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Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album
Music award From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award is generally given to the album's producers, principal vocalist(s), and the composer and lyricist if they have written a new score which comprises 51% or more playing time of the album, though the number of recipients has varied over the category's tenure.
The inaugural award was presented at the 1st Grammy Awards to composer Meredith Willson for his work on his 1957 musical The Music Man. Ethel Merman and Gwen Verdon became the first female recipients the in 1960 when they tied for Gypsy and Redhead. Stephen Sondheim and Thomas Z. Shepard hold the record for most nominations in the category, with 25, while Sondheim and Shepard are tied for the record for most wins, with six. Tommy Krasker holds the record for most nominations without a win, with twelve.Micki Grant became the first African-American woman to win this award for Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope (1973). To date, two-time recipient Phillipa Soo is the only woman to win more than one award (for Hamilton and Into the Woods).
Among shows, cast recordings from Gypsy, West Side Story, Into the Woods, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street have been nominated four times each respectively, while Gypsy, West Side Story, Into the Woods, and Les Misérables are the only shows to win twice. Anything Goes, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I, and My Fair Lady hold the record for most nominations without a win, with three. The current recipient of the award is Hell's Kitchen, which won at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025.
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Over the years, the qualifications for the individual nominees has fluctuated with principal artists, composers, and producers at one point being the sole eligible nominee, to the current (as of the 66th Grammy Awards) standard which is as follows: "For albums containing greater than 51% playing time of new recordings. Award to the principal vocalist(s), and the album producer(s) of 50% or more playing time of the album. The lyricist(s) and composer(s) of 50 % or more of a score of a new recording are eligible for an Award if any previous recording of said score has not been nominated in this category."
Vocalists were first awarded in this category at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012. When an album does not feature any individual soloists and predominantly features an ensemble cast, no individual award is given to the members of the ensemble, with each member instead receiving a winners certificate. As of the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, only a maximum of four principal vocalists can be awarded (previously unlimited), in addition to the producer/s and lyricists/composers.[1] The maximum number of eligible principal vocalist(s) was increased to six beginning at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.[2]
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for music released in the previous year.
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Name changes
This award has had several minor name changes:
- In 1959 the award was known as Best Original Cast Album (Broadway or TV)
- In 1960 it was awarded as Best Broadway Show Album
- In 1961 it was awarded as Best Show Album (Original Cast)
- From 1962 to 1963 it was awarded as Best Original Cast Show Album
- From 1964 to 1973 it was awarded as Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album
- From 1974 to 1975 it was awarded as Best Score From the Original Cast Show Album
- From 1976 to 1986 it was awarded as Best Cast Show Album
- From 1987 to 1991 it was awarded as Best Musical Cast Show Album
- From 1992 to 2011 it was awarded as Best Musical Show Album
- From 2012 it has been known as Best Musical Theater Album.[3]
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Winners and nominees
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1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
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Shows with multiple wins and nominations
Shows with multiple wins
2 wins:
Shows with multiple nominations
4 nominations
- Gypsy
- West Side Story
- Into the Woods
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
3 nominations:
2 nominations:
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Assassins
- Carousel
- Cabaret
- Cats
- A Chorus Line
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
- Company
- Crazy for You
- The Color Purple
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Flower Drum Song
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Kiss of the Spider Woman
- Kiss Me, Kate
- Kinky Boots
- Little Shop of Horrors
- Man of La Mancha
- Me and My Girl
- Merrily We Roll Along
- Nine
- Oklahoma!
- Pacific Overtures
- Promises, Promises
- Ragtime
- South Pacific
- Sweet Charity
- The Wiz
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
- Zorba
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Individuals with multiple wins and nominations
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Individuals with multiple wins
6 wins:
5 wins:
3 wins:
2 wins:
- David Caddick
- Pete Ganbarg
- Pete Karam
- Tom Kitt
- Goddard Lieberson
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Stephen Oremus
- Phil Ramone
- Tim Rice
- Richard Rodgers
- Stephen Schwartz
- Marc Shaiman
- Phillipa Soo
- Bill Sherman
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Todd Whitelock
- Scott Wittman
Individuals with multiple nominations
25 nominations
17 nominations
15 nominations
12 nominations
- Tommy Krasker
9 nominations
- David Lai
- Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Cy Coleman
- Hugh Fordin
8 nominations
7 nominations
- John Kander
- Phil Ramone
- Robert Sher
6 nominations
- Alan Menken
- Jerry Bock
- Joel W. Moss
- David Caddick
- Fred Ebb
- Richard Rodgers
- Sheldon Harnick
- Stephen Schwartz
5 nominations
4 nominations
- Alan Jay Lerner
- Chris Montan
- Dean Sharenow
- Jeanine Tesori
- Jule Styne
- Lawrence Manchester
- Stephen Oremus
- Sutton Foster
- Van Dean
3 nominations
- Brian d'Arcy James
- Brandon Victor Dixon
- Danny Burstein
- Dorothy Fields
- Derik Lee
- Bob Merrill
- Jessie Mueller
- Joel Moss
- Jonathan Groff
- Michael Croiter
- Micki Grant
- Patti LuPone
- Philip Chaffin
- Sara Bareilles
- Sean Patrick Flahaven
- Stephen Flaherty
- Goddard Lieberson
- Tim Rice
- David Yazbek
- Lynn Ahrens
- Michael Kosarin
- Charles Strouse
2 nominations
- Alex Newell
- Ben Platt
- Bernadette Peters
- Bill Sherman
- Billy Jay Stein
- Burt Bacharach
- Carrie Hope Fletcher
- Christian Borle
- Conrad Ricamora
- Cyndi Lauper
- Daniel Radcliffe
- Elliot Scheiner
- Galt MacDermot
- Gary Geld
- Harvey Schmidt
- Henry Krieger
- Jason Robert Brown
- Jeffrey Lesser
- Jimmy Van Heusen
- John Cariani
- John Clancy
- Julie Andrews
- Justin Levine
- Kevin McCollum
- Kiri Te Kanawa
- Lea Salonga
- Lee Adams
- Lindsay Mendez
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Marc Shaiman
- Martin Charnin
- Matt Stine
- Matthew Broderick
- Meredith Willson
- Neal Avron
- Norm Lewis
- Paul Gemignani
- Pete Ganbarg
- Pete Karam
- Phillipa Soo
- Peter Asher
- Peter Udell
- Phil Reno
- Rob Fisher
- Sammy Cahn
- Sammy James, Jr.
- Scott Wittman
- Scott Riesett
- Shoshana Bean
- Stephen Bray
- Stephen Trask
- Steven Sater
- Todd Whitelock
- Tom Jones
- Tom Kitt
- Tony McAnany
- Victoria Clark
- William Wittman
- Norbert Leo Butz
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References
External links
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