The New York Drama League has named Nicole Scherzinger winner of its annual Distinguished Performance Award for her performance in Broadway‘s Sunset Blvd., while Cole Escola’s hit comedy Oh, Mary! and Will Aronson and Hue Park’s Maybe Happy Ending were named the season’s outstanding productions of a play and musical, respectively.
Those awards and others were announced today at a ceremony at New York’s Ziegfeld Ballroom.
For the first time in 25 years in any category, Vanya, Simon Stephens’ adaptation of the Chekov play that starred Andrew Scott in all the roles and Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day tied for Outstanding Revival of a Play. Sunset Blvd., Jamie Lloyd’s reimagining of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, was named Outstanding Revival of a Musical.
In the directing categories, Sam Pinkleton took home the Outstanding Direction of a Play award for Oh, Mary! and Michael Arden won Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Maybe Happy Ending.
The Drama League, made up of industry professions, producers, artists, audiences and critics, first dispensed awards in 1922 and formalized the practice in 1935, making the The Drama League Awards the oldest theatrical honors in America. Both Broadway and Off Broadway productions are eligible.
Scherzinger took the (non-gendered) Distinguished Performance Award over a lengthy roster of other nominees, including Escola, George Clooney, Darren Criss, Jonathan Groff, Paul Mescal, Megan Hilty, Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington. For a complete list of nominees, go here.
Since the Distinguished Performance Award can only be won once during a career, previous winners ineligible for their performances for the 2024-2025 season included Annaleigh Ashford, Danny Burstein, Norbert Leo Butz, Sutton Foster, Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Bernadette Peters.
