The Three Most Deserving Best Actress in a Musical Tonys

Just looking at the performances on the list is overwhelming.


1948 Grace Hartman for Angel in the Wings
1949 Nanette Fabray for Love Life
1950 Mary Martin for South Pacific
1951 Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam
1952 Gertrude Lawrence for The King and I
1953 Rosalind Russell for Wonderful Town
1954 Dolores Gray for Carnival in Flanders
1955 Mary Martin for Peter Pan
1956 Gwen Verdon for Damn Yankees
1957 Judy Holliday for Bells Are Ringing
1958 Thelma Ritter for New Girl in Town
----Gwen Verdon for New Girl in Town
1959 Gwen Verdon for Redhead
1960 Mary Martin for The Sound of Music
1961 Elizabeth Seal for Irma La Douce
1962 Anna Maria Alberghetti for Carnival!
----Diahann Carroll for No Strings
1963 Vivien Leigh for Tovarich
1964 Carol Channing for Hello, Dolly!
1965 Liza Minnelli for Flora, The Red Menace
1966 Angela Lansbury for Mame
1967 Barbara Harris for The Apple Tree
1968 Patricia Routledge for Darling of the Day
Leslie Uggams for Hallelujah, Baby!
1969 Angela Lansbury for Dear World
1970 Lauren Bacall for Applause
1971 Helen Gallagher for No, No, Nanette
1972 Alexis Smith for Follies
1973 Glynis Johns for A Little Night Music
1974 Virginia Capers for Raisin
1975 Angela Lansbury for Gypsy
1976 Donna McKechnie for A Chorus Line
1977 Dorothy Loudon for Annie
1978 Liza Minnelli for The Act
1979 Angela Lansbury for Sweeney Todd
1980 Patti LuPone for Evita
1981 Lauren Bacall for Woman of the Year
1982 Jennifer Holliday for Dreamgirls
1983 Natalia Makarova for On Your Toes
1984 Chita Rivera for The Rink
1985
1986 Bernadette Peters for Song and Dance
1987 Maryann Plunkett for Me and My Girl
1988 Joanna Gleason for Into the Woods
1989 Ruth Brown for Black and Blue
1990 Tyne Daly for Gypsy
1991 Lea Salonga for Miss Saigon
1992 Faith Prince for Guys and Dolls
1993 Chita Rivera for Kiss of the Spider Woman
1994 Donna Murphy for Passion
1995 Glenn Close for Sunset Boulevard
1996 Donna Murphy for The King and I
1997 Bebe Neuwirth for Chicago
1998 Natasha Richardson for Cabaret
1999 Bernadette Peters for Annie Get Your Gun
2000 Heather Headley for Aida
2001 Christine Ebersole for 42nd Street
2002 Sutton Foster for Thoroughly Modern Millie
2003 Marissa Jaret Winokur for Hairspray
2004 Idina Menzel for Wicked
2005 Victoria Clark for The Light in the Piazza
2006 LaChanze for The Color Purple


Discuss.

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Updated On: 5/6/07 at 05:25 PM

The second.

I think I'd say Angela Lansbury (Sweeney Todd), Carol Channing (Hello, Dolly! and Patti Lupone (Evita).

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Updated On: 5/6/07 at 05:38 PM

I have actually never heard of Ruth Brown, who apparently won in 1989 for a show called Black and Blue. Anyone know anything about this show?

ETA: Just looked it up. She's an R&B singer, and the show was a revue.

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Updated On: 5/6/07 at 05:42 PM

Oh wow. My three: Patti LuPone in Sweeney, Donna McKechnie in A Chorus Line and Victoria Clark in Light in the Piazza

Those are really not definite though because many of these ladies really deserved their Tony!

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My list is rather subjective given the fact I haven't seen 90% of those performances:
Mary Martin-SOUTH PACIFIC
Bernadette Peters-SONG & DANCE
Donna Murphy-PASSION

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Angela Lansbury - Sweeney Todd
Sutton Foster - TMM
Idina Menzel - Wicked
Mary Martin - Peter Pan

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Clark in Piazza, Lansbury in Sweeney Todd and Chita Rivera in The Rink. Now, I didn't see Channing in Dolly (in '64 at least) or really anything before 1967 or '68, so perhaps Martin and Merman and Channing were more deserving, but those three ladies were so superlative, so outstanding in every aspect of their role, they really deserved it.
Honorable mention would go to Patti LuPone for Evita and Christine Eberole for Grey Gardens (She didn't officially win yet, but why bother waiting for the ceremony.)

I have seen 15 of the winners, so I pick from only those:

Angela Lansbury for Sweeney Todd, Patti LuPone for Evita, Bernadette Peters for Song & Dance, and Victoria Clark for The Light In The Piazza (I guess I have a tie!)

(Had Sutton Foster won last year, she would make the list, too)

Gwen Verdon - Damn Yankees
Angela Lansbury - Mame
Carol Channing - Hello, Dolly

"I have actually never heard of Ruth Brown, who apparently won in 1989 for a show called Black and Blue."

Ruth Brown was Motormouth Maybelle in the film Hairspray and she had one of the greatest voices of her genre.

I'd say Angela Lansbury in Mame, Angela Lansbury in Gypsy and Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd.

But please don't make me pick between those three.

1988 Joanna Gleason for Into the Woods
2004 Idina Menzel for Wicked
2005 Victoria Clark for The Light in the Piazza

If Bernadette had won for Gypsy, she'd knock Idina from the list.

Have not seen all of them--- a nice number, but not all-

Heather Headley of the more recent ones--- She WAS the reason to see "Aida"-