Drama Desk Award 2025: Complete winners list and more explored

Calling all theater fanatics, the Drama Desk Award 2025 winners have been announced. The award ceremony was held at NYU Skirball, and the two hosts of the night were Tituss Burgess and Debra Messing. The Drama Desk Award is an annual event where the best of New York theater is recognized and awarded with prizes. Initially, the Drama Desk Award was known as the "Vernon Rice Award" and only changed its name to today's version in 1964.

The Drama Desk Award 2025 has a number of categories that are divided into performance categories and show and technical categories. They also have Special Awards and Retired Awards.

If you're curious to know who bagged the different Drama Desk Awards 2025 under different categories, keep reading.

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Winners of the Drama Desk Awards 2025 and the nominees

Here is a complete list of all the winners and the nominees for all categories at the Drama Desk Awards 2025.

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical

The nominees for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical include

• Tatianna Córdoba, Real Women Have Curves
• Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
• Sutton Foster, Once Upon a Mattress
• Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
• Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
• Grey Henson, Elf
• Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
• Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
• Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending
• Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

The Drama Desk Award 2025 winners for this category are

• Audra McDonald, Gypsy
• Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical

There are three Drama Desk Award 2025 winners for the Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical. Before revealing the winners, here are the nominees:

• Nicholas Barasch, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
• André De Shields, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• John El-Jor, We Live in Cairo
• Jason Gotay, Floyd Collins
• Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
• Lesli Margherita, Gypsy
• Zachary Noah Piser, See What I Wanna See
• Jenny Lee Stern, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
• Natalie Walker, The Big Gay Jamboree

The winners are

• Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
• Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash
• Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play

Here is a list of all the nominees:

• Betsy Aidem, The Ask
• Patsy Ferran, A Streetcar Named Desire
• Danny J. Gomez, All of Me
• Doug Harris, Redeemed
• Patrick Keleher, Fatherland
• Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
• Lily Rabe, Ghosts
• Jay O. Sanders, Henry IV (Theatre for a New Audience)
• Paul Sparks, Grangeville
• Olivia Washington, Wine in the Wilderness

The Drama Desk Award 2025 winners in this category are

• Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
• Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play

Have a look at the list of Drama Desk Award 2025 nominees under this category:

• Greg Keller, Pre-Existing Condition
• Julia Lester, All Nighter
• Adrienne C. Moore, The Blood Quilt
• Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
• Maria-Christina Oliveras, Cymbeline
• Maryann Plunkett, Deep Blue Sound
• Michael Rishawn, Table 17
• Jude Tibeau, Bad Kreyòl
• Anjana Vasan, A Streetcar Named Desire
• Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling

Here are the winners:

• Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain
• Kara Young, Purpose

Outstanding Solo Performance

• David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
• Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water
• Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings
• Mark Povinelli, The Return of Benjamin Lay

The Drama Desk Award 2025 winner for this category is Andrew Scott, Vanya.

Outstanding Book of a Musical

• David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
• Warren Leight and Isaac Oliver, Just in Time
• Bob Martin, BOOP! The Musical
• Marla Mindelle and Jonathan Parks-Ramage, The Big Gay Jamboree
• Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her

The winner for this award is Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending.

Outstanding Choreography

• Camille A. Brown, Gypsy
• Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
• Jakob Karr, Ain’t Done Bad
• Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Sergio Trujillo, Real Women Have Curves

The Drama Desk Award 2025 winner for Outstanding Choreography is Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical.

Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical

• Sarah Cubbage, The Big Gay Jamboree
• Toni-Leslie James, Gypsy
• Qween Jean, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her
• Catherine Zuber, Just in Time

The winner for this category is Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical.

Outstanding Costume Design of a Play

• Brenda Abbandandolo, The Antiquities
• Christopher Ford, The Beastiary
• Camilla Lind, Dark Noon
• Karl Ruckdeschel, Twelfth Night

Dede Ayite, Our Town is the Drama Desk Award 2025 winner of this category.

Outstanding Lyrics

• Gerard Alessandrini, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
• David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
• Adam Gwon, All the World’s a Stage
• Marla Mindelle and Philip Drennen, The Big Gay Jamboree
• Luis Quintero, Medea: Re-Versed

The winner of this category goes to Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending.

Outstanding Music

• David Foster, BOOP! The Musical
• Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves
• Zoe Sarnak, The Lonely Few
• The Lazours, We Live in Cairo

Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending, take the win again in this category?

Outstanding Musical

• BOOP! The Musical
• Death Becomes Her
• Just in Time
• Music City

Maybe Happy Ending won the title of Outstanding Musical at the Drama Desk Award 2025.

