Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical is the Tony Awards award given to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been announced since 1948, but the nominees who did not win have only been announced since 1956.

Awards and nominations

1940s

* 1948: Grace Hartman – "Angel in the Wings"
* 1949: Nanette Fabray – "Love Life"

1950s

* 1950: Mary Martin – "South Pacific"
* 1951: Ethel Merman – "Call Me Madam"
* 1952: Gertrude Lawrence – "The King and I"
* 1953: Rosalind Russell – "Wonderful Town"
* 1954: Dolores Gray – "Carnival in Flanders"
* 1955: Mary Martin – "Peter Pan"

* 1956: Gwen Verdon – "Damn Yankees"
** Carol Channing – "The Vamp"
** Nancy Walker – "Phoenix '55"

* 1957: Judy Holliday – "Bells Are Ringing"
** Julie Andrews – "My Fair Lady"
** Ethel Merman – "Happy Hunting"

* 1958: Thelma Ritter – "New Girl In Town": and Gwen Verdon – "New Girl In Town"
** Lena Horne – "Jamaica"
** Beatrice Lillie – "Ziegfeld Follies"

* 1959: Gwen Verdon – "Redhead"
** Miyoshi Umeki – "Flower Drum Song"

1960s

* 1960: Mary Martin – "The Sound of Music"
** Carol Burnett – "Once Upon a Mattress"
** Dolores Gray – "Destry Rides Again"
** Eileen Herlie – "Take Me Along"
** Ethel Merman – ""

* 1961: Elizabeth Seal – "Irma La Douce"
** Julie Andrews – "Camelot"
** Carol Channing – "Show Girl"
** Nancy Walker – "Do Re Mi"

* 1962: Anna Maria Alberghetti – "Carnival!": and Diahann Carroll – "No Strings"
** Molly Picon – "Milk and Honey"
** Elaine Stritch – "Sail Away"

* 1963: Vivien Leigh – "Tovarich"
** Georgia Brown – "Oliver!"
** Nanette Fabray – "Mr. President"
** Sally Ann Howes – "Brigadoon"

* 1964: Carol Channing – "Hello, Dolly!"
** Beatrice Lillie – "High Spirits"
** Barbra Streisand – "Funny Girl"
** Inga Swenson – "110 in the Shade"

* 1965: Liza Minnelli – "Flora the Red Menace"
** Elizabeth Allen – "Do I Hear a Waltz?"
** Nancy Dussault – "Bajour"
** Inga Swenson – "Baker Street"

* 1966: Angela Lansbury – "Mame"
** Barbara Harris – "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"
** Julie Harris – "Skyscraper"
** Gwen Verdon – "Sweet Charity"

* 1967: Barbara Harris – "The Apple Tree"
** Lotte Lenya – "Cabaret"
** Mary Martin – "I Do! I Do!"
** Louise Troy – "Walking Happy"

* 1968: Patricia Routledge – "Darling of the Day": and Leslie Uggams – "Hallelujah, Baby!"
** Melina Mercouri – "Illya Darling"
** Brenda Vaccaro – "How Now, Dow Jones"

* 1969: Angela Lansbury – "Dear World"
** Maria Karnilova – "Zorba"
** Dorothy Loudon – "The Fig Leaves Are Falling"
** Jill O'Hara – "Promises, Promises"

1970s

* 1970: Lauren Bacall – "Applause"
** Katharine Hepburn – "Coco"
** Dilys Watling – "Georgy"

* 1971: Helen Gallagher – "No, No Nanette"
** Susan Browning – "Company"
** Sandy Duncan – "The Boy Friend"
** Elaine Stritch – "Company"

* 1972: Alexis Smith – "Follies"
** Jonelle Allen – "Two Gentlemen of Verona"
** Dorothy Collins – "Follies"
** Mildred Natwick – "70, Girls, 70"

* 1973: Glynis Johns – "A Little Night Music"
** Leland Palmer – "Pippin"
** Debbie Reynolds – "Irene"
** Marcia Rodd – "Shelter"

