2025 Outer Critics Circle Awards winners revealed

The Outer Critics Circle has announced its list of 2025 award winners.

Honouring productions on and off-Broadway, West End imports including Operation Mincemeat, The Hills of California, Vanya, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Sunset Boulevard and The Picture of Dorian Gray were all eligible.

Winners of the 75th anniversary Outer Critics Circle Awards will be celebrated at a ceremony held on 22 May in New York.

The following productions were considered in previous seasons, with only new elements eligible during this cycle: Buena Vista Social Club; Dead Outlaw; English; Hold On to Me Darling; Job; and Oh, Mary!. The following productions were not eligible for awards this season: All In: Comedy About Love, and Ben Platt: Live at the Palace.

The complete list of nominees is below, with winners highlighted.

Outstanding New Broadway Play
Cult of Love
The Hills of California
WINNER: John Proctor Is the Villain
Purpose
Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Boop! The Musical
Death Becomes Her
WINNER: Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
The Big Gay Jamboree
WINNER: Drag: The Musical
We Live in Cairo

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
The Antiquities
Grangeville
Here There Are Blueberries
WINNER: Liberation
Table 17

John Gassner Award (new American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Amy Berryman, Walden
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Once Upon a Mattress
Sunset Blvd.

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Beckett Briefs: From the Cradle to the Grave
Glengarry Glen Ross
Romeo + Juliet
WINNER: Vanya
Yellow Face

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Jasmine Amy Rogers, Boop! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Danny Burstein, Gypsy
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: 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 (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: 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 (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
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
WINNER: Andrew Resnick and Michael Thurber, Just in Time*

Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: 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 (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Trip Cullman, Cult of Love
Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Sam Mendes, The Hills of California
Phylicia Rashad, Purpose
WINNER: Danya Taymor, John Proctor Is the Villain*

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Jenny Arnold, Operation Mincemeat
Warren Carlyle, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Shannon Lewis, Just in Time
WINNER: Jerry Mitchell, Boop! the Musical*

Outstanding Scenic Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: 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 (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: 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 (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Kevin Adams, Swept Away
Natasha Chivers, The Hills of California
WINNER: Jon Clark, Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
Ben Stanton, Maybe Happy Ending
Justin Townsend, Death Becomes Her

Outstanding Sound Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
WINNER: Paul Arditti, Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
Adam Fisher, Sunset Blvd.
Peter Hylenski, Death Becomes Her
Peter Hylenski, Maybe Happy Ending
John Shivers, Swept Away

Outstanding Video/Projections (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
59, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, Sunset Blvd.
WINNER: David Bergman, The Picture of Dorian Gray*
Hana S. Kim, Redwood
Finn Ross, Boop! The Musical

Special Awards
Patrick Hoffman, the recently retired curator of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in honour of over three decades of service to the theater community, during which time he ensured the preservation of over 1,200 productions.

Tally by Number of Awards

4 – Maybe Happy Ending
3 – Boop! The Musical; Stranger Things: The First Shadow
2 – Cats: The Jellicle Ball; Drag: The Musical; John Proctor Is the Villain; The Picture of Dorian Gray
1 – Liberation; Good Night, and Good Luck; The Hills of California; Hold On to Me Darling; Just in Time; Operation Mincemeat; Table 17; Vanya; Yellow Face