Friday, May 13, 2016

NY Drama Critics Pick Humans, Shuffle Along

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle met on May 5, 2016 to determine the winners of its 81st annual awards. The results were as follows:

Best Play: The Humans (Stephen Karam)
Best Foreign Play: no award
Best Musical: Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (George C. Wolfe, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle)
Special Citations: Oskar Eustis for outstanding leadership of the Public Theater; Lois Smith for career achievement; Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld for collaborative achievement in direction and design

On the first ballot for Best Play, The Humans won nine votes, short of a majority among the Circle’s 22 voting members. A second vote was then taken to determine whether an award would be given at all. Having agreed that one should, the Circle moved to a weighted third ballot, which The Humans won with 35 points. Annie Baker’s John placed second (19 points), followed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Gloria (14 points) and Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (12 points). The Circle opted not to give an award for Best Foreign Play.

On the first ballot for Best Musical, Shuffle Along and Dear Evan Hansen each received seven votes. Shuffle Along won handily on the third ballot with 44 points, followed by Dear Evan Hansen (25 points), American Psycho (17 points) and First Daughter Suite (14 points)..

The Circle also voted to award three Special Citations: to Oskar Eustis for outstanding leadership of the Public Theater; to actor Lois Smith for career achievement, including in this season’s John and Marjorie Prime; and to Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld for collaborative achievement in direction and design, including in this season’s A View from the Bridge and The Crucible.

The awards will be presented at a private ceremony at Feinstein’s/54 Below on May 17, 2016.

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