* 1974: Virginia Capers – "Raisin"
** Carol Channing – "Lorelei"
** Michele Lee – "Seesaw"

* 1975: Angela Lansbury – ""
** Lola Falana – "Doctor Jazz"
** Bernadette Peters – "Mack and Mabel"
** Ann Reinking – "Goodtime Charley"

* 1976: Donna McKechnie – "A Chorus Line"
** Vivian Reed – "Bubbling Brown Sugar"
** Chita Rivera – "Chicago"
** Gwen Verdon – "Chicago"

* 1977: Dorothy Loudon – "Annie"
** Clamma Dale – "Porgy and Bess"
** Ernestine Jackson – "Guys and Dolls"
** Andrea McArdle – "Annie"

* 1978: Liza Minnelli – "The Act"
** Madeline Kahn – "On the Twentieth Century"
** Eartha Kitt – "Timbuktu!"
** Frances Sternhagen – "Angel"

* 1979: Angela Lansbury – "Sweeney Todd"
** Tovah Feldshuh – "Sarava"
** Dorothy Loudon – "Ballroom"
** Alexis Smith – "Platinum"

1980s

* 1980: Patti LuPone – "Evita"
** Christine Andreas – "Oklahoma!"
** Sandy Duncan – "Peter Pan"
** Ann Miller – "Sugar Babies"

* 1981: Lauren Bacall – "Woman of the Year"
** Meg Bussert – "Brigadoon"
** Chita Rivera – "Bring Back Birdie"
** Linda Ronstadt – "The Pirates of Penzance"

* 1982: Jennifer Holliday – "Dreamgirls"
** Lisa Mordente – "Marlowe"
** Mary Gordon Murray – "Little Me"
** Sheryl Lee Ralph – "Dreamgirls"

* 1983: Natalia Makarova – "On Your Toes"
** Lonette McKee – "Show Boat"
** Chita Rivera – "Merlin"
** Twiggy – "My One and Only"

* 1984: Chita Rivera – "The Rink"
** Rhetta Hughes – "Amen Corner"
** Liza Minnelli – "The Rink"
** Bernadette Peters – "Sunday in the Park with George"

* 1985: "no award"

* 1986: Bernadette Peters – "Song and Dance"
** Debbie Allen – "Sweet Charity"
** Cleo Laine – "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"
** Chita Rivera – "Jerry's Girls"

* 1987: Maryann Plunkett – "Me and My Girl"
** Catherine Cox – "Oh Coward!"
** Teresa Stratas – "Rags"

* 1988: Joanna Gleason – "Into the Woods"
** Alison Fraser – "Romance/Romance"
** Judy Kuhn – "Chess"
** Patti LuPone – "Anything Goes"

* 1989: Ruth Brown – "Black and Blue"
** Charlotte d'Amboise – "Jerome Robbins' Broadway"
** Linda Hopkins – "Black and Blue"
** Sharon McNight – "Starmites"

1990s

* 1990: Tyne Daly – ""
** Georgia Brown – "Threepenny Opera"
** Beth Fowler – "Sweeney Todd"
** Liliane Montevecchi – "Grand Hotel"

* 1991: Lea Salonga – "Miss Saigon"
** June Angela – ""
** Dee Hoty – "The Will Rogers Follies"
** Cathy Rigby – "Peter Pan"

* 1992: Faith Prince – "Guys and Dolls"
** Jodi Benson – "Crazy for You"
** Josie de Guzman – "Guys and Dolls"
** Sophie Hayden – "The Most Happy Fella"

* 1993: Chita Rivera – "Kiss of the Spider Woman"
** Ann Crumb – "Anna Karenina"
** Stephanie Lawrence – "Blood Brothers"
** Bernadette Peters – "The Goodbye Girl"

* 1994: Donna Murphy – "Passion"
** Susan Egan – "Beauty and the Beast"
** Dee Hoty – "The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public"
** Judy Kuhn – "She Loves Me"

* 1995: Glenn Close – "Sunset Boulevard"
** Rebecca Luker – "Show Boat"

