New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards
For more information about the New York Drama Critics' Circle, click here.

2017-2018
Best Play: Mary Jane by Amy Herzog
Best Foreign Play: Hangmen by Martin McDonagh
Best Musical: no award
Special Citations: Park Avenue Armory for adventurous theatrical programming; Transport Group; the staging, design, and illusions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

2016-2017
Best Play: Oslo by J. T. Rogers ; runners-up: A doll's house, part 2 by Lucas Hnath; Sweat by Lynn Nottage
Best Foreign Play: no award
Best Musical: The band's visit ; book by Itamar Moses ; score by David Yazbek (original cast recording)

2015-2016
Best Play: The humans by Stephen Karam
Best Foreign Play: no award
Best Musical: Shuffle along, or The making of the musical sensation of 1921 and all that followed by George C. Wolfe, Eubie Blake, and Noble Sissle

2014-2015
Best Play: Between Riverside and crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Runner-up: Father comes home from the wars (parts 1, 2 & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks
Best Foreign Play: No Award
Best Musical: Hamilton Book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (original cast recording) (vocal score)

2013-2014
Best Play: The night alive by Conor McPherson
Best American Play: All the way by Robert Schenkkan
Best Musical: Fun home by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron (original cast recording) (script)

2012-2013
Best Play: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang
Best Musical: Roald Dahl's Matilda : the musical ; Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin ; Book by Dennis Kelly (original Broadway cast recording) (vocal score)

2011-2012
Best Play: Sons of the prophet by Stephen Karam
Best Foreign Play: Tribes by Nina Raine
Best Musical: Once : a new musical ; music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (original cast recording) (vocal score)

2010-2011
Best Play: Good people by David Lindsay-Abaire; Runner-up: Other desert cities by Jon Robin Baitz
Best Foreign Play: Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth; Runner up: War horse by Nick Stafford
Best Musical: The book of Mormon ; Music and lyrics by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Robert Lopez (vocal score) (original cast recording)

2009-2010
Best Play:  The orphans' home cycle by Horton Foote
Best Musical:  Not awarded
Best Foreign Play:  Not awarded

2008-2009
Best Play:  Ruined by Lynn Nottage
Best Musical:  Billy Elliot book and lyrics by Lee Hall ; music by Elton John (original cast recording) (vocal score)
Best Foreign Play:  Black Watch by Gregory Burke

2007-2008
Best Play:  August : Osage County by Tracy Letts
Best Musical:  Passing strange by Stew and Heidi Rodewald (DVD)(original cast recording) (vocal score). Runner-up: Add1ng mach1ne by Jason Loewith and Joshua Schmidt (original cast recording) (libretto)
Best Foreign Play:  Not awarded

2006-2007
Best Play:  The coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard
Best American play:  Radio golf by August Wilson
Best Musical:  Spring awakening book & lyrics by Steven Sater ; music by Duncan Sheik ; based on the play by Frank Wedekind (original cast recording) (vocal score)
Best Foreign Play:  Not awarded

2005-2006
Best Play:  The history boys by Alan Bennett
Best American play:  Not awarded
Best Musical:  The drowsy chaperone by Lisa Lambert, Greg Morrison, Bob Martin and Don McKellar (vocal score) (original cast recording)

2004-2005
Best Play:  Doubt : a parable by John Patrick Shanley
Best Musical:  Not awarded
Best Foreign Play:  The pillowman by Martin McDonagh

2003-2004
Best Play:  Intimate apparel by Lynne Nottage
Best Musical:  Not awarded
Best Foreign Play:  Not awarded

2002-2003
Best Play:  Take me out by Richard Greenberg
Best Musical:  Hairspray.  Book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan.  Music by Mark Shaiman.  Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (original cast recording)
Best American Play:  Talking heads : six monologues by Alan Bennett

2001-2002
Best Play:  The goat, or, Who is Sylvia? : (notes toward a definition of tragedy) by Edward Albee
Best Musical:  Not awarded

2000-2001
Best New Play:  The invention of love by Tom Stoppard
Best Musical:  The Producers.  Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks.  Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan.  (original cast recording)
Best American Play:  Proof by David Auburn