Outstanding Orchestrations

• Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
• Doug Besterman, BOOP! The Musical
• Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
• Michael Starobin, All the World’s a Stage

The winner is Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time.

Outstanding Play

• Blood of the Lamb, by Arlene Hutton
• Deep Blue Sound, by Abe Koogler
• Grangeville, by Samuel D. Hunter
• John Proctor is the Villain, by Kimberly Belflower
• Liberation, by Bess Wohl

The winner for Outstanding Play goes to Purpose, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Outstanding Puppetry

• Dorothy James, Bill’s 44th
• Tom Lee, See What I Wanna See
• Simple Mischief Studio, Small Acts of Daring Invention
• Kirjan Waage, Dead as a Dodo

Amanda Villalobos, Becoming Eve, took the award home.

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

• Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Floyd Collins
• Once Upon a Mattress
• See What I Wanna See
• Sunset Blvd.

Gypsy won the award for this category.

Outstanding Revival of a Play

• Garside’s Career
• Home
• Wine in the Wilderness
• Yellow Face

The win goes to Eureka Day.

Outstanding Review

• Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now!
• The Jonathan Larson Project
• The World According to Micki Grant

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song won the Drama Desk Award 2025 for this category.

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical

• Clifton Chadick, Music City
• Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
• Derek McLane, Just in Time
• David Rockwell and Finn Ross (projections), BOOP! The Musical

Dane Laffrey and George Reeve, Maybe Happy Ending (includes video design), took the win.

Outstanding Scenic Design of a Play

• Miriam Buether, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
• Rob Howell, The Hills of California
• Johan Kølkjær, Dark Noon
• Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and Grace Laubacher, Life and Trust
• Matt Saunders, Walden

The Drama Desk Award 2025 winner of this category is Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher (illusions and visual effects), Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Unique Theatrical Experience

• Odd Man Out
• The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]
• The Voices in Your Head
• The Wind and the Rain: A story about Sunny’s Bar

The winner of this category is The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Outstanding Sound Design of a Play

• Johnny Gasper, Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods
• Matt Otto, All of Me
• Bray Poor, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
• Clemence Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Fan Zhang, Good Bones

The Drama Desk Award 2025 for Outstanding Sound Design of a Play goes to Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical

• Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.
• Scott Lehrer, Gypsy
• Mick Potter, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
• Dan Moses Schreier, Floyd Collins

Peter Hylenski, Just in Time, is the winner of this category.

Outstanding Direction of a Play

• David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, The Antiquities
• Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
• Tyne Rafaeli, Becoming Eve
• Jack Serio, Grangeville
• Whitney White, Liberation
• Kip Williams, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Danya Taymor, John Proctor is the Villain, takes home the Drama Desk Award 2025 for this category.

Outstanding Direction of a Musical

• Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.
• Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
• Alex Timbers, Just in Time
• George C. Wolfe, Gypsy

The win goes to Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending.

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play

• Isabella Byrd, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
• Natasha Katz, John Proctor is the Villain
• Tyler Micoleau, The Antiquities
• Paul Whitaker, SUMO

Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, is the winner.

Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical

• Kevin Adams, Swept Away
• Adam Honoré, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Philip S. Rosenberg, BOOP! The Musical
• Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun (projections), Floyd Collins

The Drama Desk Award 2025 for Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical goes to Jack Knowles, Sunset Blvd.

Outstanding Projection and Video Design

• Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Blvd.
• Jake Barton, McNeal
• Jesse Garrison, The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy [redux]
• Hana S. Kim, Redwood

The winner of this category is David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Outstanding Wig and Hair

• Alberto “Albee” Alvarado, SUMO
• Sabana Majeed, BOOP! The Musical
• Nikiya Mathis, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
• Nikiya Mathis, Liberation

Charles G. LaPointe, Death Becomes Her, is the winner.

Outstanding Fight Choreography

• Drew Leary, Romeo + Juliet
• Chelsea Pace and James Yaegashi, SUMO
• Bret Yount, King Lear

Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet, Pirates! The Penzance Musical took home the prize for Outstanding Fight Choreography.

Outstanding Adaptation

• Becoming Eve, by Emil Weinstein
• Cymbeline, by Andrea Thome
• Medea: Re-Versed, by Luis Quintero
• The Devil’s Disciple, by David Staller

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, by Rupert Holmes, won the award for Outstanding Adaptation at the Drama Desk Award 2025.

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It is clear from all the wins and nominations that Maybe Happy Ending is a favorite at the Drama Desk Award 2025. It won Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Book, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Direction of a Musical. BOOP! The musical came in a close second with awards under categories including choreography, costume design, and featured performance. The Drama Desk Award 2025 reveals that New York theater remains the heartbeat of live performance.