Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical

This is a list of the winners and nominations of the Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. The award, introduced in 1950, was previously named as Best Performance by a Featured or Supporting Actress in a Musical until 1976.

Awards and nominations

1950s

• 1950: Juanita Hall – South Pacific as Bloody Mary
  • No nominees

• 1951: Isabel Bigley – Guys and Dolls as Sarah Brown
  • No nominees

• 1952: Helen Gallagher – Pal Joey as Gladys Bumps
  • No nominees

• 1953: Sheila Bond – Wish You Were Here as Fay Fromkin
  • No nominees

• 1954: Gwen Verdon – Can-Can as Claudine
  • No nominees

• 1955: Carol Haney – The Pajama Game as Gladys
  • No nominees

• 1956: Lotte Lenya – The Threepenny Opera as Jenny
  • Rae Allen – Damn Yankees as Gloria Thorpe
  • Pat Carroll – Catch a Star as various characters
  • Judy Tyler – Pipe Dream as Suzy

• 1957: Edie Adams – Li'l Abner as Daisy Mae
  • Virginia Gibson – Happy Hunting as Beth Livingstone
  • Irra Petina – Candide as Old Lady
  • Jo Sullivan – The Most Happy Fella as Rosabella

• 1958: Barbara Cook – The Music Man as Marian Paroo
  • Susan Johnson – Oh, Captain! as Mae
  • Carol Lawrence – West Side Story as Maria
  • Jacquelyn McKeever – Oh, Captain! as Mrs. Maud St. James
  • Josephine Premice – Jamaica as Ginger

• 1959: Pat Stanley – Goldilocks as Lois Lee
  • Julienne Marie – Whoop-Up as Mary Champlain

1960s

• 1960: Patricia Neway – The Sound of Music as Mother Abbess
  • Sandra Church – Gypsy as Louise
  • Pert Kelton – Greenwillow as Gramma Briggs
  • Lauri Peters and the Children (Kathy Dunn, Evanna Lien, Mary Susan Locke, Marilyn Rogers, William Snowden, Joseph Stewart) – The Sound of Music as the Von Trapp children

• 1961: Tammy Grimes – The Unsinkable Molly Brown as Molly Tobin
  • Nancy Dussault – Do Re Mi as Tilda Mullen
  • Chita Rivera – Bye Bye Birdie as Rosie Alverez

• 1962: Phyllis Newman – Subways Are For Sleeping as Martha Vail
  • Elizabeth Allen – The Gay Life as Magda
  • Barbara Harris – From the Second City as various characters
  • Barbra Streisand – I Can Get It for You Wholesale as Miss Marmelstein

• 1963: Anna Quayle – Stop the World - I Want to Get Off as Evie/other women
  • Ruth Kobart – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as Domina
  • Virginia Martin – Little Me as Young Belle
  • Louise Troy – Tovarich as Natalia Mayovskaya

• 1964: Tessie O'Shea – The Girl Who Came to Supper as Ada Cockle
  • Julienne Marie – Foxy as Celia
  • Kay Medford – Funny Girl as Mrs. Brice
  • Louise Troy – High Spirits as Ruth Condomine

• 1965: Maria Karnilova – Fiddler on the Roof as Golde
  • Luba Lisa – I Had a Ball as Addie
  • Carrie Nye – Half a Sixpence as Helen Walsingham
  • Barbara Windsor – Oh! What a Lovely War as various characters

• 1966: Beatrice Arthur – Mame as Vera Charles
  • Helen Gallagher – Sweet Charity as Nickie
  • Patricia Marand – It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman as Lois Lane
  • Charlotte Rae – Pickwick as Mrs. Bardell

• 1967: Peg Murray – Cabaret as Fraulein Kost
  • Leland Palmer – A Joyful Noise as Miss Jimmie
  • Josephine Premice – A Hand is on the Gate as various characters
  • Susan Watson – A Joyful Noise as Jenny Lee

• 1968: Lillian Hayman – Hallelujah, Baby! as Momma
  • Geula Gill – The Grand Music Hall of Israel as various characters
  • Julie Gregg – The Happy Time as Laurie Mannon
  • Alice Playten – Henry, Sweet Henry as Kafritz

• 1969: Marian Mercer – Promises, Promises as Marge MacDougall
  • Sandy Duncan – Canterbury Tales as Allison/May/Molly
  • Lorraine Serabian – Zorba as leader
  • Virginia Vestoff – 1776 as Abigail Adams

1970s

• 1970: Melba Moore – Purlie as Lutibelle
  • Bonnie Franklin – Applause as Bonnie
  • Penny Fuller – Applause as Eve Harrington
  • Melissa Hart – Georgy as Meredith

