Lindsay Mendez is having an Outer this world moment…
The Outer Critics Circle has named announced its award winners, with the 40-year-old half-Mexican American Tony Award-winning actress coming away with one prize.
Mendez was named Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off Broadway Musical for her performance in Merrily We Roll Along.
The Circle is made up of writers on New York theater for out-of-town newspapers and national publication.
In all, Some Like It Hottopped the winners list with five, in all – with Leopoldstadtcoming in second with three awards.
Winners of the 72nd Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards will be honored at a ceremony on Thursday, May 25 at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for The Performing Arts.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
Outstanding New Broadway Musical Some Like It Hot
Outstanding New Broadway Play Leopoldstadt
Outstanding New Off Broadway Musical The Harder They Come
Outstanding New Off Broadway Play Downstate
John Gassner Award for New American Play (Preferably by a New Playwright) Fat Ham by James Ijames
Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Topdog/Underdog
Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Parade
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical Harrison Ghee – Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical Alex Newell – Shucked
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play Sean Hayes – Good Night, Oscar
Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play Brandon Uranowitz – Leopoldstadt
Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off Broadway Play Bill Irwin – Endgame
Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off Broadway Play Todd Freeman – Downstate
Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off Broadway Musical Jonathan Groff – Merrily We Roll Along
Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off Broadway Musical Lindsay Mendez – Merrily We Roll Along
Outstanding Solo Performance Jodie Comer – Prima Facie
Outstanding New Score Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman – Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Book of a Musical Robert Horn – Shucked
Outstanding Scenic Design (Play or Musical) Beowulf Boritt – New York, New York
Outstanding Costume Design (Play or Musical) Gregg Barnes – Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) Tim Lutkin – Life of Pi
Outstanding Sound Design (Play or Musical) Joshua D. Reid – A Christmas Carol
Outstanding Video or Projection Design (Play or Musical) Andrzej Goulding – Life of Pi
Outstanding Orchestrations Bryan Carter and Charlie Rosen – Some Like It Hot
Outstanding Director of a Musical Michael Arden – Parade
Outstanding Choreography Susan Stroman – New York, New York
Outstanding Director of a Play Patrick Marber – Leopoldstadt
Special Achievement Award B.H. Barry, one of the world’s foremost fight directors, in recognition of a distinguished six-decade career capped off with Camelot at Lincoln Center Theater.
The 39-year-old half-Mexican American actress, singer and Broadway star has been cast in the highly anticipated off-Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along.
Mendez will play Mary and Jonathan Groff will play Franklin in the project, which will begin previews at New York Theatre Workshop on November 21 ahead of an official opening night on December 12.
The run is scheduled through January 8.
With a score by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, Merrily We Roll Along is based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, and features classic songs like “Old Friends,” “Not a Day Goes By,” and “Our Time.”
It tells the story of a trio of creative friends making their way in New York, and is famously told in reverse chronology.
Mendez won the “triple crown” (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards) for her performance in the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel.
Mendez and Groff join the previously announced Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as Charley.
Presented in a special arrangement with Sonia Friedman Productions, the Menier Chocolate Factory (Artistic Director David Babani), and Patrick Catullo, Merrily We Roll Along will be directed by Maria Friedman and choreographed by Tim Jackson.
The creative team for Merrily We Roll Along will include Catherine Jayes as music supervisor and Alvin Hough, Jr. as music director, with scenic & costume design by Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker, and sound design by Kai Harada.
Dave Anzuelo will serve as fight & intimacy director, with Jhanaë K-C Bonnick as stage manager.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, September 21, at noon ET.
The 49-year-old Cuban American stage and television actor is among this year’s Outer Critics Circle Awards recipients, a collection of Broadway and Off Broadway ecipients that make up the organization’s first-ever slate of multiple honorees.
With the Tony Awards remaining a mere possibility this year, the 70th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards took a different approach to an unusual, pandemic-shortened theater season: Instead of selecting traditional nominees with one winner from each category, the OCCnamed five honorees in each of its technical categories and up to six honorees in the acting categories.
Esparza was named one of the honorees in the Outstanding Actor in a Playcategory for his acclaimed performance in Seared.
Esparza’s Searedco-star Krysta Rodriguezwas one of the honorees in the Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play category.
Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance picked up an honoree designation for Outstanding New Broadway Play.
The Puerto Rican playwright penned the two-part play, which is set in New York three decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic.
John Ortiz was one of the honorees in the Outstanding Director of a Play for helming Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, while one of the play’s stars, Liza Colón-Zayas, was named an Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play honoree.
Karen Olivo picked up an honoree designation for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her starring role in Moulin Rouge!
