Between Riverside and Crazy, which was recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was named Best Play, while the Broadway-bound hip hop musical Hamilton was named Best Musical.
Special citations were given to Ars Nova, the Off-Broadway breeding ground for daring new work, as well as scenic and costume designer Bob Crowley (An American in Paris, The Audience, Skylight).
The awards will be presented at a private cocktail reception on May 19.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and cast in Hamilton at the Public Theater
Adam Feldman, theatre critic for Time Out New York, has served as president of the NYDCC since 2005. Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post serves as vice president; Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News is treasurer.
The selections were made at the 80th annual voting meeting of the organization, at the offices of Time Out New York in Manhattan, and announced afterward. The awards will be presented at a private cocktail reception on a later date. The award for Best Play carries a cash prize of $2,500, made possible by a grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
Recent winners include All the Way (Best Play 2014), the Off-Broadway production of Fun Home (Best Musical 2014), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Best Play 2013), Matilda (Best Musical 2013), Sons of the Prophet (Best Play 2012), Tribes (Best Foreign Play 2012), Once (Best Musical 2012), Good People (Best Play 2011), Jerusalem (Best Foreign Play 2011) and The Book of Mormon (Best Musical 2011).
Each year the New York Drama Critics' Circle also awards special citations to individuals, groups and/or productions for their outstanding contributions in theatre. Recent recipients of these citations include Mike Nichols, Soho Rep, Mark Rylance, John Lee Beatty, Signature Theatre Company and the 2012 Broadway revival of The Normal Heart.
The New York Drama Critics' Circle comprises 23 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites based in the New York metropolitan area. The New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, which has been awarded every year since 1936 to the best new play of the season (with optional awards for foreign or American plays, musicals and performers), is the nation's second-oldest theatre award, after the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In addition to Feldman, Vincentelli and Dziemianowicz, the members of the New York Drama Critics' Circle are Hilton Als, The New Yorker; Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly; David Cote, Time Out New York; Michael Feingold, TheaterMania; Robert Feldberg, Bergen Record; Elysa Gardner, USA Today; Jeremy Gerard, Deadline; Jesse Green, New York; Mark Kennedy, Associated Press; David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter; Frank Scheck, New York Post; Tom Sellar, Village Voice; David Sheward, Theaterlife; John Simon, Yonkers Tribune; Marilyn Stasio, Variety; Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania; Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal; Matt Windman, amNewYork; Linda Winer, Newsday; and Richard Zoglin, Time. Emeritus members include David Finkle, Brian Scott Lipton, Michael Sommers and Steven Suskin.
