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

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

Awards and nominations

1950s

*1950: Juanita Hall – "South Pacific"
*1951: Isabel Bigley – "Guys and Dolls"
*1952: Helen Gallagher – "Pal Joey"
*1953: Sheila Bond – "Wish You Were Here"
*1954: Gwen Verdon – "Can-Can"
*1955: Carol Haney – "The Pajama Game"

*1956: Lotte Lenya – "The Threepenny Opera"
**Rae Allen – "Damn Yankees"
**Pat Carroll – "Catch a Star"
**Judy Tyler – "Pipe Dream"

*1957: Edie Adams – "Li'l Abner"
**Virginia Gibson – "Happy Hunting"
**Irra Petina – "Candide"
**Jo Sullivan – "The Most Happy Fella"

*1958: Barbara Cook – "The Music Man"
**Susan Johnson – "Oh, Captain!"
**Carol Lawrence – "West Side Story"
**Jacquelyn McKeever – "Oh, Captain!"
**Josephine Premice – "Jamaica"

*1959: Pat Stanley – "Goldilocks"
**Julienne Marie – "Whoop-Up"

1960s

*1960: Patricia Neway – "The Sound of Music"
**Sandra Church – ""
**Pert Kelton – "Greenwillow"
**Lauri Peters and the Children (Kathy Dunn, Evanna Lien, Mary Susan Locke, Marilyn Rogers, William Snowden, Joseph Stewart) – "The Sound of Music"
*1961: Tammy Grimes – "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"
**Nancy Dussault – "Do Re Mi"
**Chita Rivera – "Bye Bye Birdie"

*1962: Phyllis Newman – "Subways Are For Sleeping"
**Elizabeth Allen – "The Gay Life"
**Barbara Harris – "From the Second City"
**Barbra Streisand – "I Can Get It for You Wholesale"

*1963: Anna Quayle – "Stop the World - I Want to Get Off"
**Ruth Kobart – "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"
**Virginia Martin – "Little Me"
**Louise Troy – "Tovarich"

*1964: Tessie O'Shea – "The Girl Who Came to Supper"
**Julienne Marie – "Foxy"
**Kay Medford – "Funny Girl"
**Louise Troy – "High Spirits"

*1965: Maria Karnilova – "Fiddler on the Roof"
**Luba Lisa – "I Had a Ball"
**Carrie Nye – "Half a Sixpence"
**Barbara Windsor – "Oh! What a Lovely War"

*1966: Beatrice Arthur – "Mame"
**Helen Gallagher – "Sweet Charity"
**Patricia Marand – "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman"
**Charlotte Rae – "Pickwick"

*1967: Peg Murray – "Cabaret"
**Leland Palmer – "A Joyful Noise"
**Josephine Premice – "A Hand is on the Gate"
**Susan Watson – "A Joyful Noise"

*1968: Lillian Hayman – "Hallelujah, Baby!"
**Geula Gill – "The Grand Music Hall of Israel"
**Julie Gregg – "The Happy Time"
**Alice Playten – "Henry, Sweet Henry"

*1969: Marian Mercer – "Promises, Promises"
**Sandy Duncan – "Canterbury Tales"
**Lorraine Serabian – "Zorba"
**Virginia Vestoff – "1776"

1970s

*1970: Melba Moore – "Purlie"
**Bonnie Franklin – "Applause"
**Penny Fuller – "Applause"
**Melissa Hart – "Georgy"

*1971: Patsy Kelly – "No, No Nanette"
**Barbara Barrie – "Company"
**Pamela Myers – "Company"

*1972: Linda Hopkins – "Inner City"
**Adrienne Barbeau – "Grease"
**Bernadette Peters – "On The Town"
**Beatrice Winde – "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death"

*1973: Patricia Elliott – "A Little Night Music"
**Hermione Gingold – "A Little Night Music"
**Patsy Kelly – "Irene"
**Irene Ryan – "Pippin"

*1974: Janie Sell – "Over Here!"
**Leigh Beery – "Cyrano"
**Maureen Brennan – "Candide"
**June Gable – "Candide"
**Ernestine Jackson – "Raisin"

