Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Direction of a Musical, formerly the award for Director of a Musical, is an annual award given to the best director of a new musical on Broadway or Off-Broadway, as determined by Outer Critics Circle. The award has been given out since the 1992–1993 season, when the Best Direction award split into musical and play categories.^[1][2] In 2024, the award was renamed to Outstanding Direction of a Musical.^{[3][better source needed]}

Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical
Michael Arden, 2025 winner
Awarded for	Outstanding Director of a Musical
Location	New York City
Presented by	Outer Critics Circle
Currently held by	Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending (2025)
Website	OuterCritics.org

Michael Arden has won the most awards with three, for his productions of Spring Awakening, Parade and Maybe Happy Ending, followed by Susan Stroman, Bartlett Sher and Jessica Stone with two award each; Stroman won both awards consecutively in 2000 and 2001. Scott Ellis has the record for most nominations, with seven, followed closely by Susan Stroman and Kathleen Marshall with six and five nominations respectively.

Award winners

Key

  and bold indicates the winner.

1980s

Year	Production	Director	Ref.
1980[a]
	A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine	Tommy Tune	[4]

1990s

Year	Production	Director	Ref.
1993
	The Who's Tommy	Des McAnuff	[1][5]
1994
	She Loves Me	Scott Ellis	[6]
1995
	Show Boat	Harold Prince	[7][8]
1996
	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Jerry Zaks	[9]
1997
	Chicago	Walter Bobbie	[10][11]
	The Life	Michael Blakemore
	Jekyll and Hyde	Robin Phillips
	Steel Pier	Scott Ellis
	Titanic	Richard Jones
1998
	The Lion King	Julie Taymor	[12][13]
	1776	Scott Ellis
	Cabaret	Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall
	Ragtime	Frank Galati
1999
	Swan Lake	Matthew Bourne	[14][15]
	You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown	Michael Mayer
	Fosse	Richard Maltby Jr. and Ann Reinking
	The Civil War	Jerry Zaks

2000s

Year	Production	Director	Ref.
2000
	Contact and The Music Man	Susan Stroman	[16][17]
	The Wild Party	Mark Dendy
	Swing!	Lynne Taylor-Corbett
	Kiss Me, Kate	Kathleen Marshall
2001
	The Producers	Susan Stroman	[18][19]
	The Rocky Horror Show	Christopher Ashley
	42nd Street	Mark Bramble
	The Full Monty	Jack O'Brien
2002
	Urinetown	John Rando	[20][21]
	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Michael Mayer
	Oklahoma!	Trevor Nunn
	Into the Woods	James Lapine
2003
	Movin' Out	Twyla Tharp	[22][23]
	Hairspray	Jerry Mitchell
	Flower Drum Song	Robert Longbottom
	Nine	Jonathan Butterell
2004
	Wonderful Town	Kathleen Marshall	[24][25]
	The Boy from Oz	Joey McKneely
	Wicked	Wayne Cilento
	Never Gonna Dance	Jerry Mitchell
	Bombay Dreams	Anthony van Laast and Farah Khan
2005
	Spamalot	Mike Nichols	[26][27]
	The Light in the Piazza	Bartlett Sher
	Sweet Charity	Walter Bobbie
	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Adrian Noble
	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Jack O'Brien
2006
	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	John Doyle	[28][29]
	The Pajama Game	Kathleen Marshall
	Jersey Boys	Des McAnuff
	Grey Gardens	Michael Greif
2007
	Spring Awakening	Michael Mayer	[30][31]
	Mary Poppins	Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne
	In the Heights	Thomas Kail
	Company	John Doyle
2008
	South Pacific	Bartlett Sher	[32][33]
	Gypsy	Arthur Laurents
	Adding Machine	David Cromer
	Young Frankenstein	Susan Stroman
2009
	Billy Elliot: The Musical	Stephen Daldry	[34][35]
	Hair	Diane Paulus
	Shrek the Musical	Jason Moore
	Happiness	Susan Stroman
	West Side Story	Arthur Laurents

