The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category. Presented since 1955, they are considered one of the important American theater awards.

The Drama Desk organization was formed in 1949 by a group of New York theater critics, editors, reporters and publishers, born out of the desire to educate the community on vital issues concerning the theater. In 1955, the organization began presenting the Vernon Rice Awards in honor of theater critic Vernon Rice of the New York Post, who had pioneered Off-Broadway coverage in the New York press. The name was changed as of the 1963–1964 awards season. In the first fifteen years of the award, Broadway shows were not eligible for these awards, but as of the 1968–1969 season, Broadway productions were included. Only winners were announced in the early years, but in 1975, the Drama Desk began to announce nominees as well. In 1974, the Drama Desk became incorporated as a not-for-profit organization.

Tracie Bennett (born Tracey Anne Bennett, 17 June 1961, in Leigh, Lancashire) is an English stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. Best known for her work in the theatre, both dramatic and musical, Bennett received Olivier Awards for her performances in the musicals She Loves Me and Hairspray, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Judy Garland in the Broadway production of the biopic play End of the Rainbow, a role which earned her an Olivier Award nomination for the London production.

Tracie Bennett's television debut was in the children's series Going Out, before appearing in Coronation Street between 1982 and 1984 as Sharon Gaskell, the Fairclough's foster daughter. She returned to the role in 1999. She played dim-witted blonde Tracy Glazebrook in the pilot of Steven Moffat's sitcom Joking Apart (1991), a role which she reprised for the subsequent two full length series in 1993 and 1995. She played Keaveney Millandra in the comedy film Shirley Valentine (1989).

Kristin Chenoweth (born July 24, 1968) is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999), for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked (2003). Her best-known television role is Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing. As Olive Snook on the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies, she won a 2009 Emmy Award. Chenoweth stars in the ABC TV series GCB, which premiered in March 2012.

An Oklahoma native, Chenoweth sang gospel music as a child and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier. Besides You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked, Chenoweth's stage work includes five City Center Encores! productions, Broadway's The Apple Tree in 2006 and Promises, Promises in 2010, as well as Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions.

Chenoweth had her own TV series Kristin in 2001, and has guest starred on many shows, including Sesame Street and Glee, for which she was nominated for Emmy awards in 2010 and 2011. In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched (2005), The Pink Panther (2006) and RV (2006). She has also played roles in made-for-TV movies, done voice work in animated films and the animated TV series Sit Down, Shut Up, hosted several award shows and released several albums of songs, including A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas (2008) and Some Lessons Learned (2011). Chenoweth also penned a 2009 memoir, A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages.

Mitzi Gaynor (born September 4, 1931) is an American actress, singer and dancer.

Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director.

Her family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood. She trained as a ballerina as a child and began her career as a chorus dancer. At 13 she was singing and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera company. She lied about her address so she could attend Hollywood High School, and signed a seven year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox at age 17. She sang, acted and danced in a number of film musicals, often paired with some of the biggest male musical stars of the day. A Fox Studio executive thought that Mitzi Gerber sounded like the name of a delicatessen and they came up with a name that used the same initials.

Notable roles included There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) which featured Irving Berlin's music and also starred Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray.

Douglas Carter Beane is an American playwright and screenwriter. Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Beane now lives in New York.

His works include the screenplay of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, and several plays including The Country Club and The Little Dog Laughed, which was nominated for the 2007 Tony Award for Best Play and As Bees in Honey Drown, which ran at New York's Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1997. Beane often writes works with sophisticated, "drawing room" humor.

Beane wrote the book for Xanadu, a stage musical adaptation of the 1980 film of the same name, adding new plot twists and humor parodying the original movie. The musical was workshopped in 2006 and early 2007 with director Christopher Ashley and actors Jane Krakowski, Tony Roberts, and Cheyenne Jackson. The musical opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on July 10, 2007, with a budget of $5 million.Kerry Butler and Cheyenne Jackson were the Broadway leads. Beane won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.