Frankenstein

Outstanding Lighting Design
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Maruti Evans, Slaughterhouse-Five
Donald Holder, South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid
Keith Parham, Adding Machine

Outstanding Sound Design
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Jorge Cousineau, Opus
Joseph Fosco, The Conversation
Scott Lehrer, South Pacific
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps
Tony Smolenski IV, Adding Machine

Outstanding Solo Performance
Kris Andersson, Dixie's Tupperware Party
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Stephen Lang, Beyond Glory
April Yvette Thompson, Liberty City

Outstanding Projection and Video Design
Paul Barritt, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Timothy Bird and The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Zachary Borovay, A Catered Affair
Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island
Lorna Heavey, Macbeth
Tal Yarden, The Misanthrope

Unique Theatrical Experience
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Cut to the Chase
Fabrik - The Legend of M. Rabinowitz
The 39 Steps
Traces

In addition to the competitive categories, the Drama Desk announced the following special awards:

Outstanding Ensemble Performances: The Dining Room and The Homecoming

Special Awards: Edward Albee, "whose provocative plays, including this season's Peter and Jerry, enrich the American theater"; James Earl Jones, a "commanding force on the stage for nearly half a century"; 59E59 Theaters, whose "imaginative curatorial vision has created a stimulating environment to nurture a diverse range of artists"; Playwrights Horizons for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work."

Shows with multiple nominations:
A Catered Affair, 12
Adding Machine, 9
Young Frankenstein, 8
South Pacific, 8
August: Osage County, 7
Passing Strange, 7
Sunday in the Park with George, 7
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, 7
Xanadu, 6
The Glorious Ones, 5
10 Million Miles, 4
From Up Here, 4
Gypsy, 4
Boeing-Boeing, 3
Happy Days, 3
Macbeth, 3
Rock 'n' Roll, 3
The 39 Steps, 3
The Dining Room, 3
The Little Mermaid, 3
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, 2
Black Nativity, 2
Dividing the Estate, 2
Horizon, 2
Intimate Exchanges, 2
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 2
Peter and Jerry, 2
Next to Normal, 2
The Country Girl, 2
The Return of the Prodigal, 2
Traces, 2

The Drama Desk is an organization of theater journalists that honors excellence in all areas of New York theater, including Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway and not-for-profit theater. The 2008 nominating committee consisted of Barbara Siegel chair, Dan Bacalzo, Robert Cashill, Celia Ipiotis, Gerard Raymond and Richard Ridge.