All That Chat - Fran Drescher, Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez to announce 59th Annual DRAMA DESK AWARDS Nominations, 4/25

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Fran Drescher, Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez to announce 59th Annual DRAMA DESK AWARDS Nominations, 4/25

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 10:51 am EDT 03/31/14

ACADEMY AWARD® WINNERS ROBERT LOPEZ AND KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ AND TWO-TIME EMMY® AND GOLDEN GLOBE® NOMINEE FRAN DRESCHER TO ANNOUNCE 59TH ANNUAL DRAMA DESK AWARDS NOMINATIONS FRIDAY, APRIL 25TH AT 11AM AT 54 BELOW AWARDS WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 1ST AT THE TOWN HALL www.DramaDeskAwards.com Academy Award® winners Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez ("Let It Go" from Frozen) and two-time Emmy® and Golden Globe® Nominee Fran Drescher (Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella; "The Nanny") will announce the nominations for the 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards on Friday, April 25, 2014 at 11:00 AM at 54 Below (254 W. 54th Street), it was announced today by Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania.com and Isa Goldberg, Drama Desk President. Robert Lopez is a Drama Desk and Tony Award® Winner for The Book of Mormon and Drama Desk nominee for Avenue Q and Kristen Anderson-Lopez is a Drama Desk nominee for In Transit. Robert Lopez is also the youngest EGOT (Emmy®, Grammy®, Oscar®, Tony®) recipient at age 39: E: Best Music Direction and Composition - "The Wonder Pets," 2008 (Daytime Emmy); G: Best Musical Theater Album - The Book of Mormon, 2012; O: Best Original Song - "Let it Go" from Frozen, 2014; T: Best Original Score - Avenue Q, 2004. Fran Drescher, now making her Broadway debut as the wicked stepmother in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, has performed on stage in Nora & Delia Ephron's Love, Loss and What I Wore, LCT's Camelot for PBS, Neil La Bute's Some Girl(s) and The Exonerated. She is a New York Times Best Selling author for Enter Whining and Cancer Schmancer and is perhaps best known for her Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated role of Fran Fine on "The Nanny." The 2013-2014 Drama Desk Nominating Committee is composed of: Barbara Siegel, Chairperson, (Author and Freelance Critic); Morgan Jenness (Dramaturg; Columbia & Pace University Professor); Samuel L. Leiter (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theatre, CUNY); Sandy MacDonald (freelance; TheaterNewsOnline.com); Chad McArver (Lighting and Set Designer; Professor, Fordham University); Martha Wade Steketee (Editor and Contributor, Chance Magazine; UrbanExcavations.com); and James Wilson (Theatre Professor, CUNY; Co-Editor of JADT). "This year's nominations will reflect the bold and dedicated spirit of our nominators," remarked Drama Desk President Isa Goldberg. "We applaud their hard work and we are delighted to honor the broad and richly varied nominees that they will choose." "It is an honor to have Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Fran Drescher announce this year's Drama Desk Nominations," said Gretchen Shugart. "Robert and Kristen both have roots in the theater and are fresh off their Oscar win for Best Song. We are delighted that they will "let it go" with us. Fran is a beloved television idol from her years on "The Nanny" and has worked extensively in the theater, currently wowing crowds nightly in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella." The Nominations Announcement News Conference and the Awards show will be live-streamed on www.TheaterMania.com. The Drama Desk Awards, which are presented annually, honor outstanding achievement by professional theater artists on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. What sets the Drama Desk Awards apart is that they are voted on and bestowed by theater critics, journalists, editors and publishers covering theater. For this reason, Drama Desk Awards reflect both enthusiasm for all aspects of New York's professional theater and a level of erudition and theatrical experience unparalleled in our industry's other prize-giving organizations. The 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Laura Benanti, will be held at The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd Street) on June 1st. For the third consecutive year, TheaterMania will present the awards ceremony and Joey Parnes Productions will produce and manage the show. Shugart is the Managing Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards. The Awards show will be written by Bill Rosenfield anddirected by Jack Cummings III (co-founder and artistic director of Transport Group). Tickets to the 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards are available to the general public atwww.dramadeskawards.com. The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to explore key issues in the theater and to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting