Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography

Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Choreography
Drama Desk Award ; for Outstanding Choreography
Awarded for	Outstanding Choreography
Location	New York City
Country	United States
Presented by	Drama Desk
First awarded	1969
Currently held by	Justin Peck for Illinoise (2024)
Website	dramadesk.org (defunct)

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City.

Winners and nominees

1960s

Year	Choreographer	Production
1969
1969	Grover Dale	*Billy*

1970s

Year	Choreographer	Production
1970
1970	Ron Field	*Applause*
1971
	Michael Bennett	*Follies*
	Donald Saddler	*No, No, Nanette*
1972
	Patricia Birch	*Grease*
	Jean Erdman	*Two Gentlemen of Verona*
1973
1973	Bob Fosse	*Pippin*
1974
1974	Patricia Birch	Candide
1975
	George Faison	*The Wiz*
	Dennis Denehy	The Lieutenant
	Roger Morgan	Saturday, Sun, Moon
	Donald Saddler	Good News
	Margo Sappington	Where's Charley?
1976
	Michael Bennett	*A Chorus Line*
	Patricia Birch	Pacific Overtures
	Donald Saddler	The Robber Bridegroom
	Billy Wilson	Bubbling Brown Sugar
1977
	Peter Gennaro	*Annie*
	Patricia Birch	Music Is
	Dan Siretta	Going Up
1978
	Bob Fosse	*Dancin'*
	Arthur Faria	Ain't Misbehavin'
	Geoffrey Holder	Timbuktu!
	Tommy Tune	The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
1979
	Bob Avian and Michael Bennett	*Ballroom*
	Larry Fuller	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
	Henry LeTang and Billy Wilson	Eubie!
	Dan Siretta	Tip-Toes

1980s

Year	Choreographer	Production
1980
	Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh	*A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine*
	Larry Fuller	Evita
	Mary Kyte	Tintypes
	Joe Layton	Barnum
1981
	Gower Champion	*42nd Street*
	Graciela Daniele	The Pirates of Penzance
1982	—
1983
	Tommy Tune and Thommie Walsh	*My One and Only*
	Peter Martins and Donald Saddler	On Your Toes
1984, 1985	—
1986
	Bob Fosse	*Big Deal*
	Gene Kelly and Twyla Tharp	Singin' in the Rain
	Peter Martins	Song and Dance
1987	—
1988
	Michael Smuin	*Anything Goes*
	Grover Dale	Mail
	Gillian Lynne	The Phantom of the Opera
1989	—

1990s

Year	Choreographer	Production
1990
1990	Tommy Tune	*Grand Hotel*
1991
	Tommy Tune	*The Will Rogers Follies*
	Michael Lichtefeld	The Secret Garden
	Dan Siretta	Oh, Kay!
	Susan Stroman	And the World Goes 'Round
1992
	Susan Stroman	*Crazy for You*
	Hope Clarke, Gregory Hines and Ted L. Levy	Jelly's Last Jam
	Christopher Chadman	Guys and Dolls
1993
	Wayne Cilento	The Who's Tommy
	Michael Leeds	Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!
	Niarupama Nityanandan, Catherine Schaub and Simon Abkarian	Les Atrides
	Luis Stazo	Tango Pasion
1994
	Jane Elliott and Kenneth MacMillan	*Carousel*
	Jeff Calhoun	Grease
	Graciela Daniele	Hello Again
	Rob Marshall	She Loves Me
	Matt West	Beauty and the Beast
1995	—
1996
	Savion Glover	*Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk*
	Graciela Daniele	Chronicle of a Death Foretold
	Ghettoriginal Productions	Jam on the Groove
	Kathleen Marshall	Swinging on a Star
	Susan Stroman	Big: the musical
1997
	Ann Reinking	*Chicago*
	Dein Perry	Tap Dogs
	Susan Stroman	Steel Pier
1998
	Garth Fagan	*The Lion King*
	Graciela Daniele	Ragtime
	The Forever Tango Dancers	Luis Bravo's Forever Tango
	Rob Marshall	Cabaret
1999
	Matthew Bourne	*Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake*
	Patricia Birch	Parade
	Rob Marshall	Little Me

