The Drama League has revealed the nominees for its 2025 Awards. The prestigious list includes a nomination for Lea Salonga for Distinguished Performance for her work in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. She joins other heavy weights in the category including George Clooney, Idina Menzel, Megan Hilty, Andrew Scott, and Ramin Karimloo. Actors of Filipino descent Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Chris, and Tatianna Córdoba are also up for the win. As previously announced, Salonga will be honored with Special Recognition Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theater which will also be awarded at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 16.
Reacting to the news on Instagram, Salonga wrote: Wait……. WHAT????? What an amazing thing to wake up to!!!!! Congratulations to @sondheimfriends on our Drama League nominations (yes, with an S!) and to all the nominees this season!!!!!!!!!!!
See complete list of Nominees of the 91st Annual Drama League Awards below:
Outstanding Revival of a Play
The Cherry Orchard
Eureka Day
Ghosts
Glengarry Glen Ross
Home
Othello
Romeo + Juliet
A Streetcar Named Desire
Vanya
Wine in the Wilderness
Yellow Face
Outstanding Production of a Musical
BOOP! The Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Death Becomes Her
Drag: The Musical
Just in Time
Macbeth in Stride
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves
Smash
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
The Last Five Years
Once Upon a Mattress
The Marriage of Figaro
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.
Urinetown
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, English
Saheem Ali, Good Bones
David Cromer, Good Night, And Good Luck
Sam Pinkleton, Oh, Mary!
Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve
Anna D. Shapiro, Eureka Day
Danya Taymor, John Proctor is The Villain
Whitney White, Liberation
Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Sam Yates, Vanya
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”
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Susan Stroman, Smash
Alex Timbers, Just In Time
Annie Tippe, Three Houses
Sergio Trujillo, Real Women Have Curves
George C. Wolfe, Gypsy
Distinguished Performance
Tala Ashe, English
Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash
Stori Ayers, Home
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
Tatianna Córdoba, Real Women Have Curves
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
André De Shields, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
Tommy Dorfman, Becoming Eve
Robert Downey, Jr., McNeal
Adam Driver, Hold On To Me Darling
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
Amber Gray, Eureka Day
David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Jonathan Groff, Just In Time
Jake Gyllenhaal, Othello
Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me In The Water
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Robyn Hurder, Smash
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Nick Jonas, The Last Five Years
Ramin Karimloo, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Gracie Lawrence, Just In Time
Beth Leavel, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Idina Menzel, Redwood
Paul Mescal, A Streetcar Named Desire
Jinkx Monsoon, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Marjan Neshat, English
Sandra Oh, The Welkin
Lily Rabe, Ghosts
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Lea Salonga, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
Andrew Scott, Vanya
Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Ephraim Sykes, Our Town
Alaska Thunderfuck, Drag: The Musical
Adrienne Warren, The Last Five Years
Denzel Washington, Othello
Joy Woods, Gypsy
Kara Young, Purpose and Table 17
The Drama League also recognizes the outstanding past winners of the Distinguished Performance Award, who are no longer eligible for nomination in the category:
Annaleigh Ashford, All In
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
Norbert Leo Butz, Vladimir
Sutton Foster, Once Upon A Mattress
Neil Patrick Harris, Shit. Meet. Fan.
Patti LuPone, The Roommate
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Lin-Manuel Miranda, All In
Bernadette Peters, Stephen Sondheim: Old Friends
Apart from Salonga, this year’s Drama League Awards Special Recognition Honorees are Whitney White, Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Kate Navin, and Audible Theater.
This year’s event co-chairs are Bonnie Comley and Darin Oduyoye. The Steering Committee is Trish Chambers, Irene Gandy, Sarah Hutton, Mary Jain, Paula Kaminsky Davis, Fred Siegel, and Kumiko Yoshii. The Awards Honorary Committee comprises Annaleigh Ashford, Danny Burstein, Sutton Foster, Richard Kind, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Lance Roberts, and Will Swenson.
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