Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Awarded for	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Location	New York City
Presented by	Outer Critics Circle
Status	Retired
Website	OuterCriticsCircle.org

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was an annual award given to the best featured actor in a musical on Broadway or Off-Broadway, as determined by Outer Critics Circle. The award was established in 1997 as "Best Featured Actor in a Musical," before formally changing to "Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical" in 1999. ^[1]

The award was preceded by an award for Best Performance, but the newly gendered award for musical performance was first given out the 1987–1988 season through the season. The award was retired in 2022 and replaced by gender-neutral performance categories. ^[2]

André De Shields is the only performer to win this award twice, while Shuler Hensley, Danny Burstein and Christoper Fitzgerald each received the most nominations with three each; all three won one award from their three nominations.

Awards winners

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1990s

Year	Actor	Work	Role	Ref.
1997
	Joel Grey	Chicago	Amos Hart	[3] [4]
	Chuck Cooper	The Life	Performer
	Stanley Bojarski	When Pigs Fly	Performer
	Kevin Ramsey	The Life	Performer
1998
	Peter Friedman	Ragtime	Tateh	[5] [6]
	Gregg Edelman	1776	Edward Rutledge
	John McMartin	High Society	Uncle Willie
	Ron Rifkin	Cabaret	Herr Schultz
1999
	Michel Bell	The Civil War	Clayton Toler	[7] [8]
	Roger Bart	You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown	Snoopy
	Gilles Chiasson	The Civil War	Corp. William McEwen
	Scott Wise	Fosse	Performer

2000s

Year	Actor	Work	Role	Ref.
2000
	Stephen Spinella	James Joyce's The Dead	Freddy Malins	[9] [10]
	Michael Berresse	Kiss Me, Kate	Bill Calhoun/Lucentio
	Boyd Gaines	Contact	Performer
	Tony Vincent	Jesus Christ Superstar	Judas
2001 (tie)
	Gary Beach	The Producers	Roger De Bris	[11] [12]
	André de Shields	The Full Monty	Horse
	David Elder	42nd Street	Billy Lawlor
John Ellison Conlee	The Full Monty	Dave
2002
	Shuler Hensley	Oklahoma!	Jud Fry	[13] [14]
	Norbert Leo Butz	Thou Shalt Not	Camille Raquin
	Justin Bohon	Oklahoma!	Will Parker
	Marc Kudisch	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Mr. Trevor Graydon
2003
	Dick Latessa	Hairspray	Wilbur Turnblad	[15] [16]
	Randall Duk Kim	Flower Drum Song	Wang Ta
	Matthew Morrison	Hairspray	Link Larkin
	Steven Pasquale	A Man of No Importance	Robbie Fay
	Corey Reynolds	Hairspray	Seaweed
2004 (tie)
	John Cariani	Fiddler on the Roof	Motel Kamzoil	[17] [18]
	Michael Cerveris	Assassins	John Wilkes Booth
	Mitchell David Federan	The Boy from Oz	Young Peter
	Sriram Ganesan	Bombay Dreams	Sweetie
Joel Grey	Wicked	The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2005
	Dan Fogler	The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee	William Barfée	[19] [20]
	Michael Berresse	The Light in the Piazza	Giuseppe Naccarelli
	Mark Harelik		Signor Naccarelli
	Matthew Morrison		Fabrizio Naccarelli
	Marc Kudisch	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Baron Bomburst
2006
	Jim Dale	The Threepenny Opera	Mr. Peachum	[21] [22]
	Michael Ball	The Woman in White	Count Fosco
	Peter Benson	The Pajama Game	Prez
	Christian Hoff	Jersey Boys	Tommy DeVito
2007
	David Pittu	LoveMusik	Bertolt Brecht	[23] [24]
	Jason Danieley	Curtains	Aaron Fox
	Daniel Jenkins	Mary Poppins	George Banks
	Bobby Steggert	110 in the Shade	Jimmy Curry
2008
	Danny Burstein	South Pacific	Seabee Luther Billis	[25] [26]
	Christopher Fitzgerald	Young Frankenstein	Igor
	Shuler Hensley		The Monster
	Tony Yazbeck	Gypsy	Tulsa
2009
	Gregory Jbara	Billy Elliot	Dad	[27] [28]
	Aaron Simon Gross	13	Archie
	Christopher Sieber	Shrek the Musical	Lord Farquaad
	Daniel Breaker		Donkey
	Wesley Taylor	Rock of Ages	Franz