2000s

Year	Choreographer	Production
2000
	Susan Stroman	*Contact*
	Jody Abrahams and Loukmaan Adams	Kat and the Kings
	Mark Dendy	The Wild Party
	Kathleen Marshall	Kiss Me, Kate
	Susan Stroman	The Music Man
	Lynne Taylor-Corbett	Swing!
2001
	Susan Stroman	*The Producers*
	John Carrafa	Urinetown
	Jerry Mitchell	The Full Monty
	Jerry Mitchell	The Rocky Horror Show
	Randy Skinner	42nd Street
2002
	Susan Stroman	*Oklahoma!*
	Rob Ashford	Thoroughly Modern Millie
	Christopher Wheeldon	Sweet Smell of Success
2003
	Twyla Tharp	*Movin' Out*
	Jerry Mitchell	Hairspray
	Ken Roberson	Harlem Song
	Tommy Tune	Tommy Tune: White Tie and Tails
2004
	Kathleen Marshall	*Wonderful Town*
	Stephen Hues	Ramayana 2K3
	Jerry Mitchell	Never Gonna Dance
	Anthony Van Laast and Farah Khan	Bombay Dreams
2005
	Jerry Mitchell	*La Cage aux Folles*
	Matthew Bourne	Play Without Words
	Christopher Gattelli	Altar Boyz
	Barry McNabb	Sailor's Song
	Jerry Mitchell	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
	Casey Nicholaw	Monty Python's Spamalot
2006
	Kathleen Marshall	*The Pajama Game*
	Rob Ashford	The Wedding Singer
	Angela Chang	Golden Dragon Acrobats
	Graciela Daniele	Bernarda Alba
	Casey Nicholaw	The Drowsy Chaperone
	Sergio Trujillo	Jersey Boys
2007
	Andy Blankenbuehler	*In the Heights*
	Patricia Birch	LoveMusik
	Matthew Bourne	Edward Scissorhands
	Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear	Mary Poppins
	Bill T. Jones	Spring Awakening
	Jerry Mitchell	Legally Blonde
2008
	Rob Ashford	*Cry-Baby*
	Karole Armitage	Passing Strange
	Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider	Traces
	Dan Knechtges	Xanadu
	Peter Pucci	Queens Boulevard: The Musical
	Susan Stroman	Young Frankenstein
2009
	Peter Darling	*Billy Elliot the Musical*
	Karole Armitage	Hair
	Andy Blankenbuehler	9 to 5
	Bill T. Jones	Fela!
	Randy Skinner	Irving Berlin's White Christmas
	Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Shonn Wiley	My Vaudeville Man!

2010s

Year	Choreographer	Production
2010
	Twyla Tharp	*Come Fly Away*
	Warren Carlyle	Finian's Rainbow
	Marcia Milgrom Dodge	Ragtime
	Lynne Page	La Cage aux Folles
	Susan Stroman	The Scottsboro Boys
	Sergio Trujillo	Memphis
2011
	Kathleen Marshall	*Anything Goes*
	Rob Ashford	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
	Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett	Beautiful Burnout
	Steven Hoggett	Peter and the Starcatchers
	Casey Nicholaw	The Book of Mormon
	Siudy	Between Worlds
2012
	Christopher Gattelli	*Newsies*
	Rob Ashford	Evita
	Warren Carlyle	Follies
	Breandan de Gallal	Noctu
	Kathleen Marshall	Nice Work If You Can Get It
	Sergio Trujillo	Leap of Faith
2013
	Chet Walker and Gypsy Snider	*Pippin*
	Andy Blankenbuehler	Bring It On: The Musical
	Warren Carlyle	A Christmas Story: The Musical
	Peter Darling	Matilda the Musical
	Josh Rhodes	Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
	Sergio Trujillo	Hands on a Hardbody
2014
	Warren Carlyle	*After Midnight*
	Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine	Rocky the Musical
	Danny Mefford	Love's Labour's Lost
	Casey Nicholaw	Aladdin
	Susan Stroman	Bullets Over Broadway
	Sonya Tayeh	Kung Fu
2015
	Christopher Wheeldon	*An American in Paris*
	Joshua Bergasse	On the Town
	Warren Carlyle	On the Twentieth Century
	Steven Hoggett	The Last Ship
	Austin McCormick	Rococo Rouge
	Casey Nicholaw	Something Rotten!
2016
	Savion Glover	*Shuffle Along*
	Joshua Bergasse	Cagney
	Spencer Liff	Spring Awakening
	Lynne Page	American Psycho
	Randy Skinner	Dames at Sea
2017
	Andy Blankenbuehler	*Bandstand*
	Warren Carlyle	Hello, Dolly!
	Aletta Collins	The Hairy Ape
	Kelly Devine	Come from Away
	Denis Jones	Holiday Inn
2018
	Justin Peck	Carousel
	Camille A. Brown	Once on This Island
	Christopher Gattelli	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Casey Nicholaw	Mean Girls
	Nejla Y. Yatkin	The Boy Who Danced on Air
2019
	Warren Carlyle	*Kiss Me, Kate*
	Camille A. Brown	Choir Boy
	Denis Jones	Tootsie
	Lorin Latarro	Twelfth Night
	Rick and Jeff Kuperman	Alice by Heart
	David Neumann	Hadestown