* 1996: Donna Murphy – "The King and I"
** Julie Andrews – "Victor/Victoria"
** Crista Moore – "Big - The Musical"
** Daphne Rubin-Vega – "Rent"

* 1997: Bebe Neuwirth – "Chicago"
** Pamela Isaacs – "The Life"
** Tonya Pinkins – "Play On!"
** Karen Ziemba – "Steel Pier"

* 1998: Natasha Richardson – "Cabaret"
** Betty Buckley – "Triumph of Love"
** Marin Mazzie – "Ragtime"
** Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner – "Side Show"

* 1999: Bernadette Peters – "Annie Get Your Gun"
** Carolee Carmello – "Parade"
** Dee Hoty – "Footloose"
** Sian Phillips – "Marlene"

2000s

* 2000: Heather Headley – "Aida"
** Toni Collette – "The Wild Party"
** Rebecca Luker – "The Music Man"
** Marin Mazzie – "Kiss Me, Kate"
** Audra McDonald – "Marie Christine"

* 2001: Christine Ebersole – "42nd Street"
** Blythe Danner – "Follies"
** Randy Graff – "A Class Act"
** Faith Prince – "Bells Are Ringing"
** Marla Schaffel – "Jane Eyre"

* 2002: Sutton Foster – "Thoroughly Modern Millie"
** Louise Pitre – "Mamma Mia!"
** Vanessa Williams – "Into the Woods"
** Nancy Opel – "Urinetown"
** Jennifer Laura Thompson – "Urinetown"

* 2003: Marissa Jaret Winokur – "Hairspray"
** Melissa Errico – "Amour"
** Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – "Man of La Mancha"
** Elizabeth Parkinson – "Movin' Out"
** Bernadette Peters – ""

* 2004: Idina Menzel – "Wicked"
** Kristin Chenoweth – "Wicked"
** Stephanie D'Abruzzo – "Avenue Q"
** Donna Murphy – "Wonderful Town"
** Tonya Pinkins – "Caroline, or Change"

* 2005: Victoria Clark – "The Light in the Piazza"
** Christina Applegate – "Sweet Charity"
** Erin Dilly – "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
** Sutton Foster – "Little Women"
** Sherie Rene Scott – "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"

* 2006: LaChanze – "The Color Purple"
** Sutton Foster – "The Drowsy Chaperone"
** Patti LuPone – "Sweeney Todd"
** Kelli O'Hara – "The Pajama Game"
** Chita Rivera – ""

* 2007: Christine Ebersole – "Grey Gardens"
** Laura Bell Bundy – ""
** Audra McDonald – "110 in the Shade"
** Debra Monk – "Curtains"
** Donna Murphy – "LoveMusik"

* 2008: Patti LuPone – ""
** Kerry Butler – "Xanadu"
** Kelli O'Hara – "South Pacific"
** Faith Prince – "A Catered Affair"
** Jenna Russell – "Sunday in the Park With George"

Multiple Winners

4 Wins
*Angela Lansbury3 Wins
*Mary Martin
*Gwen Verdon (tied with Thelma Ritter in 1958)2 Wins
*Lauren Bacall
*Patti LuPone
*Christine Ebersole
*Liza Minnelli
*Donna Murphy
*Bernadette Peters
*Chita Rivera

Multiple Nominees

7 Nominations
* Chita Rivera6 Nominations
* Bernadette Peters5 Nominations
* Gwen Verdon4 Nominations
* Angela Lansbury
* Carol Channing
* Mary Martin
* Donna Murphy
* Patti LuPone3 Nominations
* Julie Andrews (however, Ms. Andrews did not accept her third nomination)
* Sutton Foster
* Dee Hoty
* Dorothy Loudon
* Ethel Merman
* Liza Minnelli
* Kelli O'Hara
* Faith Prince2 Nominations
* Lauren Bacall
* Sandy Duncan
* Christine Ebersole
* Nanette Fabray
* Dolores Gray
* Barbara Harris
* Judy Kuhn
* Beatrice Lillie
* Rebecca Luker
* Marin Mazzie
* Audra McDonald
* Kelli O'Hara
* Tonya Pinkins
* Alexis Smith
* Elaine Stritch
* Inga Swenson
* Nancy Walker