1999–2000
Best New Play:  Jitney by August Wilson
Best Musical:  James Joyce's The Dead.  Music by Shaun Davey.  Book by Richard Nelson.  Lyrics conceived and adapted by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey
Best Foreign Play:  Copenhagen by Michael Frayn

1998–1999
Best New Play:  Wit by Margaret Edson
Best Musical:  Parade.  Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Best Foreign Play:  Closer by Patrick Marber

1997–1998
Best New Play:  Art by Yasmina Reza
Best Musical:  The Lion King.  Music and lyrics by Elton John & Tim Rice (original cast recording)
Best American Play:  Pride's Crossing by Tina Howe

1996–1997
Best New Play:  How I learned to drive by Paula Vogel
Best Musical:  Violet.  Music by Jeanine Tesori.  Book & lyrics by Brian Crawley
Best Foreign Play:  Skylight by David Hare

1995–1996
Best New Play:  Seven guitars by August Wilson
Best Foreign Play:  Molly Sweeney by Brian Friel
Best Musical:  Rent.  Book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson (original cast recording)(DVD)

1994–1995
Best Play:  Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
Citation for Best American Play: Love! Valour! Compassion!, by Terrence McNally
Citation for Best Musical:  No award given

1993–1994
Best Play (tie):
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992 on the road : a search for American character; Anna Deavere Smith, writer/actress, received an award “for unique contribution to theatrical form.”

1992–1993
Best Play:  Angels in America : millennium approaches by Tony Kushner
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Someone who'll watch over me by Frank McGuinness
Citation for Best Musical:  Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Music by John Kander.  Book by Terrence McNally.  Lyrics by Fred Ebb (original cast recording)

1991–1992
Best Play:  Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel
Citation for Best American Play: Two trains running by August Wilson

1990–1991
Best Play:  Six degrees of separation by John Guare
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Our country's good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Citation for Best Musical:  The Will Rogers Follies : a life in revue.  Music composed & arranged by Cy Coleman.  Book by Peter Stone.  Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

1989–1990
Best Play:  The piano lesson by August Wilson
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  Privates on Parade, Peter Nichols
Citation for Best Musical: City of angels.  Music by Cy Coleman.  Book by Larry Gelbart.  Lyrics by David Zippel

1988–1989
Best Play:  The Heidi chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Aristocrats, by Brian Friel

1987–1988
Best Play:  Joe Turner's come and gone : a play in two acts, by August Wilson
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The road to Mecca : a play, by Athol Fugard
Citation for Best Musical: Into the woods.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by James Lapine

1986–1987
Best Play:  Fences, by August Wilson
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Les liaisons dangereuses : a play, by Christopher Hampton
Citation for Best Musical:  Les Misérables.  Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.  Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer.  Original text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel.  Additional material by James Fenton (original cast recording)

1985–1986
Best Play:  A lie of the mind : a play in three acts, by Sam Shepard
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Benefactors, by Michael Frayn
Special Citation:  The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe by Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin

1984–1985
Best Play:  Ma Rainey's black bottom : a play in two acts, by August Wilson

1983–1984
Best Play:  The real thing, by Tom Stoppard
Citation for Best American Play: Glengarry Glenn Ross, by David Mamet
Citation for Best Musical: Sunday in the park with George.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by James Lapine (original cast recording)

1982–1983

Best Play:  Brighton Beach memoirs, by Neil Simon
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Plenty, by David Hare
Citation for Best Musical:  Little shop of horrors.  Music by Alan Menken.  Lyrics by Howard Ashman

1981–1982

Best Play:  The life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens ; adapted for the stage by David Edgar
Citation for Best American Play: A soldier's play, by Charles Fuller

1980–1981

Best Play:  A lesson from aloes, by Athol Fugard
Citation for Best American Play: Crimes of the heart, by Beth Henley

1979–1980

Best Play:
Talley's folly, by Lanford Wilson
Evita.  Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Lyrics by Tim Rice. (premiere American recording)
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Betrayal by Harold Pinter

