The ceremony will take place at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan.

Hamlisch is the author of many Broadway scores, including They're Playing Our Song, Sweet Smell of Success and A Chorus Line, in which MacKechnie starred.

As previously announced, actor Harvey Fierstein will host the 2006 Drama Desk Awards ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, May 21 at 9 PM, at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.

Fierstein is the winner of three Drama Desk Awards and four Tony Awards. He was most recently seen on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof, playing Tevye. Before that, he won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for his performance in Hairspray.

The Drama Desk Awards will be taped and subsequently broadcast nationwide on PBS stations. In New York, the program will be shown on Thirteen/WNET and on NYC-25 TV. The broadcast package was arranged by Roy A. Somlyo, who joined the Drama Desk Awards as consulting producer in 2004 after serving five years as President/CEO of the American Theatre Wing. For the fourth year in a row, the awards ceremony will be webcast by TheaterMania.com.

The Drama Desk nominating committee for the 2005-06 season includes Barbara Siegel, Committee Chair ("The Siegel Column" on TheaterMania.com and Siegel Entertainment Syndicate); Michael Buckley ("Channeling Theatre" column at Playbill.com); Christopher Byrne (Gay City News and The Villager); Matthew Murray (TalkinBroadway.com, Stage Directions magazine); Andy Propst (AmericanTheaterWeb.com and XM Satellite Radio); Richard Ridge (Broadway Beat TV); and William Wolf (wolfentertainmentguide.com ).