Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.

Awards and nominations

1950s

Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions

• 1950: Joshua Logan – South Pacific
  • No nominees

• 1951: George S. Kaufman – Guys and Dolls
  • No nominees

• 1957: Moss Hart – My Fair Lady
  • No nominees

1960s

• 1960: George Abbott – Fiorello!
  • Michael Kidd – Destry Rides Again
  • Jerome Robbins – Gypsy
  • Peter Glenville – Take Me Along
  • Vincent J. Donehue – The Sound of Music

• 1961: Gower Champion – Bye Bye Birdie
  • Garson Kanin – Do Re Mi
  • Peter Brook – Irma La Douce

• 1962: Abe Burrows – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
  • Joshua Logan – All American
  • Gower Champion – Carnival!
  • Joe Layton – No Strings

• 1963: George Abbott – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
  • John Fearnley – Brigadoon
  • Cy Feuer & Bob Fosse – Little Me
  • Peter Coe – Oliver!

• 1964: Gower Champion – Hello, Dolly!
  • Joseph Anthony – 110 in the Shade
  • Noël Coward – High Spirits
  • Harold Prince – She Loves Me

• 1965: Jerome Robbins – Fiddler on the Roof
  • Gene Saks – Half a Sixpence
  • Joan Littlewood – Oh, What a Lovely War!
  • Anthony Newley – The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd

• 1966: Albert Marre – Man of La Mancha
  • Gene Saks – Mame
  • Cy Feuer – Skyscraper
  • Bob Fosse – Sweet Charity

• 1967: Harold Prince – Cabaret
  • Jack Sydow – Annie Get Your Gun
  • Gower Champion – I Do! I Do!
  • Mike Nichols – The Apple Tree

• 1968: Gower Champion – The Happy Time
  • Burt Shevelove – Hallelujah, Baby!
  • George Abbott – How Now, Dow Jones
  • Jules Dassin – Illya Darling

• 1969: Peter Hunt – 1776
  • Tom O'Horgan – Hair
  • Robert Moore – Promises, Promises
  • Harold Prince – Zorba

1970s

• 1970: Ron Field – Applause
  • Michael Benthall – Coco
  • Philip Rose – Purlie

• 1971: Harold Prince – Company
  • Burt Shevelove – No, No, Nanette
  • Robert H. Livingston – The Me Nobody Knows
  • Michael Kidd – The Rothschilds

• 1972: Harold Prince and Michael Bennett – Follies
  • Burt Shevelove – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
  • Gilbert Moses – Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
  • Mel Shapiro – Two Gentlemen of Verona

• 1973: Bob Fosse – Pippin
  • Harold Prince – A Little Night Music
  • Vinnette Carroll – Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope
  • Gower Champion – Sugar

• 1974: Harold Prince – Candide
  • Tom Moore – Over Here!
  • Donald McKayle – Raisin
  • Michael Bennett – Seesaw

• 1975: Geoffrey Holder – The Wiz
  • Arthur Laurents – Gypsy
  • Gower Champion – Mack & Mabel
  • Grover Dale – The Magic Show

• 1976: Michael Bennett – A Chorus Line
  • Bob Fosse – Chicago
  • Harold Prince – Pacific Overtures
  • Bill Gile – Very Good Eddie

• 1977: Gene Saks – I Love My Wife
  • Martin Charnin – Annie
  • Jack O'Brien – Porgy and Bess
  • Vinnette Carroll – Your Arms Too Short to Box with God

• 1978: Richard Maltby, Jr. – Ain't Misbehavin'
  • Bob Fosse – Dancin'
  • Harold Prince – On the Twentieth Century
  • Elizabeth Swados – Runaways

• 1979: Harold Prince – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • Michael Bennett – Ballroom
  • Peter Masterson & Tommy Tune – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
  • Robert Moore – They're Playing Our Song

1980s

• 1980: Harold Prince – Evita
  • Ernest Flatt and Rudy Tronto – Sugar Babies
  • Joe Layton – Barnum
  • Tommy Tune – A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine

• 1981: Wilford Leach – The Pirates of Penzance
  • Gower Champion – 42nd Street
  • Robert Moore – Woman of the Year
  • Michael Smuin – Sophisticated Ladies

• 1982: Tommy Tune – Nine
  • Michael Bennett – Dreamgirls
  • Martin Charnin – The First
  • Tony Tanner – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

• 1983: Trevor Nunn – Cats
  • Michael Kahn – Show Boat
  • Ivan Reitman – Merlin
  • Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh – My One and Only

• 1984: Arthur Laurents – La Cage aux Folles
  • James Lapine – Sunday in the Park with George
  • Richard Maltby, Jr. – Baby
  • Vivian Matalon – The Tap Dance Kid

• 1985: Des McAnuff – Big River
  • Barbara Damashek – Quilters
  • Mitch Leigh – The King and I
  • Harold Prince – Grind

• 1986: Wilford Leach – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  • Bob Fosse – Big Deal
  • Richard Maltby, Jr. – Song & Dance
  • Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli – Tango Argentino

• 1987: Trevor Nunn and John Caird – Les Misérables
  • Brian Macdonald – The Mikado
  • Trevor Nunn – Starlight Express
  • Mike Ockrent – Me and My Girl

• 1988: Harold Prince – The Phantom of the Opera
  • James Lapine – Into the Woods
  • Mbongeni Ngema – Sarafina!
  • Jerry Zaks – Anything Goes

