2024 Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced

The Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications, today announced the winners of the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, honoring the 2023-2024 Broadway and Off-Broadway season.

The awards ceremony for the winners will be held on Thursday, May 23, 2024, in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for The Performing Arts (111 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC).

Founded during the 1949-50 Broadway season by respected theater journalist John Gassner, The Outer Critics Circle is an esteemed association with members affiliated with more than ninety newspapers, magazines, broadcast stations, and online news organizations, in America and abroad. Led by its current President David Gordon, the OCC Board of Directors also includes Vice President Richard Ridge, Recording Secretary Joseph Cervelli, Corresponding Secretary Patrick Hoffman, Treasurer David RobertsCynthia Allen, Harry Haun, Dan Rubins, Janice Simpson and Doug StrasslerSimon Saltzman is President Emeritus & Board Member (Non-nominating) and Stanley L. Cohen serves as Financial Consultant & Board Member (Non-nominating). Lauren Yarger serves as the Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony executive producer.

2024 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNERS

(winners marked in bold with asterisks)

Outstanding New Broadway Play:

Jaja's African Hair Braiding

Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions

Patriots

**Stereophonic**

The Shark Is Broken

 

Outstanding New Broadway Musical:

Days of Wine and Roses

**Suffs**

The Great Gatsby

The Outsiders

Water for Elephants

 

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical:

Buena Vista Social Club

**Dead Outlaw**

Illinoise

Teeth

The Connector

 

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play:

Dig

King of the Jews

King James

**Primary Trust**

Swing State

 

John Gassner Award for New American Play (preferably by a new playwright):

Job

Manahatta

**Oh, Mary! **

The Apiary

Wet Brain

 

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

Cabaret

Here Lies Love

**I Can Get It for You Wholesale**

Monty Python's Spamalot

The Who's Tommy

 

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

An Enemy of the People

**Appropriate**

Doubt: A Parable

Mary Jane

Philadelphia, Here I Come!

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

 

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play:

**Jessica Lange – Mother Play**

Rachel McAdams – Mary Jane

Sarah Paulson – Appropriate

Jeremy Strong – An Enemy of the People

Michael Stuhlbarg – Patriots

 

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play:

Billy Eugene Jones – Purlie Victorious

Celia Keenan-Bolger – Mother Play

Alex Moffat – The Cottage

Jim Parsons – Mother Play

Sarah Pidgeon - Stereophonic

**Kara Young – Purlie Victorious**

 

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical:

Ali Louis Bourzgui – The Who's Tommy

Brian d'Arcy James – Days of Wine and Roses

Casey Likes – Back to the Future

**Kelli O'Hara – Days of Wine and Roses**

Maryann Plunkett – The Notebook

 

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical:

Roger Bart – Back to the Future

Justin Guarini – Once Upon a One More Time

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer – Spamalot

**Kecia Lewis – Hell's Kitchen**

Bebe Neuwirth – Cabaret

 

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical:

Jeb Brown – Dead Outlaw

**Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw**

Alyse Alan Louis - Teeth

Ben Levi Ross – The Connector

Ricky Ubeda - Illinoise

 

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical (tie):

Ben Cook – Illinoise

Hannah Cruz – The Connector

Julia Knitel – Dead Outlaw

**Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale**

Jessica Molaskey – The Connector

**Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw**

 

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play (tie):

**Cole Escola – Oh, Mary! **

Mary Beth Fisher – Swing State

**William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust**

Marie Mullen – The Saviour

Paul Sparks – Waiting for Godot

 

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play:

Gus Birney – Our Class

April Matthis – Primary Trust

Conrad Ricamora – Oh, Mary!

**Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust**

Bubba Weiler – Swing State

 

Outstanding Solo Performance:

Eddie Izzard – Hamlet

**Patrick Page – All the Devils are Here**

Mona Pirnot – I Love You So Much I Could Die

Robert Montano – Small

John Rubenstein – Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

 

Outstanding Book of a Musical:

Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury - Illinoise

Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson – Teeth

Itamar Moses – Dead Outlaw

Jonathan Marc Sherman – The Connector

**Shaina Taub - Suffs**

 

Outstanding Score

Jason Robert Brown – The Connector

Will Butler – Stereophonic

Adam Guettel – Days of Wine and Roses

David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna – Dead Outlaw

**Shaina Taub - Suffs**

 

Outstanding Orchestrations

Timo Andres - Illinoise

Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence – Days of Wine and Roses

**Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club**

Michael Starobin – Suffs

Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek – Dead Outlaw

 

Outstanding Direction of a Musical

David Cromer – Dead Outlaw

Michael Greif – Days of Wine and Roses

Daisy Prince – The Connector

Leigh Silverman - Suffs

**Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants**

Outstanding Direction of a Play

Knud Adams – Primary Trust

**Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic**

Robert Falls – Swing State

Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious

Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate

 

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll – Water for Elephants

Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman – The Outsiders

Lorin Latarro – The Who's Tommy

Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck – Buena Vista Social Club

**Justin Peck — Illinoise**

 

Outstanding Scenic Design (tie)

David Korins – Here Lies Love

**David Zinn – Stereophonic**

Dots – Appropriate

Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage

**Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby**

 

Outstanding Costume Design

Dede Ayite – Jaja's African Hair Braiding

Enver Chakartash – Stereophonic

Enver Chakartash – Teeth

**Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby**

Sydney Maresca – The Cottage

 

Outstanding Lighting Design

Bradley King – Water for Elephants

**Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders**

Justin Townsend – Here Lies Love

Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone – Back to the Future

Amanda Zieve – The Who's Tommy

 

Outstanding Sound Design

Tom Gibbons – Grey House

Gareth Owen – Back to the Future

Gareth Owen – The Who's Tommy

**Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic**

M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer – Here Lies Love

 

Outstanding Video/Projections

David Bengali – Water for Elephants

Paul Tate dePoo III — The Great Gatsby

**Peter Nigrini – The Who's Tommy**

Finn Ross – Back to the Future

Ash J. Woodward - Patriots

 

Shows with Multiple Award Wins

4: Stereophonic

3: Dead Outlaw, Primary Trust, Suffs

2: The Great Gatsby, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Oh, Mary!