Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, 2025 winner
Awarded for	Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical
Location	New York City
Country	United States
Presented by	Drama Desk
First award	2010
Currently held by	Peter Hylenski for Just in Time (2025)
Website	dramadesk.org (defunct)

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City.

The award was established in 1980, with the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design being presented each year to any play or musical production. Starting in 2010, the singular award was replaced by separate play and musical categories.

Acme Sound Partners, Brian Ronan, Scott Lehrer and Nevin Steinberg hold the record for the most wins in the category, with two each. Ronan also holds the record for most nominations, with ten, followed by Lehrer with nine and Kai Harada with six.

Winners and nominees

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

2010s

Year	Designer	Production	Ref.
2010
	Acme Sound Partners	Ragtime	[1]
	Jonathan Deans	La Cage aux Folles
	Kurt Eric Fischer, Ashley Hanson and Brian Ronan	Everyday Rapture
	Peter Hylenski	The Scottsboro Boys
	Scott Lehrer	Finian's Rainbow
	Brian Ronan	Promises, Promises
2011
	Brian Ronan	Anything Goes	[2] [3] [4]
	Lindsay Jones	The Burnt Part Boys
	Michael Rasbury	Hello Again
	Brian Ronan	The Book of Mormon
	Jon Weston	In Transit
2012
	Acme Sound Partners	Porgy and Bess	[5] [6] [7]
	Jonathan Deans	Carrie
	Clive Goodwin	Once
	Kai Harada	Follies
	Steve Canyon Kennedy	Jesus Christ Superstar
	Jon Weston	Death Takes a Holiday
2013
	Steve Canyon Kennedy	Hands on a Hardbody	[8] [9]
	Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy	Chaplin: The Musical
	Tony Meola	The Mystery of Edwin Drood
	Brian Ronan	Bring It On: The Musical
		Giant
Dan Moses Schreier	Passion
2014
	Brian Ronan	Beautiful: The Carole King Musical	[10] [11] [12]
	Kai Harada	Fun Home
	Peter Hylenski	Bullets Over Broadway
		Rocky the Musical
	Dan Moses Schreier	A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
	Jon Weston	The Bridges of Madison County
2015
	Nevin Steinberg	Hamilton	[13] [14]
	Peter Hylenski	Side Show
	Scott Lehrer	The King and I
	Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy	Honeymoon in Vegas
	Brian Ronan	The Last Ship
	Jon Weston	An American in Paris
2016
	Dan Moses Schreier	American Psycho	[15] [16]
	Mick Potter	School of Rock
	Brian Ronan	Lazarus
	Nevin Steinberg	Bright Star
	Scott Lehrer	Shuffle Along
2017
	Nicholas Pope	Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812	[17] [18]
	Simon Baker	946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips
	Peter Hylenski	Anastasia
	Scott Lehrer	Hello, Dolly!
	Mick Potter	Cats
	Brian Ronan	War Paint
	Matt Stine	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2018
	Kai Harada	The Band's Visit	[19] [20]
	Scott Lehrer	Carousel
	Will Pickens	KPOP
	Dan Moses Schreier	Pacific Overtures
2019
	Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz	Hadestown	[21] [22]
	Simon Baker	Girl from the North Country
	Drew Levy	Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
	Brian Ronan	Tootsie
	Mikaal Sulaiman	Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future

2020s

Year	Designer	Production	Ref.
2020
	Peter Hylenski	Moulin Rouge!	[23] [24]
	Tom Gibbons	West Side Story
	Kai Harada	Soft Power
	Hidenori Nakajo	Octet
	Nevin Steinberg	The Wrong Man
2021	No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City		[25]
2022
	Gareth Owen	MJ	[26] [27] [28]
	Ian Dickinson for Autograph	Company
	Paul Gatehouse	Six
	Kai Harada	Kimberly Akimbo
2023
	Scott Lehrer and Alex Neumann	Into the Woods	[29] [30]
	Peter Hylenski	Almost Famous
	John Shivers	Shucked
	Joanna Lynne Staub	Weightless
	Jon Weston	Parade
2024
	Nick Lidster for Autograph	Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club	[31] [32]
	Cody Spencer	The Outsiders
	Walter Trarbach	Water for Elephants
Jason Crystal	Suffs
Kai Harada and Joshua Millican	Dead Outlaw
2025
	Peter Hylenski	Just in Time	[33] [34]
	Adam Fisher	Sunset Blvd.
	Scott Lehrer	Gypsy
	Mick Potter	Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
	Dan Moses Schreier	Floyd Collins

