Winners of the 2025 Drama League Awards were announced May 16, with Sunset Blvd. star and 2025 Tony Award nominee Nicole Scherzinger taking the coveted Distinguished Performance Award. Actors are eligible only once in their career to win the title.
Scherzinger is being recognized for her performance as faded silent screen star Norma Desmond in director Jamie Lloyd's Tony-nominated Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd. The performance already won Scherzinger a 2024 Olivier Award, and the production won Best Musical Revival at the London honors, too. The revival is up for seven 2025 Tony Awards, including Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Scherzinger, Direction of a Musical for Lloyd, and Revival of a Musical.
As for the production awards, Oh, Mary! took Outstanding Production of a Play, while Outstanding Revival of a Play saw a tie between Eureka Day and Vanya. Maybe Happy Ending won Outstanding Production of a Musical, and Sunset Blvd. took Outstanding Revival of a Musical, setting up the Drama League winners for a direct match with this year's Tony Awards鈥攁ll production winners (with the exception of Vanya) are up for the Broadway honors, due to be handed out June 8 in a televised and live-streamed ceremony.
Given the Drama League's primary mission of developing early-career directors, their annual awards also honor the season's direction. Michael Arden took Outstanding Direction of a Musical for his work on Maybe Happy Ending, and Sam Pinkleton won Outstanding Direction of a Play for his work on Oh, Mary! Both are also 2025 Tony Award nominees.
See the full list of winners below.
Outstanding Production of a Play
The Antiquities
Becoming Eve
English
Good Bones
Good Night, And Good Luck
Here There Are Blueberries
John Proctor is the Villain
Liberation
WINNER - Oh, Mary!
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Walden
Outstanding Revival of a Play (tie)
The Cherry Orchard
WINNER - Eureka Day
Ghosts
Glengarry Glen Ross
Home
Othello
Romeo + Juliet
A Streetcar Named Desire
WINNER - 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
WINNER - 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
WINNER - Sunset Blvd.
Urinetown
Outstanding Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, English
Saheem Ali, Good Bones
David Cromer, Good Night, And Good Luck
WINNER - 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
WINNER - 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 C贸rdoba, Real Women Have Curves
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
Andr茅 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鈥檓 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 Old Friends
WINNER - 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 acknowledges exemplary work for the following previous recipients of the Distinguished Performance Award, who are therefore ineligible to win or be nominated in the category again:
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
As previously announced, this year鈥檚 Drama League Awards Special Recognition Honorees are Lea Salonga, 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.
The award ceremony was hosted by NY1 reporter Frank DiLella at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
Tom Francis and the company of Sunset Boulevard
David Thaxton and Tom Francis in Sunset
Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Scherzinger in the Broadway revival of Sunset
The ensemble of Sunset Boulevard
The ensemble of Sunset Boulevard
Grace Hodgett Young in Sunset Blvd. on Broadway
Nicole Scherzinger and Hannah Yun Chamberlain
Tom Francis with Nicole Scherzinger and Hannah Yun Chamberlain (projected)
