Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Tony Award for
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
2024 Recipient: Kecia Lewis
Awarded forBest Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
LocationUnited States New York City
Presented byAmerican Theatre Wing The Broadway League
Currently held byKecia Lewis for Hell's Kitchen (2024)
WebsiteTonyAwards.com

The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality featured roles in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946.

Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, to "honor the best performances and stage productions of the previous year."[1]

The award was originally called the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured or Supporting Role in a Musical. It was first presented to Juanita Hall at the 4th Tony Awards for her portrayal of Bloody Mary in South Pacific. Before 1956, nominees' names were not made public;[2] the change was made by the awards committee to "have a greater impact on theatregoers".[3] The category was renamed to its current title in 1976.

Judy Kaye, Andrea Martin and Audra McDonald share the record for having the most wins in this category, with a total of two. Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel and Marge MacDougall in Promises, Promises are the characters to take the award the most times, winning twice.

  1. ^ Kirkley, Donald (April 21, 1968). "Operation Frenzy Before the Tony Awards". The Baltimore Sun. p. T2. Retrieved December 24, 2011. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Simons, Linda Keir (1994). The Performing Arts: a Guide to the Reference Literature. ABC-CLIO. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-87287-982-9. Archived from the original on 2013-06-22. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  3. ^ Gelb, Arthur (April 1, 1956). "Popularizing the Tony Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2011. (subscription required)