The staging is the thing. That could be the theme of this year’s Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring the best of Off-Broadway. The 2016–17 nominations are dominated by two productions featuring inventive stagecraft, which received seven nominations each: New York Theatre Workshop’s Hadestown—set in the round with performers walking through the audience—and Barrow Street Theatre’s Sweeney Todd, which serves up actual meat pies in a reimagined London bakery. But the frontrunner for top musical is breakout success Dear Evan Hansen, which received four nods for its take on teen angst in the age of social media.
Presented annually by The Off-Broadway League, the Lortels are named after a well-known actress and producer who also has a namesake theater in the West Village. This year’s awards ceremony will take place at NYU’s Skirball Center and will be hosted by former Saturday Night Live star Taran Killam, recently seen on Broadway playing King George in Hamilton. The big night is May 7; tickets are available to the public.
Some of the nominated shows have ended their runs, but there are still plenty you can see. They include the Broadway transfer of Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Oslo at Lincoln Center, the delicious production of Sweeney Todd and Dear Evan Hansen, now a hot ticket on Broadway. Below is a list of the main Lortel noms. For a complete rundown, visit lortelaward.com.
"Indecent." Photo: Carol Rosegg Outstanding Play
Indecent
Written by Paula Vogel
Oslo
Written by J. T. Rogers
Underground Railroad Game
Written by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard
Vietgone
Written by Qui Nguyen
The Wolves
Written by Sarah DeLappe
"The Band's Visit."
Photo: Ahron R. FosterOutstanding Musical
The Band's Visit
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek, Book by Itamar Moses
Dear Evan Hansen
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Book by Steven Levenson
Hadestown
Written by Anaïs Mitchell
Ride the Cyclone
Music, Lyrics and Book by Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond
The Total Bent
Music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Book by Stew
"Sweet Charity."
Photo: Monique CarboniOutstanding Revival
The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead
Written by Suzan-Lori Parks
Othello
Written by William Shakespeare
Signature Plays: Edward Albee's The Sandbox, María Irene Fornés' Drowning and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro
Written by Edward Albee, María Irene Fornés and Adrienne Kennedy
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Book by Hugh Wheeler, Adaptation by Christopher Bond
Sweet Charity
Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Book by Neil Simon
Courtesy, "Chris Gerhard: Career Suicide"Outstanding Solo Show
Chris Gethard: Career Suicide
Written and Performed by Chris Gethard
Latin History for Morons
Written and Performed by John Leguizamo
Notes from the Field
Written and Performed by Anna Deavere Smith
The Outer Space
Book and Lyrics by Ethan Lipton, Music by Ethan Lipton, Vito Dieterle, Eben Levy and Ian M. Riggs, Performed by Ethan Lipton
Sell/Buy/Date
Written and Performed by Sarah Jones