Tony Award for Best 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 leading 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

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

• 2010: Catherine Zeta-Jones – A Little Night Music as Desiree Armfeldt
  • Kate Baldwin – Finian's Rainbow as Sharon
  • Montego Glover – Memphis as Felicia
  • Christiane Noll – Ragtime as Mother
  • Sherie Rene Scott – Everyday Rapture as Sherie

• 2011: Sutton Foster – Anything Goes as Reno Sweeney
  • Beth Leavel – Baby It's You! as Florence Greenberg
  • Patina Miller – Sister Act as Deloris Van Cartier
  • Donna Murphy – The People in the Picture as Raisel / Bubbie

Multiple winners

Multiple nominees

Statistics

• 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)

• Other female roles with multiple wins are Anna Leonowens in The King and I, with 2 wins out of 2 nominations:
  • 1952 - Gertrude Lawrence
  • 1996 - Donna Murphy

• and Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, also with 2 wins out of 2 nominations:
  • 1973 - Glynis Johns
  • 2010 - Catherine Zeta-Jones

• The closest in nominations is the female lead role of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 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. However, not once has an actress won a Tony Award for this role. Between each nomination there has been a gap of nearly two decades:
  • 1966 - Gwen Verdon
  • 1986 - Debbie Allen
  • 2005 - Christina Applegate

• The role of Velma Kelly in Chicago yields two nominations, with one win.
  • 1976 - Chita Rivera
  • 1997 - Bebe Neuwirth (win)

• The role of Ensign Nellie Forbush in South Pacific yields two nominations, with one win as well.
  • 1950 - Mary Martin (win)
  • 2008 - Kelli O'Hara

• The role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes also yields two nominations, with one win as well.
  • 1988 - Patti LuPone
  • 2011 - Sutton Foster (win)

• The role of Mother in Ragtime yields two nominations, though neither had won.
  • 1998 - Marin Mazzie
  • 2010 - Christiane Noll

• The role of Dot. Marie in Sunday in the Park with George yields two nominations, though neither had won.
  • 1984 - Bernadette Peters
  • 2008 - Jenna Russell

• 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

• Chita Rivera was the first 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. In 2010, Sherie Rene Scott was nominated for playing a semi-fictionalized version of herself in Everyday Rapture.

• Chita Rivera leads the record for most nominations (7), winning twice. Second is Bernadette Peters with 6 nominations, also winning twice.

• Chita Rivera and Sutton Foster are tied for having the most nominations in a single decade. Rivera was nominated four times in the 1980s: 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1986. She won in 1984 for her performance in The Rink. Foster was nominated four times in the 2000s: 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2009. She won in 2002 for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie.

• 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 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 nominating committee.

• The youngest winner in this category is Liza Minnelli - she was 19 when she won for Flora the Red Menace in 1965. The oldest winner is Ruth Brown who won for Black and Blue in 1989 when she was 61.

External links

• Tony Awards Official Site
• Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical-Internet Broadway Database listing