• 1971: Patsy Kelly – No, No Nanette as Paulene
  • Barbara Barrie – Company as Sarah
  • Pamela Myers – Company as Marta

• 1972: Linda Hopkins – Inner City as various characters
  • Adrienne Barbeau – Grease as Betty Rizzo
  • Bernadette Peters – On the Town as Hildy
  • Beatrice Winde – Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death as various characters

• 1973: Patricia Elliott – A Little Night Music as Countess Charlotte Malcolm
  • Hermione Gingold – A Little Night Music as Madame Armfeldt
  • Patsy Kelly – Irene as Mrs. O'Dare
  • Irene Ryan – Pippin as Berthe

• 1974: Janie Sell – Over Here! as Mitzi
  • Leigh Beery – Cyrano as Roxana
  • Maureen Brennan – Candide as Cunegonde
  • June Gable – Candide as Old Lady
  • Ernestine Jackson – Raisin as Ruth Younger

• 1975: Dee Dee Bridgewater – The Wiz as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South
  • Susan Browning – Goodtime Charley as Agnes Sorel
  • Zan Charisse – Gypsy as Louise
  • Taina Elg – Where's Charley? as Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez
  • Kelly Garrett – The Night That Made America Famous as various characters
  • Donna Theodore – Shenandoah as Anna

• 1976: Kelly Bishop – A Chorus Line as Sheila Bryant
  • Priscilla Lopez – A Chorus Line as Diana Morales
  • Patti LuPone – The Robber Bridegroom as Rosamund
  • Virginia Seidel – Very Good Eddie as Mrs. Elsie Darling

• 1977: Delores Hall – Your Arms Too Short to Box with God as various characters
  • Ellen Greene – The Threepenny Opera as Jenny
  • Millicent Martin – Side by Side by Sondheim as various characters
  • Julia McKenzie – Side by Side by Sondheim as various characters

• 1978: Nell Carter – Ain't Misbehavin' as Nell
  • Imogene Coca – On the Twentieth Century as Letitia Primrose
  • Ann Reinking – Dancin' as various characters
  • Charlaine Woodard – Ain't Misbehavin' as various characters

• 1979: Carlin Glynn – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Mona Stangley
  • Joan Ellis – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas as Joan Ellis
  • Millicent Martin – King of Hearts as Madeleine
  • Maxine Sullivan – My Old Friends as Mrs. Cooper

1980s

• 1980: Priscilla Lopez – A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine as Gino
  • Debbie Allen – West Side Story as Anita
  • Glenn Close – Barnum as Charity Barnum
  • Josie de Guzman – West Side Story as Maria

• 1981: Marilyn Cooper – Woman of the Year as Jan Donovan
  • Phyllis Hyman – Sophisticated Ladies as various characters
  • Wanda Richert – 42nd Street as Peggy Sawyer
  • Lynne Thigpen – Tintypes as various characters

• 1982: Liliane Montevecchi – Nine as Lilaine La Fleur
  • Laurie Beechman – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as Narrator
  • Karen Akers – Nine as Luisa Contini
  • Anita Morris – Nine as Carla Albanese

• 1983: Betty Buckley – Cats as Grizabella
  • Christine Andreas – On Your Toes as Frankie Fayne
  • Karla Burns – Show Boat as Queenie
  • Denny Dillon – My One and Only as Mickey

• 1984: Lila Kedrova – Zorba as Madame Hortense
  • Martine Allard – The Tap Dance Kid as Emma
  • Liz Callaway – Baby as Lizzie Fields
  • Dana Ivey – Sunday in the Park with George as Yvonne/Naomi Eisen

• 1985: Leilani Jones – Grind as Satin
  • Evalyn Baron – Quilters as Daughter
  • Mary Beth Peil – The King and I as Anna Leonowens
  • Lenka Peterson – Quilters as Sarah

• 1986: Bebe Neuwirth – Sweet Charity as Nickie
  • Patti Cohenour – The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Rosa Bud / Miss Deirdre Peregrine
  • Jana Schneider – The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Helena Landless / Miss Janet Conover
  • Elisabeth Welch – Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood as various characters

• 1987: Frances Ruffelle – Les Misérables as Éponine
  • Jane Connell – Me and My Girl as Duchess Maria
  • Judy Kuhn – Les Misérables as Cosette
  • Jane Summerhays – Me and My Girl as Lady Jaqueline Carstone

• 1988: Judy Kaye – The Phantom of the Opera as Carlotta Giudicelli
  • Leleti Khumalo – Sarafina! as Sarafina
  • Alyson Reed – Cabaret as Sally Bowles
  • Regina Resnik – Cabaret as Fraü Schneider

• 1989: Debbie Shapiro – Jerome Robbins' Broadway as various characters
  • Jane Lanier – Jerome Robbins' Broadway as various characters
  • Faith Prince – Jerome Robbins' Broadway as various characters
  • Julie Wilson – Legs Diamond as Flo