Trivia

*There have been three ties in the history of this category:
** 1958: Between Gwen Verdon ("New Girl in Town") and Thelma Ritter ("New Girl In Town");
** 1962: Between Anna Maria Alberghetti ("Carnival!") and Diahann Carroll ("No Strings");
** 1968: Between Patricia Routledge ("Darling of the Day") and Leslie Uggams ("Hallelujah, Baby!").
* The female lead role of Mama Rose in "Gypsy" has received the most nominations in Tony Awards history in this category, with five. There have been three winners:
** 1960 - Ethel Merman;
** 1975 - Angela Lansbury (winner);
** 1990 - Tyne Daly (winner);
** 2003 - Bernadette Peters;
** 2008 - Patti LuPone(winner).
* The only other female role with multiple wins is that of Anna Leonowens in "The King and I", with 2 wins out of 2 nominations:
** 1952 - Gertrude Lawrence;
** 1996 - Donna Murphy.
* The closest in nominations is the female lead role of Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd", with 3. There has been one win:
** 1979 - Angela Lansbury (winner);
** 1990 - Beth Fowler;
** 2006 - Patti LuPone.
* Also with 3 nominations is the female lead role of Charity Hope Valentine in "Sweet Charity". Between each nomination there has been a gap of nearly two decades:
**1966 - Gwen Verdon;
**1986 - Debbie Allen;
**2005 - Christina Applegate;However, not once has an actress won a Tony Award for this role.
* Mary Martin is the only actress to win an award in this category by portraying a male character. In 1955, she won the Tony for her performance as the title character in "Peter Pan". Two other actresses were nominated for playing this same character:
** 1980 - Sandy Duncan;
** 1991 - Cathy Rigby;In 1989, Charlotte d’Amboise was also nominated in this category, for a multitude of characters portrayed in "Jerome Robbins’ Broadway", amongst them, Peter Pan.
* Chita Rivera is the first and, so far, only actress to be nominated for a Tony Award by portraying herself. In 2006, she was honored for her performance in "Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life", which offered a retrospective of her career on Broadway.
* Lotte Lenya is the first Tony Award-winner to be turned into a character whose portrayal has earned a Tony Award nomination for a fellow actress. Lenya was nominated for the Tony for Leading Actress in 1967 for her performance in "Cabaret" (and won the 1956 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in The Threepenny Opera). Forty years later, and over 25 years after her passing, her romance with Kurt Weill was transformed into the musical "Lovemusik". Actress Donna Murphy embodied the character and earned the fourth Tony nomination of her career in this category.
* Chita Rivera holds the record for most nominations (7), winning twice. Second is Bernadette Peters with 6 nominations,also winning twice. The record of victories, however, belongs to Angela Lansbury with 4 wins out of 4 nominations.
* Chita Rivera also holds the record for most nominations in a single decade. She was nominated four times in the 1980's: 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1986. She won in 1984, for her performance in "The Rink".
* Gwen Verdon is the only one to achieve the honor of two consecutive victories in this category, in 1958 (albeit tied with Thelma Ritter) and 1959. Other consecutive nominations include: Inga Swenson (1964/1965), Barbara Harris (1966/1967), Chita Rivera (1983/1984) and Sutton Foster (2005/2006);
* Both Dee Hoty and Julie Andrews have been nominated three times, but neither one has won. They are the category’s greatest “losers”. Andrews had refused to accept her third nomination, for "Victor/Victoria", feeling that the cast and production crew of the musical had been neglected by the Academy.
*One of the greatest winners in Tony Awards history, with 5 wins and 9 nominations in the category Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, Julie Harris has been nominated once as a Leading Actress in a Musical, in 1966, for her performance in "Skyscraper", the only Broadway musical she has appeared in. She did not win.