2010s

Year	Actor	Work	Role	Ref.
2010
	Levi Kreis	Million Dollar Quartet	Jerry Lee Lewis	[29] [30]
	Bobby Steggert	Ragtime	Younger Brother
	Christopher Fitzgerald	Finian's Rainbow	Og
	Dick Latessa	Promises, Promises	Dr. Dreyfuss
	Kevin Chamberlin	The Addams Family	Uncle Fester
2011
	Adam Godley	Anything Goes	Lord Evelyn Oakleigh	[31] [32]
	Chester Gregory	Sister Act	Lt. Eddie Souther
	Colin Donnell	Anything Goes	Billy Crocker
	John Larroquette	How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	J. B. Biggley
	John McMartin	Anything Goes	Elisha J. Whitney
2012
	Michael McGrath	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Cookie McGee	[33] [34]
	Andrew Keenan-Bolger	Newsies	Crutchie
	Chris Sullivan	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Duke Mahoney
	Patrick Page	Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark	Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
	Phillip Boykin	Porgy and Bess	Crown
2013
	Terrence Mann	Pippin	Charlemagne	[35] [36]
	Dan Lauria	A Christmas Story: The Musical	Jean Shepherd
	Daniel Stewart Sherman	Kinky Boots	Don
	Raymond Luke	Motown	Young Berry Gordy/Young Michael Jackson/Young Stevie Wonder
	Will Chase	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	John Jasper/Mr. Clive Paget
2014
	Nick Cordero	Bullets Over Broadway	Cheech	[37] [38]
	Danny Burstein	Cabaret	Herr Schultz
	Joshua Henry	Violet	Flick
	James Monroe Iglehart	Aladdin	Genie
	Jarrod Spector	Beautiful: The Carole King Musical	Barry Mann
2015
	Andy Karl	On the Twentieth Century	Bruce Granit	[39] [40]
	John Cariani	Something Rotten!	Nigel Bottom
	Josh Grisetti	It Shoulda Been You	Marty Kaufman
	Paul Alexander Nolan	Doctor Zhivago	Pasha Antipov
	Max von Essen	An American in Paris	Henri Baurel
2016
	Christopher Fitzgerald	Waitress	Ogie Anhorn	[41] [42] [43]
	Nicholas Barasch	She Loves Me	Arpad Laszlo
	Roger Bart	Disaster!	Tony Delvecchio
	Michael Esper	Lazarus	Valentine
	Terrence Mann	Tuck Everlasting	The Man in the Yellow Suit
2017
	Gavin Creel	Hello, Dolly!	Cornelius Hackl	[44] [45]
	John Bolton	Anastasia	Vladimir "Vlad" Popov
	Jeffry Denman	Kid Victory	Michael
	Shuler Hensley	Sweet Charity	Oscar Lindquist
	Andrew Rannells	Falsettos	Whizzer
2018
	Norbert Leo Butz	My Fair Lady	Alfred P. Doolittle	[46] [47]
	Alexander Gemignani	Carousel	Enoch Snow
	Gavin Lee	SpongeBob SquarePants	Squidward
	Nick Wyman	Desperate Measures	Governor von Richterhenkenp- flichtgetruber
	Tony Yazbeck	Prince of Broadway	Performer
2019
	André De Shields	Hadestown	Hermes	[48] [49]
	John Behlmann	Tootsie	Max Van Horn
	Reg Rogers		Ron Carlisle
	George Salazar	Be More Chill	Michael Mell
	Ephraim Sykes	Ain't Too Proud	David Ruffin

2020s

Year	Actor	Work	Role	Ref.
2020 (Hon.)	Christian Borle	Little Shop of Horrors	The Dentist	[50] [51]
	Danny Burstein	Moulin Rouge!	Harold Zidler
	Gus Halper	Sing Street	Brendan Lalor
	Jay Armstrong Johnson	Scotland, PA	Banko
	Francis Jue	Soft Power	DHH
	Daniel J. Watts	Tina: The Tina Turner Musical	Ike Turner
2021	No award given due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
	Matt Doyle	Company	Jamie	[52]
	Quentin Earl Darrington	MJ	Joseph Jackson / Rob
	Steven Pasquale	Assassins	John Wilkes Booth
	A. J. Shively	Paradise Square	Owen Duignan
	Will Swenson	Assassins	Charles J. Guiteau

