Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical | |
---|---|
Awarded for | Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical |
Location | United States New York City |
Presented by | American Theatre Wing The Broadway League |
Currently held by | Neil Patrick Harris for Hedwig and the Angry Inch |
Official website | http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/index.html |
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is awarded to the actor who was voted as the best actor in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been given since 1948, but the nominees who did not win have only been publicly announced since 1956.
Award winners
1940s
Year | Actor | Musical | Character |
---|---|---|---|
1947 1st Tony Awards | |||
N/A | N/A | N/A | |
1948 2nd Tony Awards | |||
Paul Hartman | Angel in the Wings | Various Characters | |
1949 3rd Tony Awards | |||
Ray Bolger | Where's Charley? | Charley Wykeham |
1950s
Year | Actor | Musical | Character |
---|---|---|---|
1950 4th Tony Awards | |||
Ezio Pinza | South Pacific | Emile De Beque | |
1951 5th Tony Awards | |||
Robert Alda | Guys and Dolls | Sky Masterson | |
1952 6th Tony Awards | |||
Phil Silvers | Top Banana | Jerry Biffle | |
1953 7th Tony Awards | |||
Thomas Mitchell | Hazel Flagg | Dr. Downer | |
1954 8th Tony Awards | |||
Alfred Drake | Kismet | Hajj | |
1955 9th Tony Awards | |||
Walter Slezak | Fanny | Panisse | |
1956 10th Tony Awards | |||
Ray Walston | Damn Yankees | Mr. Applegate | |
Stephen Douglass | Damn Yankees | Joe Hardy | |
William Johnson | Pipe Dream | Doc | |
1957 11th Tony Awards | |||
Rex Harrison | My Fair Lady | Henry Higgins | |
Fernando Lamas | Happy Hunting | Duke of Granada | |
Robert Weede | The Most Happy Fella | Tony | |
1958 12th Tony Awards | |||
Robert Preston | The Music Man | Harold Hill | |
Ricardo Montalbán | Jamaica | Koli | |
Eddie Foy, Jr. | Rumple | Rumple | |
Tony Randall | Oh, Captain! | Captain Henry St. James | |
1959 13th Tony Awards | |||
Richard Kiley | Redhead | Tom Baxter | |
Larry Blyden | Flower Drum Song | Sammy Fong |
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Award records
Winners
- 2 wins
- Norbert Leo Butz
- John Cullum
- Richard Kiley
- Nathan Lane
- Zero Mostel
- James Naughton
- Robert Preston
- George Rose
- Phil Silvers
Nominees
Facts
- The lead role of Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum has earned the Tony Award for the three different actors who have performed the character:
- 1963 – Zero Mostel
- 1972 – Phil Silvers
- 1996 – Nathan Lane
- In 1989, Jason Alexander won the award for portraying several characters in Jerome Robbins' Broadway, amongst them, the role of Pseudolus.
- Three other male roles have produced multiple Tony Award winners: J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying:
- 1962 – Robert Morse
- 1995 – Matthew Broderick
- Emile de Beque in South Pacific:
- 1950 – Ezio Pinza
- 2008 – Paulo Szot
- and Albin in La Cage Aux Folles:
- 1984 – George Hearn
- 2010 – Douglas Hodge
- Gary Beach, who played Albin in the 2005 revival, was nominated but lost the award to Norbert Leo Butz in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Two actors have won for their performances in My Fair Lady, each for a different character:
- 1957 – Rex Harrison, playing Henry Higgins
- 1976 – George Rose, playing Alfred P. Doolitle
- Ian Richardson, who played Henry Higgins in 1976, was also nominated.
- The lead role with most nominations is Tevye, in Fiddler on the Roof. Four actors have been nominated for their portrayals, with one win:
- 1965 – Zero Mostel (winner)
- 1982 – Herschel Bernardi
- 1991 – Chaim Topol
- 2004 – Alfred Molina
- The lead role of Sweeney Todd from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has received 3 nominations, though only Len Cariou has won the award for playing the role, which he originated.
- Actors have won Tonys for both Best Actor in a Play and Best Actor in a Musical for playing Cyrano de Bergerac: Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac and Christopher Plummer in Cyrano.
- Three actors were nominated in this category for roles that had previously been classified as Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. George Rose won the 1976 Best Actor Award for playing Alfred P. Doolitle in My Fair Lady whereas Stanley Holloway was nominated in the featured category for playing the part in 1956. Similarly, Lou Diamond Phillips was nominated for Best Actor for playing the King of Siam in The King and I in 1996 while Yul Brynner won the Best Featured Actor Tony for the same role in 1951. Also, Alan Cumming won for his role as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret in 1998, which Joel Grey won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for in 1966.
- Harvey Fierstein was the first actor to win the award by portraying a female character, for his 2003 performance as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. Neil Patrick Harris won in 2014 for his performance as Hedwig, a male-to-female transgender in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
- There have never been consecutive victories, and only four actors have managed, over the decades, to score consecutive nominations: Gregory Hines (1980/1981), George Hearn (1983/1984), Patrick Wilson (2001/2002) and Michael Cerveris (2006/2007).
- In 2009, David Álvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish were jointly nominated for the award for their performances in Billy Elliot the Musical as the titular character. They won the award, marking the first time three actors have received it.
- The oldest performer to win in this category is Bert Lahr who was 68 when he won for Foxy in 1964. The youngest winner is Trent Kowalik who won for Billy Elliot at age 14. He shared the award with David Álvarez and Kiril Kulish - both 15 at the time.
External links
|