• 1989: Jerome Robbins – Jerome Robbins' Broadway
  • Larry Carpenter – Starmites
  • Peter Mark Schifter – Welcome to the Club
  • Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli – Black and Blue

1990s

• 1990: Tommy Tune – Grand Hotel
  • Trevor Nunn – Aspects of Love
  • Michael Blakemore – City of Angels
  • Susan H. Schulman – Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

• 1991: Tommy Tune – The Will Rogers Follies
  • Graciela Daniele – Once on This Island
  • Nicholas Hytner – Miss Saigon
  • Eleanor Reissa – Those Were the Days

• 1992: Jerry Zaks – Guys and Dolls
  • Mike Ockrent – Crazy for You
  • James Lapine – Falsettos
  • George C. Wolfe – Jelly's Last Jam

• 1993: Des McAnuff – The Who's Tommy
  • Bill Kenwright and Bob Tomson – Blood Brothers
  • Michael Kidd – The Goodbye Girl
  • Harold Prince – Kiss of the Spider Woman

• 1994: Nicholas Hytner – Carousel
  • Robert Jess Roth – Beauty and the Beast
  • James Lapine – Passion
  • Scott Ellis – She Loves Me

• 1995: Harold Prince – Show Boat
  • Des McAnuff – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
  • Jerry Zaks – Smokey Joe's Cafe
  • Trevor Nunn – Sunset Boulevard

• 1996: George C. Wolfe – Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk
  • Jerry Zaks – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
  • Christopher Renshaw – The King and I
  • Michael Greif – Rent

• 1997: Walter Bobbie – Chicago
  • Julie Taymor – Juan Darien
  • Michael Blakemore – The Life
  • Scott Ellis – Steel Pier

• 1998: Julie Taymor – The Lion King
  • Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall – Cabaret
  • Frank Galati – Ragtime
  • Scott Ellis – 1776

• 1999: Matthew Bourne – Swan Lake
  • Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking – Fosse
  • Harold Prince – Parade
  • Michael Mayer – You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

2000s

• 2000: Michael Blakemore – Kiss Me, Kate
  • Susan Stroman – Contact
  • Susan Stroman – The Music Man
  • Lynne Taylor-Corbett – Swing!

• 2001: Susan Stroman – The Producers
  • Mark Bramble – 42nd Street
  • Jack O'Brien – The Full Monty
  • Christopher Ashley – The Rocky Horror Show

• 2002: John Rando – Urinetown: The Musical
  • James Lapine – Into the Woods
  • Trevor Nunn – Oklahoma!
  • Michael Mayer – Thoroughly Modern Millie

• 2003: Jack O'Brien – Hairspray
  • Baz Luhrmann – La bohème
  • Twyla Tharp – Movin' Out
  • David Leveaux – Nine

• 2004: Joe Mantello – Assassins
  • Jason Moore – Avenue Q
  • George C. Wolfe – Caroline, or Change
  • Kathleen Marshall – Wonderful Town

• 2005: Mike Nichols – Monty Python's Spamalot
  • Jack O'Brien – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
  • Bartlett Sher – The Light in the Piazza
  • James Lapine – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

• 2006: John Doyle – Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • Casey Nicholaw – The Drowsy Chaperone
  • Des McAnuff – Jersey Boys
  • Kathleen Marshall – The Pajama Game

• 2007: Michael Mayer – Spring Awakening
  • John Doyle – Company
  • Scott Ellis – Curtains
  • Michael Greif – Grey Gardens

• 2008: Bartlett Sher – South Pacific
  • Sam Buntrock – Sunday in the Park with George
  • Thomas Kail – In the Heights
  • Arthur Laurents – Gypsy

• 2009: Stephen Daldry – Billy Elliot the Musical
  • Michael Greif – Next to Normal
  • Kristin Hanggi – Rock of Ages
  • Diane Paulus – Hair

2010s

• 2010: Terry Johnson – La Cage aux Folles
  • Christopher Ashley – Memphis
  • Marcia Milgrom Dodge – Ragtime
  • Bill T. Jones – Fela!

• 2011: Casey Nicholaw & Trey Parker – The Book of Mormon
  • Rob Ashford – How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
  • Kathleen Marshall – Anything Goes
  • Susan Stroman – The Scottsboro Boys

• 2012: John Tiffany – Once
  • Jeff Calhoun – Newsies
  • Kathleen Marshall – Nice Work If You Can Get It
  • Diane Paulus – Porgy and Bess

• 2013: Diane Paulus – Pippin
  • Scott Ellis – The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  • Jerry Mitchell – Kinky Boots
  • Matthew Warchus – Matilda the Musical

• 2014: Darko Tresnjak – A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
  • Warren Carlyle – After Midnight
  • Michael Mayer – Hedwig and the Angry Inch
  • Leigh Silverman – Violet

• 2015: Sam Gold – Fun Home
  • Casey Nicholaw – Something Rotten!
  • John Rando – On the Town
  • Bartlett Sher – The King and I
  • Christopher Wheeldon – An American in Paris

Multiple winners

8 wins: Harold Prince

3 wins: Tommy Tune, Gower Champion

2 wins: George Abbott, Michael Bennett, Wilford Leach, Des McAnuff, Trevor Nunn, Jerome Robbins

See also

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical

Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director

External links

• The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards official website