1990s

• 1990: Randy Graff – City of Angels as Oolie/Donna
  • Jane Krakowski – Grand Hotel as Flaemmchen
  • Kathleen Rowe McAllen – Aspects of Love as Giulietta Trapani
  • Crista Moore – Gypsy as Louise

• 1991: Daisy Eagan – The Secret Garden as Mary Lennox
  • Alison Fraser – The Secret Garden as Martha
  • Cady Huffman – The Will Rogers Follies as Ziegfield's favorite
  • LaChanze – Once on This Island as Ti Moune

• 1992: Tonya Pinkins – Jelly's Last Jam as Sweet Anita
  • Liz Larsen – The Most Happy Fella as Cleo
  • Vivian Reed – The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club as Irene
  • Barbara Walsh – Falsettos as Trina

• 1993: Andrea Martin – My Favorite Year as Alice Miller
  • Jan Graveson – Blood Brothers as Linda
  • Lainie Kazan – My Favorite Year as Belle May Steinberg Carroca
  • Marcia Mitzman – Tommy as Mrs. Walker

• 1994: Audra McDonald – Carousel as Carrie Pipperidge
  • Marcia Lewis – Grease as Miss Lynch
  • Sally Mayes – She Loves Me as Ilona Ritter
  • Marin Mazzie – Passion as Clara

• 1995: Gretha Boston – Show Boat as Queenie
  • Brenda Braxton – Smokey Joe's Cafe as various characters
  • B.J. Crosby – Smokey Joe's Cafe as various characters
  • DeLee Lively – Smokey Joe's Cafe as various characters

• 1996: Ann Duquesnay – Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk as 'Da Singer/Chanteuse
  • Joohee Choi – The King and I as Tuptim
  • Veanne Cox – Company as Amy
  • Idina Menzel – Rent as Maureen Johnson

• 1997: Lillias White – The Life as Sonja
  • Marcia Lewis – Chicago as Matron Mamma Morton
  • Andrea Martin – Candide as Old Lady
  • Debra Monk – Steel Pier as Shelby Stevens

• 1998: Audra McDonald – Ragtime as Sarah
  • Anna Kendrick – High Society as Dinah
  • Tsidii Le Loka – The Lion King as Rafiki
  • Mary Louise Wilson – Cabaret as Fraulein Schneider

• 1999: Kristin Chenoweth – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown as Sally Brown
  • Gretha Boston – It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues as various characters
  • Valarie Pettiford – Fosse as various characters
  • Mary Testa – On the Town as Madame Maude P. Dilly

2000s

• 2000: Karen Ziemba – Contact as Wife
  • Laura Benanti – Swing! as various characters
  • Ann Hampton Callaway – Swing! as various characters
  • Eartha Kitt – The Wild Party as Dolores
  • Deborah Yates – Contact as Girl in a Yellow Dress

• 2001: Cady Huffman – The Producers as Ulla
  • Polly Bergen – Follies as Carlotta
  • Kathleen Freeman – The Full Monty as Jeannette Burmeister
  • Kate Levering – 42nd Street as Peggy
  • Mary Testa – 42nd Street as Maggie Jones

• 2002: Harriet Sansom Harris – Thoroughly Modern Millie as Mrs. Meers
  • Andrea Martin – Oklahoma! as Aunt Eller
  • Judy Kaye – Mamma Mia! as Rosie Mulligan
  • Laura Benanti – Into the Woods as Cinderella
  • Spencer Kayden – Urinetown as Little Sally

• 2003: Jane Krakowski – Nine as Carla Albanese
  • Tammy Blanchard – Gypsy as Louise
  • Mary Stuart Masterson – Nine as Luisa Contini
  • Chita Rivera – Nine as Lilaine La Fleur
  • Ashley Tuttle – Movin' Out as Judy

• 2004: Anika Noni Rose – Caroline, or Change as Emmie Thibodeaux
  • Beth Fowler – The Boy from Oz as Marion Allen
  • Isabel Keating – The Boy from Oz as Judy Garland
  • Jennifer Westfeldt – Wonderful Town as Eileen Sherwood
  • Karen Ziemba – Never Gonna Dance as Mabel

• 2005: Sara Ramírez – Spamalot as the Lady of the Lake
  • Joanna Gleason – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as Muriel Eubanks
  • Celia Keenan-Bolger – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as Olive Ostrovsky
  • Jan Maxwell – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Baroness Bomburst
  • Kelli O'Hara – The Light in the Piazza as Clara Johnson