2010s

Year	Production	Director	Ref.
2010
	La Cage aux Folles	Terry Johnson	[36][37]
	Memphis	Christopher Ashley
	The Scottsboro Boys	Susan Stroman
	Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson	Alex Timbers
2011
	The Book of Mormon	Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker	[38][39]
	Sister Act The Musical	Jerry Zaks
	Anything Goes	Kathleen Marshall
	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	Rob Ashford
2012
	Once	John Tiffany	[40][41]
	Newsies	Jeff Calhoun
	Evita	Michael Grandage
	Nice Work If You Can Get It	Kathleen Marshall
2013
	Pippin	Diane Paulus	[42][43]
	Chaplin: The Musical	Warren Carlyle
	The Mystery of Edwin Drood	Scott Ellis
	Kinky Boots	Jerry Mitchell
	Here Lies Love	Alex Timbers
2014
	A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder	Darko Tresnjak	[44][45]
	After Midnight	Warren Carlyle
	Fun Home	Sam Gold
	Les Misérables	Laurence Connor and James Powell
	Rocky	Alex Timbers
2015
	An American in Paris	Christopher Wheeldon	[46][47]
	Hamilton	Thomas Kail
	Something Rotten!	Casey Nicholaw
	It Shoulda Been You	David Hyde Pierce
	On the Twentieth Century	Scott Ellis
2016
	Spring Awakening	Michael Arden	[48][49] [50][51]
	Bright Star	Walter Bobbie
	She Loves Me	Scott Ellis
	American Psycho	Rupert Goold
	Dear Evan Hansen	Michael Greif
2017
	Come From Away	Christopher Ashley	[52][53]
	David Cromer	The Band’s Visit
	Darko Tresnjak	Anastasia
	Matthew Warchus	Groundhog Day
	Jerry Zaks	Hello, Dolly!
2018
	SpongeBob SquarePants	Tina Landau	[54][55]
	My Fair Lady	Bartlett Sher
	Desperate Measures	Bill Castellino
	Once on This Island	Michael Arden
	Mean Girls	Casey Nicholaw
2019
	Hadestown	Rachel Chavkin	[56][57]
	Tootsie	Scott Ellis
	Oklahoma!	Daniel Fish
	Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish	Joel Grey
	The Hello Girls	Cara Reichel

2020s

Year	Production	Director	Ref.
2020 (Hon.)	A Strange Loop	Stephen Brackett	[58][59]
	Jagged Little Pill	Diane Paulus
	Little Shop of Horrors	Michael Mayer
	Moulin Rouge!	Alex Timbers
	West Side Story	Ivo van Hove
2021	No award given due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
	Kimberly Akimbo	Jessica Stone	[60]
	Paradise Square	Moisés Kaufman
	MJ	Christopher Wheeldon
	Harmony	Warren Carlyle
	Mrs. Doubtfire	Jerry Zaks
2023
	Parade	Michael Arden	[61][62]
	Merrily We Roll Along	Maria Friedman
	Some Like It Hot	Casey Nicholaw
	Shucked	Jack O'Brien
	New York, New York	Susan Stroman
2024
	Water for Elephants	Jessica Stone	[3][63]
	Suffs	Leigh Silverman
	The Connector	Daisy Prince
	Days of Wine and Roses	Michael Greif
	Dead Outlaw	David Cromer
2025
	Maybe Happy Ending	Michael Arden	[64][65][66]
	Boop! The Musical	Jerry Mitchell
	Cats: The Jellicle Ball	Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch
	Operation Mincemeat	Robert Hastie
	Death Becomes Her	Christopher Gattelli

Multiple wins

3 wins

• Michael Arden

2 wins

• Susan Stroman (consecutive)
• Bartlett Sher
• Jessica Stone

Multiple nominations

7 nominations

• Scott Ellis

6 nominations

• Susan Stroman

5 nominations

• Kathleen Marshall

4 nominations

• Jerry Zaks
• Michael Mayer
• Jerry Mitchell
• Alex Timbers
• Casey Nicholaw
• Michael Arden

3 nominations

• Walter Bobbie
• Jack O'Brien
• Bartlett Sher
• Michael Greif
• Diane Paulus
• Warren Carlyle

2 nominations

• Des McAnuff
• Matthew Bourne
• Christopher Ashley
• John Doyle
• Thomas Kail
• Arthur Laurents
• David Cromer
• Christopher Wheeldon
• Jessica Stone

See also

• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical
• Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Director

Notes

1. One-time award given before the split of director categories in 1993.