Nominations will be announced in 23 categories. Winners of the 2008-2009 Outer Critics Circle Awards will be revealed the morning of May 11. Winners will be celebrated with an awards dinner May 21 in the Eugenia Room of Sardi's Restaurant.

The Outer Critics Circle Awards are decided upon by a group of writers "covering New York theatre for out-of town newspapers, national publications and other media beyond Broadway."

Rebecca Luker, currently on Broadway in Mary Poppins, earned Tony nominations for her performances in the aforementioned Disney-Cameron Mackintosh musical as well as Show Boat and The Music Man. She has also been seen on Broadway in Nine, The Sound of Music, The Secret Garden and The Phantom of the Opera. Luker also appeared with Michael Cerveris and Judy Kuhn in the Kennedy Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Passion.

Danny Burstein, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Luther Billis in the current Broadway revival of South Pacific, was also Tony-nominated for his work in The Drowsy Chaperone. His other Broadway credits include Saint Joan, The Seagull, Three Men on a Horse, A Little Hotel on the Side, The Flowering Peach, A Class Act, Titanic and Company.