• 2006: Beth Leavel – The Drowsy Chaperone as Beatrice Stockwell
  • Carolee Carmello – Lestat as Gabrielle
  • Felicia P. Fields – The Color Purple as Sofia
  • Megan Lawrence – The Pajama Game as Gladys
  • Elisabeth Withers-Mendes – The Color Purple as Shug Avery

• 2007: Mary Louise Wilson – Grey Gardens as Edith Bouvier Beale
  • Charlotte d'Amboise – A Chorus Line as Cassie
  • Rebecca Luker – Mary Poppins as Winifred Banks
  • Orfeh – Legally Blonde: The Musical as Paulette Bonafonté
  • Karen Ziemba – Curtains as Georgia Hendricks

• 2008: Laura Benanti – Gypsy as Louise
  • de'Adre Aziza – Passing Strange as Edwina/Marianna/Sudabey
  • Andrea Martin – Young Frankenstein as Frau Blücher
  • Olga Merediz – In the Heights as Abuela Claudia
  • Loretta Ables-Sayre – South Pacific as Bloody Mary

• 2009: Karen Olivo – West Side Story as Anita
  • Jennifer Damiano – Next to Normal as Natalie Goodman
  • Haydn Gwynne – Billy Elliot the Musical as Mrs. Wilkinson
  • Martha Plimpton – Pal Joey as Gladys
  • Carole Shelley – Billy Elliot the Musical as Grandma

2010s

• 2010: Katie Finneran – Promises, Promises as Marge MacDougall
  • Barbara Cook – Sondheim on Sondheim as herself
  • Angela Lansbury – A Little Night Music as Madame Armfeldt
  • Karine Plantadit – Come Fly Away as Kate
  • Lillias White – Fela! as Funmilayo

• 2011: Nikki M. James – The Book of Mormon as Nabalungi
  • Laura Benanti – Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown as Candela
  • Tammy Blanchard – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as Hedy La Rue
  • Victoria Clark – Sister Act as Mother Superior
  • Patti LuPone – Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown as Lucia

Multiple winners

2 wins

• Audra McDonald

Multiple nominees

4 nominations

• Laura Benanti
• Andrea Martin

3 nominations

• Karen Ziemba

2 nominations

• Tammy Blanchard
• Gretha Boston
• Barbara Cook
• Helen Gallagher
• Cady Huffman
• Judy Kaye
• Patsy Kelly
• Jane Krakowski
• Marcia Lewis
• Priscilla Lopez
• Patti LuPone
• Julienne Marie
• Millicent Martin
• Audra McDonald
• Josephine Premice
• Chita Rivera
• Mary Testa
• Louise Troy
• Lillias White
• Mary Louise Wilson

Statistics

• There have been no ties in the history of this category.
• There is one role that has resulted in a win for both actresses portraying it: Marge MacDougall in Promises, Promises:
  • 1969 – Marian Mercer
  • 2010 – Katie Finneran
• There have also been other winners emerging from the same musical, however, but never for playing the same role:
  • From Nine: Liliane Montevecchi, as Liliane la Fleur, in 1982, and Jane Krakowski, as Carla, in 2003.
• In fact, the musical Nine holds a record of a combined total of six nominations to its female performers in this category, curiously, twice for each role, in 1982 and 2003:
  • Liliane Montevecchi (1982) and Chita Rivera (2003), as Liliane la Fleur;
  • Karen Akers (1982) and Mary Stuart Masterson (2003), as Louisa Contini;
  • Anita Morris (1982) and Jane Krakowski (2003), as Carla Albanese.
• The role of Louise, in Gypsy, holds the record for most nominations in this category, with five:
  • 1960 – Sandra Church
  • 1975 – Zan Charisse
  • 1990 – Crista Moore
  • 2003 – Tammy Blanchard
  • 2008 – Laura Benanti
• Audra McDonald is, so far, the only performer to achieve multiple wins in this category, with two. The record of nominations, however, is held by Andrea Martin, with four nominations and one win.
• There has never been a consecutive winner in this category. There have been, though, two consecutive nominations. Louise Troy holds this particular distinction, as she was consecutively nominated in 1963 and 1964.
• The record for the longest span between nominations for a particular performer is held by Barbara Cook, whose nominations for The Music Man in 1958 and Sondheim on Sondheim in 2010 are set apart by 52 years.
• The record for the longest span between nominations for a particular role is held by that of Gladys, from The Pajama Game. Carol Haney's win in 1955 and Megan Lawrence's nomination for the portrayal of the same role, in 2006, are set apart by 51 years, over half a century.
• Daisy Eagan is the youngest winner in this category. She was 11 years old when she won for The Secret Garden in 1991. Mary Louise Wilson is the oldest winner, receiving her award for Grey Gardens in 2007 at age 74.

External links

• Tony Awards Official site
• Tony Award, Featured Actress in A Musical, Internet Broadway database Listing