its awards in 1955, and it is the only critics' organization to honor achievement in the theater with competition among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions in the same categories. The 2013-2014 Board of Directors of the Drama Desk is composed of: Isa Goldberg (The Broadway Channel), Leslie (Hoban) Blake (City Arts; Two on the Aisle), Charles Wright (A+E Networks), Richard Ridge (Broadway World), Arlene Epstein (South Shore Record & Herald Community Newspapers), Elysa Gardner (USA Today), Randy Gener (USA Editor, Critical Stages; Contributor, NPR), John Istel (Freelance), Edward Karam (offoffonline.com), David Kaufman (Author & Freelance), William Wolf (Adjunct Professor, NYU & wolfentertainmentguide.com), and Lauren Yarger (Manchester Journal-Inquirer & reflectionsinthelight.com). About Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez are the songwriting team behind Disney's blockbuster animated feature, Frozen. Their platinum-selling song, "Let It Go," performed by Idina Menzel, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Robert is the co-creator of the Tony Award winning smash hit Broadway musicals Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon. Kristen co-wrote the original off-Broadway a cappella musical In Tansit. Together Robert and Kristen wrote songs for Disney's Winnie the Pooh and Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo: The Musical, playing 5 shows a day in Walt Disney World. Robert recently became one of only twelve people to have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards (EGOT). Robert and Kristen are perhaps the only married couple to have competed against one another in two Drama Desk Award categories. They met in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and now live in Park Slope, Brooklyn with their two daughters. About Fran Drescher Fran Drescher currently stars as the wickedly funny stepmother Madame in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Broadway Theater. She is a two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for the title role in "The Nanny", which she also created and executive produced, followed by "Living With Fran", and "The Fran Drescher Tawk Show". Fran most recently starred in and created "Happily Divorced", a show based on her real life relationship with her gay ex-husband. She won Esquire's Five Minute Oscar for her performance in the mockumentary, "This Is Spinal Tap." Among her many films, Ms. Drescher is most proud of her starring role in Beautician and the Beast and most recently the animated film Hotel Transylvania as the Bride of Frankenstein. Her theatre credits include Nora & Delia Ephron's Love, Loss and What I Wore, Camelot: Live at Lincoln Center on PBS, Neil La Bute's Some Girl(s) and The Exonerated. Fran has authored New York Times Best Sellers, Enter Whining and Cancer Schmancer. Most recently, she penned a children's book, Being Wendy, which celebrates a child's uniqueness. A 14 year well cancer survivor and leading health advocate, Ms. Drescher founded the Cancer Schmancer Movement www.CancerSchmancer.org. Stage 1 is the Cure! As, Public Diplomacy Envoy by the US State Department, Ms. Drescher takes her message of early detection and prevention to our allied nations and military. About TheaterMania.com Founded in 1999, TheaterMania connects the theater industry with a mass consumer audience, comprehensive listings, news, reviews, features, interviews, and video content covering theater across the United States. TheaterMania's widely distributed email newsletters provide special offers to its subscribers. In addition to providing theaters with online marketing programs to drive ticket sales, TheaterMania's proprietary ticketing system OvationTix™ is used throughout America by hundreds of performing arts organizations, museums, concerts, festivals, and events to process tickets sales, and manage fundraising and patron information. TheaterMania also owns London-based WhatsOnStage.com, a source for information and tickets to UK theatre, and the producer of the annual WhatsOnStage Awards. Gretchen Shugart, CEO of TheaterMania, became Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards in 2012. About Joey Parnes Productions Led by Joey Parnes, a veteran Broadway producer and general manager, Joey Parnes Productions produces, executive produces, and general manages plays and musicals for Broadway and the road in addition to working with non-profits on Broadway transfers. Currently represented on Broadway by A Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder and A Raisin In The Sun, recent credits include Betrayal (2013), the Tony Award winning Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, and the Tony Award winning revival of HAIR. Joey served as the Coordinating Producer of the Tony Awards from 2001 to 2008 and with his colleagues Sue Wagner and John Johnson produced the Drama Desk Awards in 2012 and 2013. For more information, please visit: www.DramaDeskAwards.com

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