64th Annual Theatre World Awards Are Presented

The 64th Annual Theatre World Awards were presented at the Helen Hayes Theatre in an invitation-only ceremony on June 10. The ceremony was hosted by TheaterMania contributor Peter Filichia.

As previously announced, the 2007-08 Theatre World Award winners, which honor Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut performances, were de’Adre Aziza, Passing Strange; Cassie Beck, Drunken City; Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange; Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County; Hoon Lee, Yellow Face; Alli Mauzey, Cry-Baby; Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George; Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing; Loretta Ables Sayre, South Pacific; Jimmi Simpson, The Farnsworth Invention; and Paulo Szot, South Pacific. Only Simpson could not attend the ceremony.

Former Theatre World Award winners Alec Baldwin, Jonathan Cake, John Cullum, Griffin Dunne, Alexander Gemignani, Laura Linney, Andrea Martin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alice Playten, Rosie Perez, and B.D. Wong presented the awards.

In addition, Carol Lawrence opened the show by singing a medley from West Side Story, for which she won a 1958 Theatre World Award; 2005 winner Tyler Maynard sang “I Am a Catholic” from Altar Boyz; and 1982 winner Karen Akers concluded the show by singing Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s “I Was Here.”

In addition to Filichia, the awards committee included journalists Harry Haun, Matthew Murray, Frank Scheck, Michael Sommers, Douglas Watt, and Linda Winer.