2020s

Year	Choreographer	Production
2020
	Sonya Tayeh	Moulin Rouge!
	Camille A. Brown	for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
	Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker	West Side Story
	Keone Madrid and Mari Madrid	Beyond Babel
	Kathleen Marshall	The Unsinkable Molly Brown
	Travis Wall	The Wrong Man
2021	No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City^[1]
2022
	Bill T. Jones, Garrett Coleman and Jason Oremus (Irish + Hammerstep), Gelan Lambert and Chloe Davis (associates)	Paradise Square
	Ayodele Casel (tap choreography)	Funny Girl
	Carrie-Anne Ingrouille	Six
	Liam Steel	Company
	Christopher Wheeldon, Michael Balderrama (associate), Rich + Tone Talauega (Michael Jackson movement)	MJ
2023	Casey Nicholaw	Some Like It Hot
	Andy Blankenbuehler	Only Gold
	Tislarm Bouie	the bandaged place
	Edgar Godineaux	The Harder They Come
	Susan Stroman	New York, New York
	Jenifer Weber	KPOP
2024^[2]	Justin Peck	Illinoise
	Camille A. Brown	Hell's Kitchen
	Graciela Daniele and Alex Sanchez	The Gardens of Anuncia
	Jeff Kuperman and Rick Kuperman	The Outsiders
	Lorin Latarro	The Heart of Rock and Roll
	Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll	Water for Elephants

Multiple wins

4 wins

3 wins

2 wins

References

^ Evans, Greg (2021-05-05). "Broadway To Reopen Sept. 14, Says Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Broadway League "Cautiously Optimistic"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
^ "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Drama Desk Awards with 7 Wins Including Outstanding Play - Playbill.com". 2024-06-10. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

[1] Evans, Greg (2021-05-05). "Broadway To Reopen Sept. 14, Says Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Broadway League "Cautiously Optimistic"". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-03.

[2] "Stereophonic Leads 2024 Drama Desk Awards with 7 Wins Including Outstanding Play - Playbill.com". 2024-06-10. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

[1]

[2]

v t e Drama Desk Awards
Play	Play Revival of a Play Lead Performance in a Play Featured Performance in a Play Director of a Play Music in a Play
Musical	Musical Revival of a Musical Lead Performance in a Musical Featured Performance in a Musical Director of a Musical Book Music Lyrics Orchestrations
Production	Choreography Costume Design of a Musical Costume Design of a Play Lighting Design for a Musical Lighting Design for a Play Scenic Design of a Musical Scenic Design of a Play Sound Design in a Musical Sound Design in a Play Wig and Hair Design Puppetry
Other (competitive)	Solo Performance Unique Theatrical Experience Revue Projection Design
Special (non-competitive)	Special Award Ensemble
Retired	Actor in a Play Actress in a Play Featured Actor in a Play Featured Actress in a Play Actor in a Musical Actress in a Musical Featured Actor in a Musical Featured Actress in a Musical Director Revival Costume Design Lighting Design Set Design Sound Design