1978–1979

Best Play:  The elephant man by Bernard Pomerance
Citation for Best Musical: Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street : a musical thriller. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by Hugh Wheeler. (original cast recording)(re-orchestrated version)

1977–1978

Best Play:  Da by Hugh Leonard
Citation for Best Musical:  Ain't misbehavin', conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr. (original cast recording)

1976–1977

Best Play:  Otherwise engaged by Simon Gray
Citation for Best American Play: American buffalo by David Mamet
Citation for Best Musical:  Annie.  Music by Charles Strouse.  Lyrics by Martin Charnin.  Book by Thomas Meehan.  (original cast recording)

1975–1976
Best Play:  Travesties by Tom Stoppard
Citation for Best American Play: Streamers by David Rabe
Citation for Best Musical: Pacific overtures.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by John Weidman.  Additional material by Hugh Wheeler

1974–1975

Best Play:  Equus by Peter Shaffer
Citation for Best American Play: The taking of Miss Janie by Ed Bullins
Citation for Best Musical: A chorus line.  Music by Marvin Hamlisch.  Lyrics by Edward Kleban.  Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante.  (original cast recording)

1973–1974

Best Play:  The contractor by David Storey
Citation for Best American Play: Short eyes by Miguel Pinero
Citation for Best Musical: Candide.  Music by Leonard Bernstein.  Book by Lillian Hellman. Lyrics by Richard Wilbur. Other lyrics by John Latouche and Dorothy Parker. (DVD)(final revised version, 1989)

1972–1973

Best Play:  The changing room by David Storey
Citation for Best American Play: The Hot l Baltimore by Lanford Wilson
Citation for Best Musical: A little night music.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by Hugh Wheeler.

1971–1972

Best Play:  That championship season by Jason Miller
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The screens; a play in seventeen scenes by Jean Genet
Citation for Best Musical: Two gentlemen of Verona, adapted by John Guare and Mel Shapiro.  Music by Galt MacDermot.  Lyrics by John Guare.  (original cast recording)

1970–1971

Best Play:  Home by David Storey
Citation for Best American Play: The house of blue leaves by John Guare
Citation for Best Musical: Follies.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by James Goldman.

1969–1970

Best Play:  Brendan Behan's Borstal boy. Adapted for the stage by Frank McMahon.
Citation for Best American Play: The effect of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds by Paul Zindel
Citation for Best Musical: Company.  Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Book by George Furth. (original cast recording)

1968–1969

Best Play:  The great white hope by Howard Sackler
Citation for Best Musical: 1776.  Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards. Book by Peter Stone.  (original cast recording)

1967–1968

Best Play:  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard
Citation for Best Musical:  Your own thing.  Music and lyrics by Hal Hester and Danny Apolinar.  Book by Donald Driver.

1966–1967

Best Play:  The homecoming by Harold Pinter
Citation for Best Musical: Cabaret.  Music by John Kander.  Book by Joe Masteroff.  Lyrics by Fred Ebb.  (original cast recording)

1965–1966

Best Play:  The persecution and assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as performed by the inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the direction of the Marquis de Sade by Peter Weiss
Citation for Best Musical: The man of La Mancha.  Music by Mitch Leigh.  Book by Dale Wasserman.  Lyrics by Joe Darion.  (original cast recording)

1964–1965
Best Play:  The subject was roses by Frank D. Gilroy
Citation for Best Musical: Fiddler on the roof.  Music by Jerry Bock.  Book by Joseph Stein.  Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.  (original cast recording)

1963–1964

Best Play:  Luther by John Osborne
Citation for Best Musical: Hello, Dolly.  Music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.  Book by Michael Stewart.  (original cast recording)

1962–1963

Best Play:  Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

1961–1962

Best Play:  The night of the iguana by Tennessee Williams
Citation for Best Foreign Play: A man for all seasons by Robert Bolt
Citation for Best Musical:  How to succeed in business without really trying, book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert ; based on How to succeed in business without really trying by Shepherd Mead ; music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.  (1995 cast recording)