Multiple wins

2 wins

• André De Shields

Multiple nominations

3 nominations

• Shuler Hensley
• Danny Burstein
• Christopher Fitzgerald

2 nominations

• Joel Grey
• John McMartin
• Roger Bart
• Michael Berresse
• André De Shields
• Norbert Leo Butz
• Marc Kudisch
• Dick Latessa
• Matthew Morrison
• Steven Pasquale
• John Cariani
• Bobby Steggert
• Tony Yazbeck
• Terrence Mann

References

1. "Nightingales, Wit, Iceman & Fosse Win Outer Critics Awards; Ceremony May 28". Playbill. April 26, 1999. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
2. Andrew Gans (January 24, 2023). "Dates Set for 2023 Outer Critics Circle Awards; Gender Removed From Acting Categories". Playbill.
3. "1996–1997 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
4. Lefkowitz, David (May 5, 1997). "Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
5. "1997–1998 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
6. Viagas & Lefkowitz (April 27, 1998). "Lion King Roars With Six Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
7. "1998–1999 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
8. "Nightingales, Wit, Iceman & Fosse Win Outer Critics Awards; Ceremony May 28". Playbill. April 26, 1999. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
9. "1999–2000 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
10. "Contact and Kiss Me, Kate Big Winners of 2000 Outer Critics Awards". Playbill. April 30, 2000. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
11. "2000–2001 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
12. Simonson & Lefkowitz (May 24, 2001). "2001 Outer Critics Circle Awards Held at Sardi's, May 24". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
13. "2001–2002 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
14. "The 2001–2002 Outer Critics Circle Award Winners". TheaterMania. April 29, 2002. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
15. "2002–2003 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
16. Gans, Andrew (May 5, 2003). "Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced; Hairspray Leads the Pack". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
17. "2003–2004 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
18. "Wicked, Wonderful Town, I Am My Own Wife Top 2004 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. May 2, 2004. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
19. "2004–2005 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
20. "2005 Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced". New York Theatre Guide. May 9, 2005. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
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22. Hernandez, Ernio (May 14, 2006). "The Drowsy Chaperone and The History Boys Top Outer Critics Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
23. "2006–2007 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
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26. Gans, Andrew (May 12, 2008). "South Pacific Is Big Winner in Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
27. "2008–2009 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
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29. "2009–2010 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
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31. "2010–2011 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
32. "The Book of Mormon, War Horse and Anything Goes Top 2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Broadway.com. May 16, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
33. "2011–2012 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
34. Gans, Andrew (May 14, 2012). "Outer Critics Circle Winners Announced; Once and One Man, Two Guvnors Are Top Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
35. "2012–2013 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
36. "Outer Critics Circle 2013 Award Winners". New York Theatre Guide. May 13, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
37. "2013–2014 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
38. Gans, Andrew (May 12, 2014). "64th Annual Outer Critics Circle Award Winners Announced; Gentleman's Guide Wins Four Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
39. "2014–2015 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
40. "Outer Critics Circle Awards 2015: Full List". Variety. April 27, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
41. "2015–2016 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
42. "Outer Critics Circle Honors 'She Loves Me' and 'Long Day's Journey Into Night'". The New York Times. May 9, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
43. Viagas, Robert (May 9, 2016). "Bright Star and The Humans Win Top 2016 NY Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
44. "2016–2017 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
45. Lefkowitz, Andy (May 8, 2017). "2017 Outer Critics Circle Awards: Come From Away & More Win Top Prizes". Broadway.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
46. "2017–2018 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
47. McPhee, Ryan (May 7, 2018). "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, My Fair Lady Win Big at 2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
48. "2018–2019 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
49. Lefkowitz, Andy (May 13, 2019). "Hadestown Leads Winners of 2019 Outer Critics Circle Awards". Broadway.com. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
50. "2019–2020 Awards". Outer Critics Circle. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
51. Clement, Olivia (May 11, 2020). "Moulin Rouge! Leads 2020 Outer Critics Circle Award Honorees". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
52. Culwell-Block, Logan (May 17, 2022). "The Lehman Trilogy Leads 2022 Outer Critics Circle Awards, Six Wins Best Musical; See the Complete List of Winners". Playbill. Retrieved September 3, 2025.