'South Pacific,' 'Osage Cty' top Drama Desk awards

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An acclaimed revival of the classic musical "South Pacific" topped the 53rd annual Drama Desk awards on Sunday, winning five honors, while Pulitzer Prize-winning "August: Osage County" led the competition among plays.

The best musical prize went to the off-beat "Passing Strange."

The awards for the Broadway shows set them up as strong contenders for next month's Tony Awards, the New York theater world's top honors.

Veteran musical star Patti LuPone was named outstanding actress in a musical for her turn as Mama Rose in a well-received revival of "Gypsy," while Deanna Dunagan won the Drama Desk for her work in "Osage County," Tracy Letts' play about a beyond-dysfunctional family in small town America which also won best director for Anna Shapiro.

Actor honors went to Paulo Szot for "South Pacific" and Mark Rylance for "Boeing-Boeing," while Laurence Fishburne received the outstanding solo performance award for his portrayal of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in "Thurgood."

Shut out of the honors was Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein," a colossal show which received at-best middling reviews and was also snubbed in the Tony award nominations but for a few minor categories.

"South Pacific," the first Broadway revival of the Rodgers & Hammerstein 1949 musical about culture-spanning love on a South Seas island, also won for director Bartlett Sher, as well as sound and set design for a musical.

"Gypsy" took both featured musical performer honors, which went to Boyd Gaines and Laura Benati, while the 1960s comedy about flight attendants, "Boeing-Boeing," was named best revival of a play.