1960–1961

Best Play:  All the way home by Tad Mosel
Citation for Best Foreign Play: A taste of honey by Shelagh Delaney
Citation for Best Musical:  Carnival.  Music and lyrics by Bob Merrill ; book by Michael Stewart

1959–1960

Best Play:  Toys in the attic by Lillian Hellman
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Five finger exercise by Peter Shaffer
Citation for Best Musical: Fiorello!  Book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

1958–1959

Best Play:  A raisin in the sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  The visit by Friedrich Duerrenmatt, adapted by Maurice Valency
Citation for Best Musical:  La Plume de ma Tante by Robert Dhery and Gerard Calvi

1957–1958

Best Play:  Look homeward, Angel by Ketti Frings
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Look back in anger by John Osborne
Citation for Best Musical:  The music man ; book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson ; story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey  (original cast recording)

1956–1957

Best Play:  Long day's journey into night by Eugene O'Neill
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  Waltz of the toreadors by Jean Anouilh
Citation for Best Musical:  The most happy fella by Frank Loesser  (original cast recording)

1955–1956

Best Play: The diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Tiger at the gates by Jean Giraudoux ; translated by Christopher Fry
Citation for Best Musical: My fair lady Music by Frederick Loewe; lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner  (original cast recording)

1954–1955

Best Play:  Cat on a hot tin roof by Tennessee Williams
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Witness for the prosecution by Agatha Christie
Citation for Best Musical: The Saint of Bleecker Street Words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti

1953–1954

Best Play:  The teahouse of the August moon by John Patrick
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Ondine by Jean Giraudoux ; adapted by Maurice Valency
Citation for Best Musical:  The golden apple. Book by John Latouche ; music by Jerome Moross

1952–1953

Best Play:  Picnic by William Inge
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  The love of four colonels by Peter Ustinov
Citation for Best Musical: Wonderful town Book by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov; lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green ; music by Leonard Bernstein (original cast recording)

1951–1952

Best Play:  I am a camera by John Van Druten, based on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Venus observed by Christopher Fry
Citation for Best Musical:  Pal Joey Music by Richard Rodgers ; lyrics by Lorenz Hart ; book by John O'Hara

1950–1951

Best Play:  Darkness at noon by Sidney Kingsley
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The lady's not for burning by Christopher Fry
Citation for Best Musical:  Guys and dolls.  Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser ; book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows  (original cast recording)

1949–1950

Best Play:  The member of the wedding by Carson McCullers
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The cocktail party by T. S. Eliot
Citation for Best Musical: The consul Words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti

1948–1949

Best Play:  Death of a salesman : certain private conversations in two acts and a requiem by Arthur Miller
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux ; translated and adapted by Maurice Valency
Citation for Best Musical:  South Pacific Music by Richard Rodgers ; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II ; book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan (2008 cast recording)

1947–1948

Best Play:  A streetcar named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The Winslow boy by Terence Rattigan

1946–1947

Best Play:  All my sons by Arthur Miller
Citation for Best Foreign Play: No exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Citation for Best Musical:  Brigadoon Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner ; music by Frederick Loewe  (original cast recording)

1945–1946

Best Play:  No award
Citation for Best Musical: Carousel Music by Richard Rodgers ; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

1944–1945

Best Play:  The glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams

1943–1944

Best Play:  No award
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Jacobowsky and the Colonel by Franz Werfel ; adapted by S. N. Behrman

1942–1943

Best Play:  The patriots by Sidney Kingsley

1941–1942

Best Play:  No award
Citation for Best Foreign Play: Blithe spirit by Noel Coward

1940–1941

Best Play:  Watch on the Rhine by Lillian Hellman
Citation for Best Foreign Play: The corn is green by Emlyn Williams

1939–1940

Best Play:  The time of your life by William Saroyan

1938–1939

Best Play:  No award
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  The white steed by Paul Vincent Carroll

1937–1938

Best Play:  Of mice and men by John Steinbeck
Citation for Best Foreign Play:  Shadow and substance by Paul Vincent Carroll

1936–1937

Best Play:  High Tor by Maxwell Anderson

1935–1936
Best Play:  Winterset by Maxwell Anderson