Recalibrated to celebrate “widespread excellence in New York theater this season,” the OCC Awards – chosen by the official organization of writers on New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers and national publications – were announced by past honorees Kristin Chenoweth, Bryan Cranston, Patti LuPone, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Patrick Stewart.
The OCC is making a donation to The Actors’ Fundin support of its emergency relief efforts.
Here’s a look at the 2019-2020 Outer Critics Circle Award honorees:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Grand Horizons Written by Bess Wohl
The Height of the Storm Written by Florian Zeller Translated by Christopher Hampton
The Inheritance Written by Matthew Lopez
Linda Vista Written by Tracy Letts
The Sound Inside Written by Adam Rapp
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Jagged Little Pill Music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard Lyrics by Alanis Morissette Book by Diablo Cody
Moulin Rouge! Book by John Logan Based on the 2001 Twentieth Century Fox Motion Picture written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Book by Katori Hall With Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Cambodian Rock Band Written by Lauren Yee
Greater Clements Written by Samuel D. Hunter
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Make Believe Written by Bess Wohl
Seared Written by Theresa Rebeck
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
Darling Grenadine Book, Music, and Lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik
Octet Book, Music, and Lyrics by Dave Malloy
The Secret Life of Bees Book by Lynn Nottage Music by Duncan Sheik Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead Based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd
Soft Power Book and Lyrics by David Henry Hwang Music and Additional Lyrics by Jeanine Tesori
A Strange Loop Book, Music, and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Betrayal Written by Harold Pinter
Fires in the Mirror Written by Anna Deavere Smith
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf Written by Ntozake Shange
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Written by Terrence McNally
A Soldier’s Play Written by Charles Fuller
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Little Shop of Horrors Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman Music by Alan Menken
The Unsinkable Molly Brown Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson Book and New Lyrics by Dick Scanlan Based on the Original Book by Richard Morris Music Adapted by Michael Rafter
West Side Story Music by Leonard Bernstein Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Arthur Laurents Based on a Conception by Jerome Robbins
JOHN GASSNER AWARD (Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Georgia Mertching Is Dead by Catya McMullen Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery Our Dear Dead Drug Lord by Alexis Scheer Pari sby Eboni Booth
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Diablo Cody, Jagged Little Pill David Henry Hwang, Soft Power Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop Lynn Nottage, The Secret Life of Bees Mark Saltzman, Romeo and Bernadette
OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Susan Birkenhead and Duncan Sheik, The Secret Life of Bees Ross Golan, The Wrong Man Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop Dave Malloy, Octet Jeanine Tesori and David Henry Hwang, Soft Power
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY David Cromer, The Sound Inside Stephen Daldry, The Inheritance Kenny Leon, A Soldier’s Play Jamie Lloyd, Betrayal John Ortiz, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL Stephen Brackett, A Strange Loop Michael Mayer, Little Shop of Horrors Diane Paulus, Jagged Little Pill Alex Timbers,Moulin Rouge! Ivo van Hove, West Side Story
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER Sidi Larbi Cherakoui, Jagged Little Pill Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop Sonya Tayeh,Moulin Rouge! Anthony Van Laast, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Travis Wall, The Wrong Man
OUTSTANDING ORCHESTRATIONS Tom Kitt, Jagged Little Pill Alex Lacamoire, The Wrong Man Justin Levine, with Matt Stine, Katie Kresek, and Charlie Rosen,Moulin Rouge! Christopher Nightingale, A Christmas Carol Duncan Sheik and John Clancy, The Secret Life of Bees
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY Ian Barford, Linda Vista Edmund Donovan, Greater Clements Raúl Esparza, Seared Tom Hiddleston, Betrayal Will Hochman, The Sound Inside Jonathan Pryce, The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY Eileen Atkins, The Height of the Storm Judith Ivey, Greater Clements Joaquina Kalukango, Slave Play April Matthis,Toni Stone Mary-Louise Parker, The Sound Inside Portia, Stew
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY David Alan Grier, A Soldier’s Play John Benjamin Hickey, The Inheritance Paul Hilton,The Inheritance Samuel H. Levine, The Inheritance John-Andrew Morrison, Blues for an Alabama Sky Chris Perfetti, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY Liza Colón-Zayas, Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven Montego Glover, All the Natalie Portmans Marsha Mason,Little Gem Krysta Rodriguez, Seared Lois Smith, The Inheritance Jennifer Van Dyck, The Confession of Lily Dare
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE David Cale, We’re Only Alive For a Short Amount of Time Laura Linney, My Name Is Lucy Barton Aedin Moloney, Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom Deirdre O’Connell, Dana H. Michael Benjamin Washington, Fires in the Mirror
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Jonathan Groff,Little Shop of Horrors Joshua Henry, The Wrong Man Adam Kantor, Darling Grenadine Larry Owens, A Strange Loop Isaac Powell, West Side Story Aaron Tveit, Moulin Rouge!
