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