significance. Within days of winning
his award in 1966, a diminutive young
actor who’d been toiling in obscurity
Off Broadway found himself on his
way to great Hollywood heights in
a classic film. The actor was Dustin
Hoffman, and the film was Mike
Nichols’ The Graduate.
The Drama Desk Awards,
which precedes Broadway’s
Tony Awards by several weeks,
celebrates excellence in all
areas of New York theater—
Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off
Broadway and not-for-profit.
“Excellence is not exclusive
to Broadway,” says William
Wolf, a longtime theater critic
and president of Drama Desk,
an organization of critics, writers and editors who cover New
York theater. “Excellence can
be displayed in productions
whether they be large or small,
with a big Broadway budget or
with more modest means.”
The Drama Desk comprises
130 voting members and an additional 50 associate members. It was created in 1949, and the awards debuted
in 1955. The nominating committee, a
group of seven theater professionals,
see more than 500 productions every
year before deciding on nominations
in 28 categories. On April 26 at a New
York City Friars Club breakfast, two
Special Discounts
for Arrive Readers
General admission tickets for the
show are now on sale. Arrive readers can purchase a limited number
of VIP tickets or general admission
tickets at a 15 percent discount by
using the special code (AMTDD07)
when calling TheaterMania.com at
212-352-3101 prior to May 18.
previous winners—James Naughton,
recently seen in the film The Devil
Wears Prada, and Beth Leavel, from
The Drowsy Chaperone—joined Wolf
and Drama Desk Awards executive
producer Robert R. Blume in announcing the nominees.
Top: Kristin
Chenoweth hosts
this year’s show.
Right: Antonio
Banderas and
Harvey Fierstein at
the 2004 event.
“We are very excited to have
Kristin Chenoweth as our host,”
says Blume, who assumed leadership of the show in 1999 and helped
secure its broadcast on national
PBS stations. “Our awards show is a
celebration of theater, and when I say
celebration, I mean it. The nominees
love coming because they enjoy seeing each other. They also have high
regard for the Drama Desk Awards
because they are chosen by professional theater critics and writers.”
Blume, a theatrical producer for
more than 25 years, says the theater
is about the quality of life.
“And most of all, it’s about people,”
Blume says, “not only those who
work in the theater, but in other industries such as hospitality, tourism
and travel, and people from all walks
of life for whom a night at the theater
is often the thrill of a lifetime.”
The professional theater scene is
part of the lifeblood of New York—an
economic powerhouse that last year
supported more than 45,000 jobs.
Its economic impact on the city was
$4.5 billion, according to The League
of American Theatres and Producers,
an industry trade organization.
In the last decade, the annual
Drama Desk Awards has evolved
from a quiet dinner for a small group
of theatrical luminaries into a major event, with a growing television
audience on PBS, elevating public
awareness of the best performances
the New York theater
scene has to offer.
The telecast also
provides a preview
of attractions coming to other American cities. And now
Chenoweth follows
in the footsteps
of hosts such as
stage legends Lily
Tomlin, Bebe Neuwirth, Rue Mc-Clanahan, Bernadette Peters and
Harvey Fierstein.
The Drama Desk Awards is one of
New York’s biggest theater parties of
the year. And in 2007, there are two
exclusive VIP receptions—a pre-show
gathering at the Russian Tea Room
and post-show dessert at The China
Grill. For more information on this
year’s event, go to DramaDesk.org.
Arrive is an official sponsor of the
2007 Drama Desk Awards.