*1975: Dee Dee Bridgewater – "The Wiz"
**Susan Browning – "Goodtime Charley"
**Zan Charisse – ""
**Taina Elg – "Where's Charley?"
**Kelly Garrett – "The Night That Made America Famous"
**Donna Theodore – "Shenandoah"

*1976: Kelly Bishop – "A Chorus Line"
**Priscilla Lopez – "A Chorus Line"
**Patti LuPone – "The Robber Bridegroom"
**Virginia Seidel – "Very Good Eddie"

*1977: Delores Hall – "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God"
**Ellen Greene – "The Threepenny Opera"
**Millicent Martin – "Side by Side by Sondheim"
**Julia McKenzie – "Side by Side by Sondheim"

*1978: Nell Carter – "Ain't Misbehavin'"
**Imogene Coca – "On the Twentieth Century"
**Ann Reinking – "Dancin'"
**Charlaine Woodard – "Ain't Misbehavin'"

*1979: Carlin Glynn – "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"
**Joan Ellis – "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"
**Millicent Martin – "King of Hearts"
**Maxine Sullivan – "My Old Friends"

1980s

*1980: Priscilla Lopez – "A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine"
**Debbie Allen – "West Side Story"
**Glenn Close – "Barnum"
**Josie de Guzman – "West Side Story"

*1981: Marilyn Cooper – "Woman of the Year"
**Phyllis Hyman – "Sophisticated Ladies"
**Wanda Richert – "42nd Street"
**Lynne Thigpen – "Tintypes"

*1982: Liliane Montevecchi – "Nine"
**Laurie Beechman – "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"
**Karen Akers – "Nine"
**Anita Morris – "Nine"

*1983: Betty Buckley – "Cats"
**Christine Andreas – "On Your Toes"
**Karla Burns – "Show Boat"
**Denny Dillon – "My One and Only"

*1984: Lila Kedrova – "Zorba"
**Martine Allard – "The Tap Dance Kid"
**Liz Callaway – "Baby"
**Dana Ivey – "Sunday in the Park with George"

*1985: Leilani Jones – "Grind"
**Evalyn Baron – "Quilters"
**Mary Beth Peil – "The King and I"
**Lenka Peterson – "Quilters"

*1986: Bebe Neuwirth – "Sweet Charity"
**Patti Cohenour – "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"
**Jana Schneider – "The Mystery of Edwin Drood"
**Elisabeth Welch – "Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood"

*1987: Frances Ruffelle – "Les Misérables"
**Jane Connell – "Me and My Girl"
**Judy Kuhn – "Les Misérables"
**Jane Summerhays – "Me and My Girl"

*1988: Judy Kaye – "The Phantom of the Opera"
**Leleti Khumalo – "Sarafina!"
**Alyson Reed – "Cabaret"
**Regina Resnik – "Cabaret"

*1989: Debbie Shapiro – "Jerome Robbins' Broadway"
**Jane Lanier – "Jerome Robbins' Broadway"
**Faith Prince – "Jerome Robbins' Broadway"
**Julie Wilson – "Legs Diamond"

1990s

*1990: Randy Graff – "City of Angels"
**Jane Krakowski – "Grand Hotel"
**Kathleen Rowe McAllen – "Aspects of Love"
**Crista Moore – ""

*1991: Daisy Eagan – "The Secret Garden"
**Alison Fraser – "The Secret Garden"
**Cady Huffman – "The Will Rogers Follies"
**LaChanze – "Once on This Island"

*1992: Tonya Pinkins – "Jelly's Last Jam"
**Liz Larsen – "The Most Happy Fella"
**Vivian Reed – "The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club"
**Barbara Walsh – "Falsettos"

*1993: Andrea Martin – "My Favorite Year"
**Jan Graveson – "Blood Brothers"
**Lainie Kazan – "My Favorite Year"
**Marcia Mitzman – "The Who's Tommy"

*1994: Audra McDonald – "Carousel"
**Marcia Lewis – "Grease"
**Sally Mayes – "She Loves Me"
**Marin Mazzie – "Passion"

*1995: Gretha Boston – "Show Boat"
**Brenda Braxton – "Smokey Joe's Cafe"
**B.J. Crosby – "Smokey Joe's Cafe"
**DeLee Lively – "Smokey Joe's Cafe"

*1996: Ann Duquesnay – "Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk"
**Joohee Choi – "The King and I"
**Veanne Cox – "Company"
**Idina Menzel – "Rent"

