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BY MICHAEL MUSTO | Every year, the Drama Desk awards attract the best in Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway for a competitive celebration where I get to hone in on the folks who’ve made the season stellar for us Playbill collectors. What follows are some of the brightest lights that turned up on Sunday night (June 1) at NYU Skirball, as well as—previously—-at the Chita Rivera Awards nominees’ reception at Bond 45 and the New Dramatists luncheon at the Marriott. Yes, it’s been an end-of-season whirlwind! 

CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER (Accepted special honor for late Tony winner Gavin Creel)

MM: Hello, Celia. How did you first meet Gavin?

CKB: At University of Michigan, he directed me in a production of Pippin. 

MM: That’s when your relationship started?

CKB: The love affair, literally. And then, best friends for 25 years.

MM: What do you miss the most about him?

CKB: Having a person who you could be your worst, pettiest self with and also your most joyous, grateful, inspired self with. Everything was on the table!

MICHAEL URIE, Drama Desk winner for Once Upon a Mattress

MM: Congrats on your award! From all reports, you had so much fun romping in that Mattress.

MU: Yes! I loved working with Sutton Foster, Ana Gasteyer, Brooks Ashmanskas. And when we took it to L.A., they embraced us in a wonderful way. They really wanted the joy. My character, Prince Dauntless, was basically a manchild at the beginning. He suffers from arrested development. When I meet Princess Winnifred (Foster), I blossom and become a man. I love playing that arc—from boy to man.

MM: Speaking of which: How is your part on Shrinking–the Apple TV+ hit–-evolving?

MU: We’re filming our third season right now. I play Jason Segel’s best friend and he ghosted me after his wife died because I had so much positivity and he didn’t want to be around that. My motto was, “Everything’s going my way!” but I knew I wasn’t going to play that note all the time. So my character–-Brian–-got married (to a guy) and they have a kid. There are hurdles now. He’s challenging himself!

 JINKX MONSOON, presenter

MM: Hi, Jinkx. You currently play Ruth in the jazzy revamp Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Are you a Gilbert and Sullivan gal?

JM: As much as any musical theater professional, I feel it’s compulsory. But it was never the thing that specifically spoke to me, until [director] Scott Ellis told me we’d be doing Gilbert and Sullivan “in a way that specifically speaks to you.” (Laughs)

MM: It must be exciting to be part of all these awards get-togethers. I love this time of year. It’s like a family reunion every night.

JM: It has been! It feels like a family reunion, even though I don’t know anyone yet. But they make me feel like I’ve always been here!

TOM FRANCIS (Drama Desk nominee for Sunset Boulevard)

MM: Hello, Tom. As screenwriter Joe Gillis, you bravely go out into the streets of Times Square in the middle of the show, as captured on video. What do you do when it’s bad weather?

TF: Umbrella.

MM: Ah! Just like my mother taught me! Did you like director Jamie Lloyd’s avant garde approach to the material?

TF: Yes. It’s like jazz. Taking the rules and breaking them. 

MM: Will you do more productions like this one?

TF: We’ll see. Every show has its own joys.

MM: You’re up for a Tony, too. How thrilling is all this?

TF: It’s been a remarkable process. It’s so nice to be recognized by prestigious awards bodies. I can’t wait to step back and take stock of what’s happened. I feel like I’m in the throes of it right now.

MM: What parts would you like to play in the future?

TF: Roger in Rent. Or anything Sondheim.

KIP WILLIAMS, Drama Desk winner for Unique Theatrical Experience (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

MM: Congrats, Kip. Your job adapting and directing that multimedia show must have been something else.

KW: Yes. I thought of myself as a circus ringmaster, a conductor of the Sarah Snook Orchestra and with dancing Pina Bausch cameras rolling around the stage. 

MM: It’s extraordinary. And you found the perfect collaborator in Snook.

KW: I’m very lucky to have worked with her. She’s a gift to the creative process. She transforms so many times! And she has the capacity to understand storytelling in a  way that is so layered. 

MM: Would you say that she (and you) are commenting on the material as you deliver it?

KW: Wilde is the height of camp in the true sense of camp–puncturing conventions and allowing us to see the artifice and allowing us to laugh at the absurdity.

JASMINE AMY ROGERS (Drama Desk’s Lead Performance in a Musical winner for BOOP! The Musical, along with Audra McDonald for Gypsy.  I met her at the Chita Rivera Awards’ reception.)

MM: Hello, Jasmine! In BOOP!, you exuberantly sing about being “Where I Wanna Be.” Well, that song must apply to practically everywhere you go these days.

JAR: Yes! I’m constantly in the best place possible. I’m living a dream. 

MM: The character Betty Boop was originally based on a black performer, Baby Esther?

JAR: Yes, she was. And jazz is rooted in black culture. [Director/Choreographer] Jerry Mitchell knew he wanted a black woman for the part.

MM: But I hear that your first audition…

JAR: It didn’t go well. I was nervous and felt so out of my body. I did well with the acting and singing, but not the dancing. I was so dejected. 

MM: But fortunately, they gave you another chance. 

JAR: And the universe had a plan!

JONATHAN GROFF, Just in Time

(at the New Dramatists luncheon honoring Idina Menzel and Tina Landau)

JG: When I saw Redwood, my jaw was on the floor as Idina scaled a tree and turned upside down while belting her face off. I’m  sure a whole new generation of gays was birthed!

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By the way, the Drama Desk hosts were Debra Messing and Tituss Burgess, and some of the most prominent winners were:

Outstanding Play: Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Outstanding Musical: Maybe Happy Ending

Outstanding Revival of a Play: Eureka Day

Outstanding Revival of a Musical: Gypsy

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play: Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California. |. Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical: Audra McDonald, Gypsy  |. Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play: Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain  | Kara Young, Purpose

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical: Brooks Ashmanskas, Smash  |. Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat  |. Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress

Outstanding Solo Performance: Andrew Scott, Vanya

 

Michael Musto is a columnist, pop cultural and political pundit, NYC nightlife chronicler, author, and the go-to gossip responsible for the long-running (1984-2013) Village Voice column, “La Dolce Musto.” His work appears on this website as well as Queerty.com and thedailybeast.com, and he is writing for the Village Voice, which made its debut in April of 2021. Follow Musto on Instagram, via @michaelmusto.

 

 

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