Annual American award honoring Broadway theater productions
The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year. The award goes to the authors and the producers of the play. Plays that have appeared in previous Broadway productions are instead eligible for Best Revival of a Play.
Award winners
Legend:
† marks winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama[1]
* marks finalists of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama[1]
indicates the winner.
1940s
1950s
| Year
|
Production
|
Author
|
Producers
|
1950
(4th)
|
| The Cocktail Party
|
T. S. Eliot
|
Gilbert Miller
|
1951
(5th)
|
| The Rose Tattoo
|
Tennessee Williams
|
Cheryl Crawford
|
1952
(6th)
|
| The Fourposter
|
Jan de Hartog
|
|
1953
(7th)
|
| The Crucible
|
Arthur Miller
|
Kermit Bloomgarden
|
1954
(8th)
|
| The Teahouse of the August Moon †
|
John Patrick
|
Maurice Evans and George Schaefer
|
1955
(9th)
|
| The Desperate Hours
|
Joseph Hayes
|
Howard Erskine and Joseph Hayes
|
1956
(10th)
[2]
|
| The Diary of Anne Frank †
|
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
|
Kermit Bloomgarden
|
| Bus Stop
|
William Inge
|
Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens
|
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof †
|
Tennessee Williams
|
The Playwrights' Company
|
| The Chalk Garden
|
Enid Bagnold
|
Irene Mayer Selznick
|
| Tiger at the Gates
|
Jean Giraudoux, adapted by Christopher Fry
|
Robert L. Joseph, The Playwrights' Company and Henry M. Margolis
|
1957
(11th)
[3]
|
| Long Day's Journey into Night †
|
Eugene O'Neill
|
Leigh Connell, Theodore Mann and José Quintero
|
| The Potting Shed
|
Graham Greene
|
Carmen Capalbo and Stanley Chase
|
| Separate Tables
|
Terence Rattigan
|
The Producers Theatre and Hecht-Lancaster
|
| The Waltz of the Toreadors
|
Jean Anouilh, translated by Lucienne Hill
|
The Producers Theatre and Robert Whitehead
|
1958
(12th)
[4]
|
| Sunrise at Campobello
|
Dore Schary
|
Lawrence Langner, Theresa Helburn, Armina Marshall and Dore Schary
|
| The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
|
William Inge
|
Saint Subber and Elia Kazan
|
| Look Back in Anger
|
John Osborne
|
David Merrick
|
| Look Homeward, Angel †
|
Ketti Frings
|
Kermit Bloomgarden and Theatre 200 Inc.
|
| Romanoff and Juliet
|
Peter Ustinov
|
David Merrick
|
| The Rope Dancers
|
Morton Wishengrad
|
The Playwrights' Company and Gilbert Miller
|
| Time Remembered
|
Jean Anouilh, English version by Patricia Moyes
|
The Playwrights' Company in association with Milton Sperling
|
| Two for the Seesaw
|
William Gibson
|
Fred Coe
|
1959
(13th)
[5]
|
| J.B. †
|
Archibald MacLeish
|
Alfred de Liagre Jr.