*1997: Lillias White – "The Life"
**Marcia Lewis – "Chicago"
**Andrea Martin – "Candide"
**Debra Monk – "Steel Pier"

*1998: Audra McDonald – "Ragtime"
**Anna Kendrick – "High Society"
**Tsidii Le Loka – "The Lion King"
**Mary Louise Wilson – "Cabaret"

*1999: Kristin Chenoweth – "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"
**Gretha Boston – "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues"
**Valarie Pettiford – "Fosse"
**Mary Testa – "On the Town"

2000s

*2000: Karen Ziemba – "Contact"
**Laura Benanti – "Swing!"
**Ann Hampton Callaway – "Swing!"
**Eartha Kitt – "The Wild Party"
**Deborah Yates – "Contact"

*2001: Cady Huffman – "The Producers"
**Polly Bergen – "Follies"
**Kathleen Freeman – "The Full Monty"
**Kate Levering – "42nd Street"
**Mary Testa – "42nd Street"

*2002: Harriet Harris – "Thoroughly Modern Millie"
**Andrea Martin – "Oklahoma!"
**Judy Kaye – "Mamma Mia!"
**Laura Benanti – "Into the Woods"
**Spencer Kayden – "Urinetown"

*2003: Jane Krakowski – "Nine"
**Tammy Blanchard – ""
**Mary Stuart Masterson – "Nine"
**Chita Rivera – "Nine"
**Ashley Tuttle – "Movin' Out"

*2004: Anika Noni Rose – "Caroline, or Change"
**Beth Fowler – "The Boy from Oz"
**Isabel Keating – "The Boy from Oz"
**Jennifer Westfeldt – "Wonderful Town"
**Karen Ziemba – "Never Gonna Dance"

*2005: Sara Ramirez – "Monty Python's Spamalot"
**Joanna Gleason – "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"
**Celia Keenan-Bolger – "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"
**Jan Maxwell – "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
**Kelli O'Hara – "The Light in the Piazza"

*2006: Beth Leavel – "The Drowsy Chaperone"
**Carolee Carmello – "Lestat"
**Felicia P. Fields – "The Color Purple"
**Megan Lawrence – "The Pajama Game"
**Elisabeth Withers-Mendes – "The Color Purple"

*2007: Mary Louise Wilson – "Grey Gardens"
**Charlotte d'Amboise – "A Chorus Line"
**Rebecca Luker – "Mary Poppins"
**Orfeh – ""
**Karen Ziemba – "Curtains"

*2008: Laura Benanti – "Gypsy"
**de'Adre Aziza in "Passing Strange"
**Andrea Martin – "Young Frankenstein"
**Olga Merediz in "In the Heights"
**Loretta Ables-Sayre in "South Pacific"

Multiple winners

2 Wins
*Audra McDonald

Multiple nominees

4 Nominations
*Andrea Martin

3 Nominations
*Laura Benanti
*Karen Ziemba

2 Nominations
*Gretha Boston
*Helen Gallagher
*Cady Huffman
*Judy Kaye
*Patsy Kelly
*Jane Krakowski
*Marcia Lewis
*Priscilla Lopez
*Julienne Marie
*Millicent Martin
*Audra McDonald
*Josephine Premice
*Chita Rivera
*Mary Testa
*Louise Troy
*Mary Louise Wilson

Trivia

*There have been no ties in the history of this category.

*Never in the history of this category has a performer won a Tony Award by portraying a character previously embodied by a former winner. There have been 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 (Anita Morris had been nominated in 1982, also for her portrayal of Carla, but she did not win);

*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.

*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 BenantiOf all these performers, only Laura Benanti won the Tony Award.

*Audra McDonald is, so far, the only performer to achieve the honor of 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.

*Lauri Peters has the distinction of being the sole nominee ever to share a nomination with an ensemble. In 1960, Peters was cited among “the Children”, an assembly of young performers (including two males, in spite of this being a female category), which, alongside her, portrayed the Von Trapp siblings in "The Sound of Music".

*The record for the longest span between nominations for a particular performer is held by Chita Rivera, whose nominations for "Bye Bye, Birdie", in 1961, and "Nine", in 2003, are set apart by 42 years, over four decades.

*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.