2025 Outer Critics Circle Award winners announced
Maybe Happy Ending leads the pack with four wins including Best Musical, and BOOP! The Musical and Stranger Things: The First Shadow follow with three wins each.
Winners have been announced for the 2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards, which annually celebrate the best of Broadway and Off-Broadway Theatre.
Maybe Happy Ending leads the pack with four wins, including Best Musical, and BOOP! The Musical and Stranger Things: The First Shadow each won three.
A special award was given to Patrick Hoffman, the recently retired curator of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. During his three decades in the position, he preserved tapes of over 1,200 productions in the library's collections.
Nominees and winners of the competitive Outer Critics Circle Awards are listed below, with winners denoted by an asterisk. Get tickets and more information for current and upcoming productions by clicking on the shows' links.
Outstanding New Broadway Play
- Cult of Love
- The Hills of California
- John Proctor Is the Villain*
- Purpose
- Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
- The Big Gay Jamboree
- Drag: The Musical*
- We Live in Cairo
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
- The Antiquities
- Grangeville
- Here There Are Blueberries
- Liberation*
- Table 17
John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)
- Amy Berryman, Walden
- George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck*
- Marin Ireland, Pre-Existing Condition
- Lia Romeo, Still
- Emil Weinstein, Becoming Eve
Outstanding Revival of a Musical
- Cats: The Jellicle Ball*
- Floyd Collins
- Gypsy
- Once Upon a Mattress
- Sunset Boulevard
Outstanding Revival of a Play
- Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
- Glengarry Glen Ross
- Romeo + Juliet
- Vanya*
- Yellow Face
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play
- Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
- Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California*
- Mia Farrow, The Roommate
- Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
- Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play
- Kieran Culkin, Glengarry Glen Ross
- LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
- Francis Jue, Yellow Face*
- Mare Winningham, Cult of Love
- Kara Young, Purpose
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical
- Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
- Jeremy Jordan, Floyd Collins
- Audra McDonald, Gypsy
- Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical*
- Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Boulevard
- Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
- Danny Burstein, Gypsy
- Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat*
- Michele Pawk, Just in Time
- Christopher Sieber, Death Becomes Her
- Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress
Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
- Nick Adams, Drag: The Musical*
- Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree
- Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Safety Not Guaranteed
- Alaska Thunderfuck, Drag: The Musical
- Taylor Trensch, Safety Not Guaranteed
Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
- Ali Louis Bourzgui, We Live in Cairo
- Paris Nix, The Big Gay Jamboree
- Eddie Korbich, Drag: The Musical
- J. Elaine Marcos, Drag: The Musical
- André De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball*
- Henry Stram, Three Houses
Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
- Caroline Aaron, Conversations with Mother
- F. Murray Abraham, Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
- Jayne Atkinson, Still
- Adam Driver, Hold On to Me Darling*
- Anthony Edwards, The Counter
- Paul Sparks, Grangeville
Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
- Betsy Aidem, Liberation
- Sean Bell, The Beacon
- Michael Rishawn, Table 17*
- Richard Schiff, Becoming Eve
- Frank Wood, Hold On to Me Darling
Outstanding Solo Performance
- David Greenspan, I'm Assuming You Know David Greenspan
- Khawla Ibraheem, A Knock on the Roof
- Sam Kissajukian, 300 Paintings
- Andrew Scott, Vanya
- Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray*
Outstanding Book of a Musical
- Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending*
- David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
- Daniel Lazour and Patrick Lazour, We Live in Cairo
- Bob Martin, BOOP! The Musical
- Marco Pennette, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Score
- Will Aronson and Hue Park, Maybe Happy Ending*
- David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts, Operation Mincemeat
- David Foster and Susan Birkenhead, BOOP! The Musical
- Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez, Real Women Have Curves
- Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Orchestrations
- Will Aronson, Maybe Happy Ending
- Doug Besterman, Death Becomes Her
- Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
- Daniel Lazour and Michael Starobin, We Live in Cairo
- Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time*
Outstanding Direction of a Musical
- Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending*
- Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
- Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat
- Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
- Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical
Outstanding Direction of a Play
- Trip Cullman, Cult of Love
- Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
- Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
- Phylicia Rashad, Purpose
- Danya Taymor, John Proctor Is the Villain*
Outstanding Choreography
- Jenny Arnold, Operation Mincemeat
- Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
- Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
- Shannon Lewis, Just in Time
- Jerry Mitchell, BOOP! The Musical*
Outstanding Scenic Design
- Miriam Buether, Jamie Harrison, and Chris Fisher, Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
- Rachel Hauck, Swept Away
- Rob Howell, The Hills of California
- Dane Laffrey, Maybe Happy Ending
- Derek McLane, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Costume Design
- Gregg Barnes, BOOP! The Musical*
- Wilberth Gonzalez and Paloma Young, Real Women Have Curves
- Rob Howell, The Hills of California
- Qween Jean, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
- Paul Tazewell, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Lighting Design
- Kevin Adams, Swept Away
- Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
- Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
- Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
- Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Sound Design
- Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
- Adam Fisher, Sunset Boulevard
- Peter Hylenski, Death Becomes Her
- Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
- John Shivers, Swept Away
Outstanding Video/Projections
- 59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
- Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Boulevard
- David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray*
- Hana S. Kim, Redwood
- Finn Ross, BOOP! The Musical
Photo credit: Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
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