Helen Hayes Award for

Outstanding Lead Performance

as Della in “The Cake"

Nicole Halmos is an absolute revelation as Della. Bubbling with southern charm and maternal warmth, Halmos enchantingly exudes her character every single second. She deftly handles the hilarious writing while also accessing a truthful emotional core...Her performance was highly entertaining and incredibly moving...Her sincerity and authenticity elevated a beautiful production to even greater heights, and it may be one of the best performances of the year.

Unprofessional Opinion, Medium.com

DJ Corey Photography

Halmos portrays Della’s complexities with ease, creating a funny and engaging character whose humanity the audience can understand.

Jacob Cansler, DC Theatre Arts

Nicole Halmos, finds depth in Della, [she’s] a performer willing to pry under the happy baker’s sweet, Southern Christian lady persona to bare her doubt, caring, and stubbornness in an exceedingly sympathetic portrayal and layered turn.

Andre Hereford, Metro Weekly

In Halmos’ hands, this part becomes almost too big for the stage she’s on. She gives us the gamut of emotions and isn’t afraid to leave it all out there. The strength of the connections that Hamos is able to forge in the 90+ minutes she’s allotted is astounding. Even in the white spaces of her performance, she reaches a hand out to all of us in an effort to connect.

Anne Valentino, MD Theatre Guide

Nicole Halmos, is terrific as Hanukkah Past. She’s not your bubbe's bubbe: more like a pissed off Maccabean at the first Hanukkah explaining to Chava what's gone wrong in her youth. She manages to provide 2500 years of Jewish history, lots of laughs, and a tongue-lashing all in one.

Mary Lincer, Broadwayworld.com

Halmos as Virginia perfectly depicts privilege tempered by its own awareness of itself. Her moments of sweetness and likability are well matched by her more condescending and also raucous moments. She is the complete package in this one.

Anne Valentino, MD Theatre Guide

Subtle at first...but later baring a full armory of emotional dynamism, Nicole Halmos’ portrayal of Mammalia is beyond versatile. There is a snarky and sarcastic side...which gives way to the more frightened but overly protective mothering instincts as the play progresses. The agonizing wails that Halmos’ lets loose at the end of the performance are brutal and harrowing...striking a chord for the loss her character is experiencing when bad things come to their fullest fruition. Halmos also has some of the best ‘squirrel noises’ throughout the performance…

Amanda N. Gunther, TheatreBloom

Halmos did a wonderful job revealing the deep loneliness behind Mammalia’s wantonness.

Katie Barnett, MD Theatre Scene

Nicole Halmos is exceptional as Margaret White, Carrie’s mother. Halmos has a gorgeously powerful operatic voice and a disturbing religious zeal in her scenes. Her opening duet with Campbell “And Eve Was Weak,” while featuring beautiful harmonies between the two ladies, was intensely frightening.

Johnna Leary, DC Theatre Arts

In a truly outstanding performance, Nicole Halmos (Margaret White) brings to the role superb acting skills along with well executed vocals.

Mark Beachy, Maryland Theatre Guide

The fathers played as mothers are a revelation to watch. Nicole Halmos is entirely believable as mothers looking out for their children as they run the gamut of emotions from anger, friendship, confusion, goofiness and sadness to happiness.

Davina Grace Hill, Bay Weekly Curtain Call

Of particular note is Halmos, who is the first performer I have ever seen who made me think that the music was written for a woman rather than a woman singing music originally written for a man. Her voice was beautiful and she adapted the music so well to her own style. Additionally, her facial expressions and body language added so much nuance to her performance that she captivated the audience in all of her scenes.

Ted Ying, DC Theatre Scene

The two parents, normally played as the fathers, are here played as mothers by two actresses who are a revelation to watch. Nicole Halmos and Barbara Pinolini are entirely believable as mothers looking out for their children as they run the gamut of emotions from anger, friendship, confusion, goofiness and sadness to happiness.

Davina Grace Hill - The Bay Weekly

…her delicious performance captures not only the comic trappings of her character but the misgivings and regrets buried underneath.

Charles McNulty, The Village Voice

Nicole Halmos as Dido is the key. This character projects power in every word and gesture, even in her bitter sorrow as she tries to hold on to Aeneas...She is heroic from word one, majestic in her defiance of gods she knows she cannot defeat and she treats her fiery end like a conquest.

D.J.R. Brookner, The New York Times

Nicole Halmos in the title role is a particularly commanding presence, striking a fascinating balance between comic absurdity and casual cruelty.

Theatremania

...clear-voiced and disciplined, Nicole Halmos, as Brown's morally ambiguous wife, Faith, is a stand-out.

Ben Brantley, New York Times