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Beth Malone, The Unsinkable Molly Brown Janelle McDermoth, We’re Gonna Die Karen Olivo, Moulin Rouge! Shereen Pimentel, West Side Story Elizabeth Stanley, Jagged Little Pill Adrienne Warren, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Christian Borle,Little Shop of Horrors Danny Burstein, Moulin Rouge! Gus Halper, Sing Street Jay Armstrong Johnson, Scotland, PA Francis Jue, Soft Power Daniel J. Watts, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Eisa Davis, The Secret Life of Bees Kathryn Gallagher, Jagged Little Pill LaChanze, The Secret Life of Bees Judy McLane, Romeo & Bernadette Lauren Patten, Jagged Little Pill Saycon Sengbloh, The Secret Life of Bees
OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN (Play or Musical) Rob Howell, A Christmas Carol Tim Mackabee, Seared Derek McLane, Moulin Rouge! Clint Ramos, Grand Horizons Anthony Ward,The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN (Play or Musical) Vanessa Leuck, Emojiland Jeff Mahshie, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Mark Thompson, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Rachel Townsend & Jessica Jahn, The Confession of Lily Dare Catherine Zuber, Moulin Rouge!
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN (Play or Musical) Isabella Byrd, Heroes of the Fourth Turning Heather Gilbert, The Sound Inside Justin Townsend, Moulin Rouge! Hugh Vanstone, A Christmas Carol Hugh Vanstone, The Height of the Storm
OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN (Play or Musical) Luke Halls, West Side Story Brad Peterson, Broadway Bounty Hunter Lisa Renkel and Possible Productions, Emojiland Aaron Rhyne, The Sound Inside Hannah Wasileski, Fires in the Mirror
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN (Play or Musical) Simon Baker, A Christmas Carol Mikhail Fiksel, Dana H. Peter Hylenski, Moulin Rouge! Lee Kinney and Sanae Yamada, Is This A Room Daniel Kluger, The Sound Inside
The Colombian choreographer earned Outstanding Choreography honors at this year’s Outer Critics Circle Awards.
Trujillo, a Tony Awards nominee this year, earned the recognition for his work on On Your Feet! The Emilio and Gloria Estefan Musical.
Meanwhile, Marco Ramirez won the John Gassner Award, which is presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright, for penning The Royale.
The Latino playwright/author made his off-Broadway debut with the Lincoln Center Theater opening of the new drama about the early life of the boxer Jack Johnson.
The Outer Critics Circle’s prizes serve as an imperfect bellwether for the Tony Awards, since a number of significant titles in the Tony race – most notably Hamilton – weren’t eligible for the OCCs this year because they were recognized in prior incarnations and in previous years. Another Tony player, Shuffle Along, didn’t open in time to be considered by the OCCs.
OCC winners will receive awards at a May 26 ceremony at Sardi’s.
Here’s the full list of 2015-16 Outer Critics Circle Award winners:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY: The Humans OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL: Bright Star OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY: The Christians OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL: Dear Evan Hansen OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway): Dear Evan Hansen OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE (Broadway or Off-Broadway): Bright Star OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY (Broadway or Off-Broadway): Long Day’s Journey Into Night OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL (Broadway or Off-Broadway): She Loves Me OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY: Ivo van Hove, A View From the Bridge OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL: Michael Arden, Spring Awakening OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER: Sergio Trujillo, On Your Feet! OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN (Play or Musical): David Rockwell, She Loves Me OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN (Play or Musical): Jeff Mahshie, She Loves Me OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN (Play or Musical): Justin Townsend, American Psycho the Musical OUTSTANDING PROJECTION DESIGN (Play or Musical): Finn Ross, American Psycho the Musical OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY: Frank Langella, The Father OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Jessica Lange, Long Day’s Journey Into Night OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Danny Burstein , Fiddler on the Roof OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple the Musical OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY: Michael Shannon, Long Day’s Journey Into Night OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY (TIE VOTE): Pascale Armand, Eclipsed & Judith Light, Thérèse Raquin OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE: James Lecesne, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey JOHN GASSNER AWARD: Marco Ramirez, The Royale SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: James Houghton, Signature Theatre Company
Mendez was named Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off Broadway Musical for her performance in Merrily We Roll Along.