Multiple wins

2 wins

• Acme Sound Partners
• Brian Ronan
• Scott Lehrer
• Nevin Steinberg

Multiple nominations

10 nominations

• Brian Ronan

9 nominations

• Scott Lehrer

6 nominations

• Kai Harada

5 nominations

• Jon Weston
• Dan Moses Schreier

4 nominations

• Nevin Steinberg

3 nominations

• Drew Levy
• Mick Potter

2 nominations

• Acme Sound Partners
• Jonathan Deans
• Steve Canyon Kennedy
• Simon Baker

See also

• Laurence Olivier Award for Best Sound Design
• Tony Award for Best Sound Design of a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design
• Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Sound Design

References

1. "2010 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
2. "2011 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
3. Kenneth Jones (May 24, 2011). "Drama Desk Awards Go to Book of Mormon, Normal Heart, War Horse, Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
4. David Rooney (May 23, 2011). "Book of Mormon, Anything Goes Top Drama Desk Awards". Variety. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
5. "2012 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
6. "Drama Desk Awards". The New York Times. June 4, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
7. New York Theatre Guide Staff (June 3, 2012). "The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
8. "2013 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
9. Michael Paulson (May 20, 2013). "Matilda Wins Big at Drama Desk Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
10. "2014 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
11. New York Theatre Guide Staff (June 1, 2014). "The 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
12. Jesse Green (June 1, 2014). "Drama Desk Embraces a Gentleman's Guide". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
13. "2015 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
14. Gordon Cox (May 31, 2015). "2015 Drama Desk Awards Winners (FULL LIST): 'Hamilton' Takes 7". Variety. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
15. "2016 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
16. Gordon Cox (June 5, 2016). "2016 Drama Desk Awards (FULL LIST): 'Shuffle Along,' 'The Humans'". Variety. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
17. "2017 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
18. Variety Staff (June 5, 2017). "Drama Desk Awards 2017: Full List of Winners". Variety. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
19. "2018 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
20. Playbill Staff (June 3, 2018). "SpongeBob SquarePants Leads 2018 Drama Desk Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
21. "2019 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
22. Ruthie Fierberg (June 2, 2019). "Tootsie, Hadestown, and The Ferryman Lead 2019 Drama Desk Award Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
23. "2020 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
24. Dan Meyer (June 13, 2020). "A Strange Loop, The Inheritance, Moulin Rouge! Win Big at 2020 Drama Desk Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
25. Evans, Greg (2021-05-05). "Broadway To Reopen Sept. 14, Says Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Broadway League "Cautiously Optimistic"". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
26. "2022 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
27. Chloe Rabinowitz (June 8, 2022). "COMPANY, SIX & More Win 2022 Drama Desk Awards – See the Full List!". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
28. Gillian Russo (June 8, 2022). "2022 Drama Desk Award winners announced". New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
29. "2023 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
30. Logan Culwell-Block (May 31, 2023). "Some Like It Hot Dominates 2023 Drama Desk Awards; See the Full List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
31. "2024 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
32. Logan Culwell-Block (June 10, 2024). "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Drama Desk Awards With 7 Wins Including Outstanding Play". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
33. "2025 Awards – Nominees and Recipients". Drama Desk. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
34. Logan Culwell-Block (June 1, 2025). "Drama Desk Award Winners 2025: The Full List". Playbill. Retrieved September 22, 2025.