By Claude Solnik

 

Yes, Virginia, New York City theater is very much alive beyond Broadway.

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As New York City voters headed to the polls, Off Broadway shows took their bows center stage on Tuesday, June 24 as the Off Broadway Alliance Awards were held at Sardi’s restaurant for shows at venues with fewer than 500 seats.

 

Just days after the Tony awards honored what was billed as Broadway’s best, about 100 people gathered for the 14th annual Off Broadway Alliance Awards, singling out strong shows in smaller houses with lower ticket prices.

 

While Broadway is often a medley of musicals, Off Broadway remains a home and hotbed for drama and comedy as well as musicals.

 

Becoming Eve won for best play, All the World’s a Stage won for best musical, while Hold On to Me Darling (Kenneth Lonergan’s play starring Adam Driver) won for best revival, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan won for best solo show and Odd Man Out won for Best Unique Theatrical Experience.

 

David Greenspan and Scott Morfee were honored as Legends of Off Broadway,  while William Finn, Morgan Jenness and Linda Lavin were inducted into the Off Broadway Hall of Fame and New Yorker theater critic Helen Shaw was honored as a Friend of Off Broadway.

 

“We believe in Off Broadway. We love Off Broadway. We’re proud of Off Broadway. And the way it’s always pushing the envelope,” Off Broadway Alliance President Peter Breger said, citing its “open mindedness, courage and compassion.”

 

The Off Broadway Alliance, at Offbroadwayalliance.com, consists of those in the Off Broadway community, and organizes 20 at 20, a biannual event with $20 tickets to participate Off-Broadway shows 20 minutes prior to curtain.

 

These awards are designed to celebrate the best of Off Broadway from last August 2024 to May, 2025.

 

“It’s been a very good season. I think of the diversity of the projects and the uniqueness,” Breger said. “I really think this year, the shows have given people a jolt of real excitement.”

 

While the Village Voice for many years sponsored the Obies, the Off Broadway Alliance awards have become Off Broadway’s own awards.

 

“I like to think the more serious theater goers go to Off Broadway, looking more for stories than spectacle,” said L. Glenn Poppleton, who produced the awards ceremony.

 

Becoming Eve, which won for best play, tells the true story of a woman in the Hassidic community who comes out and champions her own identity.

 

“Off Broadway has been a love space for me for 25 years,” said Patricia McGregor, artistic director for the New York Theater Workshop, which presented Becoming Eve. “This Off Broadway scene is incredible. We all know how hard the times are, but we all know how important the times are.”

 

The season also saw the appearance of Adam Driver in Hold Onto Me Darling, presented at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. “I had a great time with Hold Onto Me Darling,” said Neil Pepe, who directed Hold Onto Me Darling, a revival of a 2016 production. “Kenneth Lonergan is one of our great playwrights and Adam Driver is a great actor.”

 

Odd Man Out, at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, embodies the idea of innovative theater, presenting a story of a man who loses his sight in a show presented without the benefit of light.

 

“It invites our audiences to do something truly radical, turn off the lights and truly listen,” Breger said. “It’s experienced entirely in the dark.”

 

David Greenspan, who stars in a show inspired by his life, talked about how he became involved in the craft.

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“I was introduced to the theater, as I suspect many people have been and continue to be, by recordings of Broadway musicals,” Greenspan said. “The trajectory of my career has led me elsewhere. It’s a privilege to be in the theater. I can’t imagine another profession where I could have enjoyed almost 50 years of opportunity.”

 

Linda Lavin, who starred in Alice on TV and Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound on Broadway, was honored for starting in and returning to do numerous Off Broadway shows. “She came back to of Broadway again and again,” Breger said of Lavin, who passed away last December.

 

Billy Stritch, a musical director who has worked on projects such as Liza Minnelli,the 42nd Street revival, Billy Stritch Sings Mel Tormé and often worked with Lavin, accepted the award for her.

 

She had also appeared on Barney Miller, Rhoda and for nine years in Alice as well as Broadway, while also carved out a niche on Off Broadway as a labor of love.

 

“She made an indelible mark on Broadway, but Off Broadway was really where she found her footing,” Stritch said. “And she kept coming back again and again and again Her ability to tap into the heart of a character was nothing less than thrilling.”

 

Breger talked about William Finn’s musicals made a big mark on Off Broadway and nationwide. “He took shame and suffering and a feeling of being different and an outsider and embraced it,” Breger said, citing shows such as The March of the Falsettos.

 

Carlos Armesto, who produced Odd Man Out, winner for Best Unique Theatrical Experience, said he and his production were “excited and fortunate to be honored and recognized by people who did work over decades.”

 

Armesto said making a show stand out is an important part of attracting audiences, seeking unique experiences.“We talked about how unique it was,” Armesto said of the show about a man who loses his sight. “How out of the box it was. How we could transport you out of your comfort zone. How you could activate your imagination. That’s what this show was.”