Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical

The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible. This award was originally called the Tony Award for Best Author, until musicals were split off from dramas.

Awards and nominations

1940s

Called "Tony Award for Best Author (Musical)"'

• 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Samuel and Bella Spewack
  • No nominees

1950s

Called "Tony Award for Libreto"'

• 1950: South Pacific – Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
  • No nominees

1960s

Renamed "Tony Award for Best Author (Musical)"

• 1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert
  • Carnival! – Michael Stewart and Helen Deutsch

• 1963: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart
  • Oliver! – Lionel Bart
  • Little Me – Neil Simon
  • Stop the World – I Want to Get Off – Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley

Called "Tony Award for Best Author (Dramatic)"

• 1964: Hello, Dolly! – Michael Stewart
  • The Girl Who Came to Supper – Noël Coward and Harry Kurnitz
  • She Loves Me – Joe Masteroff
  • High Spirits – Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray

• 1965: Fiddler on the Roof - Joseph Stein
  • No nominees

1970s

Called "Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical"

• 1971: Company – George Furth
  • The Me Nobody Knows – Robert H. Livingston and Herb Schapiro
  • The Rothschilds – Sherman Yellen

• 1972: Two Gentlemen of Verona – John Guare and Mel Shapiro
  • Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death – Melvin Van Peebles
  • Follies – James Goldman
  • Grease – Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey

• 1973: A Little Night Music – Hugh Wheeler
  • Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope – Micki Grant
  • Don't Play Us Cheap – Melvin Van Peebles
  • Pippin – Roger O. Hirson

• 1974: Candide – Hugh Wheeler
  • Raisin – Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg
  • Seesaw – Michael Bennett

• 1975: Shenandoah – James Lee Barrett, Peter Udell and Philip Rose
  • Mack and Mabel – Michael Stewart
  • The Lieutenant – Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman, and Chuck Strand
  • The Wiz – William F. Brown

• 1976: A Chorus Line – James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante
  • Chicago – Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
  • Pacific Overtures – John Weidman
  • The Robber Bridegroom – Alfred Uhry

• 1977: Annie – Thomas Meehan
  • Happy End – Elisabeth Hauptmann and Michael Feingold
  • I Love My Wife – Michael Stewart
  • Your Arms Too Short to Box with God – Vinnette Justine Carroll

• 1978: On the Twentieth Century – Betty Comden and Adolph Green
  • A History of the American Film – Christopher Durang
  • Runaways – Elizabeth Swados
  • Working – Stephen Schwartz

• 1979: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Hugh Wheeler
  • Ballroom – Jerome Kass
  • The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – Larry L. King and Peter Masterson
  • They're Playing Our Song – Neil Simon

1980s

• 1980: Evita – Tim Rice
  • A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine – Dick Vosburgh
  • Barnum – Mark Bramble
  • Sugar Babies – Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby

• 1981: Woman of the Year – Peter Stone
  • 42nd Street – Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble
  • The Moony Shapiro Songbook – Monty Norman and Julian More
  • Tintypes – Mary Kyte

• 1982: Dreamgirls – Tom Eyen
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Tim Rice
  • Nine – Arthur Kopit
  • The First – Joel Siegel and Martin Charnin

• 1983: Cats – T. S. Eliot
  • A Doll's Life – Betty Comden and Adolph Green
  • Merlin – Richard Levinson and William Link
  • My One and Only – Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer

• 1984: La Cage aux Folles – Harvey Fierstein
  • Baby – Sybille Pearson
  • Sunday in the Park with George – James Lapine
  • The Tap Dance Kid – Charles Blackwell

• 1985: Big River – William Hauptman
  • Grind – Fay Kanin
  • Harrigan and Hart – Michael Stewart
  • Quilters – Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek

• 1986: The Mystery of Edwin Drood – Rupert Holmes
  • Big Deal – Bob Fosse
  • Singin' in the Rain – Betty Comden and Adolph Green
  • Wind in the Willows – Jane Iredale

• 1987: Les Misérables – Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
  • Me and My Girl – L. Arthur Rose, Douglas Furber, Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent
  • Rags – Joseph Stein
  • Smile – Howard Ashman

• 1988: Into the Woods – James Lapine
  • The Gospel at Colonus – Lee Breuer
  • The Phantom of the Opera – Richard Stilgoe and Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Romance/Romance – Barry Harman

• 1989: No award presented

1990s

• 1990: City of Angels – Larry Gelbart
  • Aspects of Love – Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Grand Hotel – Luther Davis
  • Meet Me in St. Louis – Hugh Wheeler

• 1991: The Secret Garden – Marsha Norman
  • Miss Saigon – Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
  • Once on This Island – Lynn Ahrens
  • The Will Rogers Follies – Peter Stone

