Matthew López Wins Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for “Some Like it Hot”

Matthew López is on a hot streak…

The 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards have been announced, with the 46-year-old Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter taking home an award.

Matthew LopezLopez and Amber Ruffin took home the award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for Some Like it Hot, a musical based on the classic 1959 Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot.

The show — for which Mariah Carey is one of the producers — won eight awards, including outstanding musical and outstanding lyrics for Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.

Meanwhile, Kevin Del Aguila took home one of the two awards for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical for Some Like it Hot.

The 2023 Drama Desk Awards will take place at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York on Tuesday, June 6, from 3 to 6 p.m. ET.

The Drama Desk Awards will be presented five days before the Tony Awards are broadcast on CBS. The Drama Desk Awards differ from the Tonys in several respects.

All four performance categories are “gender-free” – their term for “gender-neutral.” Each of these categories had twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories; each have two winners.

The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theater awards for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories.

The Drama Desk Awards are bestowed by critics, journalists, editors and publishers covering theater.

Shows with 21 or more unique live performances were eligible.

The Drama Desk was founded in 1949 to bring together critics and writers in an organization to support the ongoing development of theater in New York. The organization began presenting awards in 1955.

Here are all the winners:

Outstanding musical: Some Like it Hot
Outstanding revival of a musical: Parade
Outstanding lead performance in a musical: Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd & J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding featured performance in a musical: Kevin Del Aguila, Some Like it Hot & Alex Newell, Shucked
Outstanding direction of a musical: Thomas Kail, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding choreography: Casey Nicholaw, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding music: Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, Shucked
Outstanding lyrics: Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding book of a musical: Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding orchestrations: Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding scenic design of a musical: Beowulf Boritt, New York, New York
Outstanding costume design of a musical: Gregg Barnes, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding lighting design of a musical: Natasha Katz, Sweeney Todd
Outstanding sound design of a musical: Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann, Into the Woods
Outstanding music in a play: Suzan-Lori Parks, Plays for the Plague Year, The Public