| Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical |
| Location | New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Drama Desk |
| First awarded | 1975 |
| Last awarded | 2022 |
| Website | dramadesk.org (defunct) |
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. The award was one of eight new acting awards first presented in 1975, when Drama Desk retired an earlier award that had made no distinction between work in plays and musicals, nor between actors and actresses, nor between lead performers and featured performers.
After the 2022 ceremony, all eight acting categories introduced in 1975 were retired. The award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, along with Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, were replaced in 2023 with the gender neutral category of Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical.
| Year | Actor | Musical | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | |||
| Bob Gunton | Evita | Juan Perón | |
| Joe Grifasi | The 1940's Radio Hour | Neal Tilden | |
| Harry Groener | Oklahoma! | Will Parker | |
| Jeff Keller | The 1940's Radio Hour | Johnny Cantone | |
| Don Novello | Gilda Radner – Live from New York | Himself | |
| Martin Vidnovic | Oklahoma! | Jud Fry | |
| 1981 | |||
| Tony Azito | The Pirates of Penzance | The Sergeant of Police | |
| Gregg Burge | Sophisticated Ladies | Performer | |
| Michael Davis | Broadway Follies | Performer | |
| Lee Roy Reams | 42nd Street | Billy Lawlor | |
| Paxton Whitehead | Camelot | Pellinore | |
| 1982 | |||
| Cleavant Derricks | Dreamgirls | James "Thunder" Early | |
| Mark Hardwick | Pump Boys and Dinettes | L. M. | |
| Ben Harney | Dreamgirls | Curtis Taylor, Jr. | |
| 1983 | |||
| Charles "Honi" Coles | My One and Only | Mr. Magix | |
| Bruce Hubbard | Show Boat | Joe | |
| Franc Luz | Little Shop of Horrors | Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. | |
| Randle Mell | The Cradle Will Rock | Larry Foreman | |
| 1984 | |||
| Martin Vidnovic | Baby | Nick Sakarian | |
| Mace Barrett | Taking My Turn | Eric | |
| Hinton Battle | The Tap Dance Kid | Dipsey | |
| Charles Kimbrough | Sunday in the Park with George | Jules | |
| 1985 | |||
| René Auberjonois | Big River | The Duke | |
| John Goodman | Big River | Pap Finn | |
| Bob Gunton | The King | ||
| Howard McGillin | La bohème | Marcel | |
| Timothy Nolen | Grind | Doyle | |
| John Short | Big River | Tom Sawyer | |
| 1986 | |||
| Michael Rupert | Sweet Charity | Oscar Lindquist | |
| Jason Alexander | Personals | Various Characters | |
| Gregg Burge | Song and Dance | Man | |
| Joe Grifasi | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Bazzard / Mr. Philip Bax | |
| 1987 | |||
| Michael Maguire | Les Misérables | Enjolras | |
| Timothy Jerome | Me and My Girl | Herbert Parchester | |
| Michael O'Gorman | Smile | Tommy French | |
| Joaquin Romaguera | Gay Divorce | Teddy | |
| 1988 | |||
| Robert Westenberg | Into the Woods | Cinderella's Prince / The Wolf | |
| Harry Goz | Chess | Molokov | |
| Anthony Heald | Anything Goes | Evelyn Oakleigh | |
| Bill McCutcheon | Moonface Martin | ||
| Herbert L. Rawlings, Jr. | Dreamgirls | James "Thunder" Early | |
| 1989 | |||
| — | — | — |
| Year | Actor | Musical | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | |||
| Christian Borle | Little Shop of Horrors | Orin Scrivello | |
| George Abud | Emojiland | Nerd Face | |
| Jay Armstrong Johnson | Scotland, PA | Banko | |
| Conrad Ricamora | Soft Power | Xue Xing | |
| Ryan Vasquez | The Wrong Man | The Man in Black | |
| 2021 | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City[2] | ||
| 2022 | |||
| Matt Doyle | Company | Jamie | |
| Justin Austin | Intimate Apparel | George Armstrong | |
| Justin Cooley | Kimberly Akimbo | Seth | |
| Jared Grimes | Funny Girl | Eddie Ryan | |
| Tavon Olds-Sample | MJ | Michael | |