• 1992: Falsettos – William Finn and James Lapine
  • Crazy for You – Ken Ludwig
  • Five Guys Named Moe – Clarke Peters
  • Jelly's Last Jam – George C. Wolfe

• 1993: Kiss of the Spider Woman – Terrence McNally
  • Anna Karenina – Peter Kellogg
  • Blood Brothers – Willy Russell
  • The Who's Tommy – Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff

• 1994: Passion – James Lapine
  • Beauty and the Beast – Linda Woolverton
  • Cyrano: The Musical – Koen van Dijk
  • A Grand Night for Singing – Walter Bobbie

• 1995: Sunset Boulevard – Don Black and Christopher Hampton
  • No other nominees

• 1996: Rent – Jonathan Larson
  • Big: The Musical – John Weidman
  • Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk – Reg E. Gaines
  • Chronicle of a Death Foretold – Graciela Daniele, Jim Lewis and Michael John LaChiusa

• 1997: Titanic – Peter Stone
  • Jekyll & Hyde – Leslie Bricusse
  • The Life – David Newman, Ira Gasman and Cy Coleman
  • Steel Pier – David Thompson

• 1998: Ragtime – Terrence McNally
  • The Lion King – Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel – Nan Knighton
  • Side Show – Bill Russell

• 1999: Parade – Alfred Uhry
  • Footloose – Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie
  • It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues – Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor and Dan Wheetman
  • Marlene – Pam Gems

2000s

• 2000: James Joyce's The Dead – Richard Nelson
  • Contact – John Weidman
  • Marie Christine – Michael John LaChiusa
  • The Wild Party – Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe

• 2001: The Producers – Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
  • A Class Act – Linda Kline and Lonny Price
  • The Full Monty – Terrence McNally
  • Jane Eyre – John Caird

• 2002: Urinetown – Greg Kotis
  • Mamma Mia! – Catherine Johnson
  • Sweet Smell of Success – John Guare
  • Thoroughly Modern Millie – Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan

• 2003: Hairspray – Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell
  • Amour – Didier Van Cauwelaert and Jeremy Sams
  • Flower Drum Song – David Henry Hwang
  • A Year with Frog and Toad – Willie Reale

• 2004: Avenue Q – Jeff Whitty
  • The Boy from Oz – Martin Sherman and Nick Enright
  • Caroline, or Change – Tony Kushner
  • Wicked – Winnie Holzman

• 2005: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – Rachel Sheinkin
  • Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – Jeffrey Lane
  • The Light in the Piazza – Craig Lucas
  • Monty Python's Spamalot – Eric Idle

• 2006: The Drowsy Chaperone – Bob Martin and Don McKellar
  • The Wedding Singer – Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy
  • Jersey Boys – Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
  • The Color Purple – Marsha Norman

• 2007: Spring Awakening – Steven Sater
  • Curtains – Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone
  • Grey Gardens – Doug Wright
  • Legally Blonde – Heather Hach

• 2008: Passing Strange – Stew
  • Cry-Baby – Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell
  • In the Heights – Quiara Alegría Hudes
  • Xanadu – Douglas Carter Beane

• 2009: Billy Elliot the Musical – Lee Hall
  • Next to Normal – Brian Yorkey
  • Shrek the Musical – David Lindsay-Abaire
  • [title of show] – Hunter Bell

2010s

• 2010: Memphis – Joe DiPietro
  • Everyday Rapture – Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott
  • Fela! – Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones
  • Million Dollar Quartet – Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux

• 2011: The Book of Mormon – Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone
  • Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson – Alex Timbers
  • The Scottsboro Boys – David Thompson
  • Sister Act – Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane

• 2012: Once – Enda Walsh
  • Lysistrata Jones – Douglas Carter Beane
  • Newsies – Harvey Fierstein
  • Nice Work If You Can Get It – Joe DiPietro

• 2013: Matilda the Musical – Dennis Kelly
  • A Christmas Story, the Musical – Joseph Robinette
  • Kinky Boots – Harvey Fierstein
  • Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella – Douglas Carter Beane

• 2014: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder – Robert L. Freedman
  • Aladdin – Chad Beguelin
  • Bullets Over Broadway – Woody Allen
  • Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Douglas McGrath

• 2015: Fun Home – Lisa Kron
  • An American in Paris – Craig Lucas
  • Something Rotten! – Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell
  • The Visit – Terrence McNally

Award records

3 Wins

• Hugh Wheeler
• Thomas Meehan
• James Lapine

2 Wins

• Terrence McNally
• Larry Gelbart
• Peter Stone

External links

• Tony Awards Official site
• Tony Awards at Internet Broadway database Listing
• Tony Awards at broadwayworld.com