|
| The Disenchanted
|
Harvey Breit and Budd Schulberg
|
William Darrid and Eleanor Saidenberg
|
| Epitaph for George Dillon
|
John Osborne and Anthony Creighton
|
David Merrick and Joshua Logan
|
| A Touch of the Poet
|
Eugene O'Neill
|
The Producers Theatre, Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens
|
| The Visit
|
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, adapted by Maurice Valency
|
The Producers Theatre
|
1960s
| Year
|
Production
|
Author
|
Producers
|
1960
(14th)
[6]
|
| The Miracle Worker
|
William Gibson
|
Fred Coe
|
| The Best Man
|
Gore Vidal
|
The Playwrights' Company
|
| A Raisin in the Sun
|
Lorraine Hansberry
|
Philip Rose and David J. Cogan
|
| The Tenth Man
|
Paddy Chayefsky
|
Saint Subber and Arthur Cantor
|
| Toys in the Attic
|
Lillian Hellman
|
Kermit Bloomgarden
|
1961
(15th)
[7]
|
| Becket
|
Jean Anouilh, translated by Lucienne Hill
|
David Merrick
|
| All the Way Home †
|
Tad Mosel
|
Fred Coe in association with Arthur Cantor
|
| The Devil's Advocate
|
Dore Schary
|
Dore Schary
|
| The Hostage
|
Brendan Behan
|
Leonard S. Field and Caroline Burke Swann
|
1962
(16th)
[8]
|
| A Man for All Seasons
|
Robert Bolt
|
Robert Whitehead and Roger L. Stevens
|
| The Caretaker
|
Harold Pinter
|
Roger L. Stevens, Frederick Brisson and Gilbert Miller
|
| Gideon
|
Paddy Chayefsky
|
Fred Coe and Arthur Cantor
|
| The Night of the Iguana
|
Tennessee Williams
|
Charles Bowden and Viola Rubber
|
1963
(17th)
[9]
|
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
|
Edward Albee
|
Theatre 1963, Richard Barr and Clinton Wilder
|
| Mother Courage and Her Children
|
Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Eric Bentley
|
Cheryl Crawford and Jerome Robbins
|
| Tchin-Tchin
|
Sidney Michaels
|
David Merrick
|
| A Thousand Clowns
|
Herb Gardner
|
Fred Coe and Arthur Cantor
|
1964
(18th)
[10]
|
| Luther
|
John Osborne
|
David Merrick
|
| The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
|
Edward Albee
|
Lewis Allen and Ben Edwards
|
| Barefoot in the Park
|
Neil Simon
|
Saint Subber
|
| Dylan
|
Sidney Michaels
|
George W. George and Frank Granat
|
1965
(19th)
[11]
|
| The Subject Was Roses †
|
Frank D. Gilroy
|
Edgar Lansbury
|
| Luv
|
Murray Schisgal
|
Clair Nichtern
|
| The Odd Couple
|
Neil Simon
|
Saint Subber
|
| Tiny Alice
|
Edward Albee
|
Theatre 1965, Richard Barr and Clinton Wilder
|
1966
(20th)
[12]
|
| Marat/Sade
|
Peter Weiss, English version by Geoffrey Skelton
|
David Merrick Arts Foundation
|
| Inadmissible Evidence
|
John Osborne
|
David Merrick Arts Foundation
|
| Philadelphia, Here I Come!
|
Brian Friel
|
| The Right Honourable Gentleman
|
Michael Dyne
|
Peter Cookson, Amy Lynn and Walter Schwimmer
|
1967
(21st)
[13]
|
| The Homecoming
|
Harold Pinter
|
Alexander H. Cohen
|
| Black Comedy
|
Peter Shaffer
|
Alexander H. Cohen
|
| A Delicate Balance †
|
Edward Albee
|
Theatre 1967, Richard Barr and Clinton Wilder
|
| The Killing of Sister George
|
Frank Marcus
|
Helen Bonfils and Morton Gottlieb
|
1968
(22nd)
[14]
|
| Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
|
Tom Stoppard
|
David Merrick Arts Foundation
|
| Joe Egg
|
Peter Nichols
|
Joseph Cates and Henry Fownes
|
| Plaza Suite
|
Neil Simon
|
Saint Subber
|
| The Price
|
Arthur Miller
|
Robert Whitehead
|
1969
(23rd)
[15]
|
| The Great White Hope †
|
Howard Sackler
|
Herman Levin
|
| Hadrian VII
|
Peter Luke
|
Lester Osterman Productions, Bill Freedman and Charles Kasher
|
| Lovers
|
Brian Friel
|
Helen Bonfils and Morton Gottlieb
|
| The Man in the Glass Booth
|
Robert Shaw
|
Glasshouse Productions and Peter Bridge, Ivor David Balding Associates Ltd. and Edward M. Meyers with Leslie Ogden
|
1970s
