Tony Award Winner Laura Benanti Hosts Broadway’s Big Night

Drama Desk and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti hosted the 59th Drama Desk Awards on Sunday, June 1, 2014, at The Town Hall. Big winners of the night included “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” with seven wins, Audra McDonald, Bryan Cranston, Jessie Mueller, Neil Patrick Harris and Jefferson Mays.

The Drama Desk Awards are given annually, and are the only major New York theater awards for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other. In choosing the winners, a committee decides which productions are eligible for nomination and people in the media vote on the awards

The Awards was formed in 1949 by New York theater critics, editors, reporters and publishers and became the first major organization to honor achievement in Off-Broadway in 1955, followed in 1974 by Off-Off Broadway. The formation of the organization was to educate the community all matters concerning theater and its continued success is dependent on this practice.

For more information on Drama Desk, visit www.dramadesk.org.