# WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Musical

The WhatsOnStage Award for Best Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Musical is an annual award presented by WhatsOnStage.com as part of the annual WhatsOnStage Awards. Founded in 2001 as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, the WhatsOnStage Awards are based on a popular vote recognising performers and productions in London's West End theatre.
This award is given to a person who has performed a leading male identifying role in a musical during the eligibility year. Introduced in 2001 as the award for Best Actor in a Musical, the category was renamed in 2022 in an effort to be more inclusive. The category was discontinued following the 2022 ceremony and was replaced with the gender-neutral WhatsOnstage Award for Best Performer in a Musical.
First presented to Daniel Evans at the inaugural ceremony, Michael Ball is the only performer to win the award twice. Julian Ovenden holds the record for most nominations without a win in this category, with four.

## Winners and nominees
### 2000s

| Year | Performer | Musical | Male Identifying Character |
| 2001 | Daniel Evans | Merrily We Roll Along | Charley Kringas |
| 2002 | Craig Purnell | Songs for a New World | Man 1 |
| 2002 | Brent Barrett | Kiss Me, Kate | Fred Graham |
| 2002 | Cameron Blakely | Where's Charley? | Charley Wykeham |
| 2002 | Paul Keating | Closer to Heaven | Straight Dave |
| 2002 | Philip Quast | The Secret Garden | Dr. Neville Craven |
| 2002 | Jonathan Pryce | My Fair Lady | Professor Henry Higgins |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Tony Vincent | We Will Rock You | Galileo Figaro |
| 2003 | Michael Ball | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Caractacus Pott |
| 2003 | Jarrod Emick | The Full Monty | Jerry Lukowski |
| 2003 | Michael Jibson | Our House | Joe Casey |
| 2003 | Philip Quast | South Pacific | Emile de Becque |
| 2003 | Euan Morton | Taboo | Boy George |
| 2004 | John Barrowman | Anything Goes | Billy Crocker |
| 2004 | David Bedella | Jerry Springer: The Opera | Jonathan Weiruss/Satan |
| 2004 | Graham Bickley | Ragtime | Tateh |
| 2004 | Michael Brandon | Jerry Springer: The Opera | Jerry Springer |
| 2004 | Adam Cooper | On Your Toes | Junior Dolan |
| 2004 | Tim Howar | Tonight's the Night | Stuart Clutterbuck |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Nathan Lane | The Producers | Max Bialystock |
| 2005 | Desmond Barrit | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | Pseudolus |
| 2005 | Martin Crewes | The Woman in White | Walter Hartright |
| 2005 | Lee Evans | The Producers | Leo Bloom |
| 2005 | Deven May | Bat Boy: The Musical | Bat Boy |
| 2005 | Julian Ovenden | Grand Hotel | Baron Felix Von Gaigern |
| 2006 | Ewan McGregor | Guys & Dolls | Sky Masterson |
| 2006 | Daniel Evans | Sunday in the Park with George | Georges Seurat |
| 2006 | Neil Patrick Harris | Tick, Tick... Boom! | Jon |
| 2006 | Douglas Hodge | Guys & Dolls | Nathan Detroit |
| 2006 | Gavin Lee | Mary Poppins | Bert |
| 2006 | James Lomas George Maguire Liam Mower | Billy Elliot the Musical | Billy Elliot |
| 2007 | Tim Curry | Spamalot | King Arthur |
| 2007 | James Dreyfus | Cabaret | The Emcee |
| 2007 | Daniel Evans | Sunday in the Park with George | Georges Seurat |
| 2007 | Alexander Hanson | The Sound of Music | Georg von Trapp |
| 2007 | Philip Quast | Evita | Juan Perón |
| 2007 | Clarke Peters | Porgy and Bess | Porgy |
| 2008 | Michael Ball | Hairspray | Edna Turnblad |
| 2008 | Bertie Carvel | Parade | Leo Frank |
| 2008 | Henry Goodman | Fiddler on the Roof | Tevye |
| 2008 | Paul Keating | Little Shop of Horrors | Seymour Krelborn |
| 2008 | James Loye | Lord of the Rings | Frodo Baggins |
| 2008 | Lee Mead | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Joseph |
| 2009 | Ryan Molloy | Jersey Boys | Frankie Valli |
| 2009 | Rolan Bell | The Harder They Come | Ivanhoe "Ivan" Martin |
| 2009 | Darius Danesh | Gone with the Wind | Rhett Butler |
| 2009 | Douglas Hodge | La Cage aux Folles | Albin |
| 2009 | Julian Ovenden | Marguerite | Armand |
| 2009 | Matt Rawle | Zorro | Zorro |

### 2010s

| Year | Performer | Musical | Male Identifying Character |
| 2010 | Rowan Atkinson | Oliver! | Fagin |
| 2010 | Aneurin Barnard | Spring Awakening | Melchior Gabor |
| 2010 | Jason Donovan | Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | Anthony "Tick" Belrose |
| 2010 | Alexander Hanson | A Little Night Music | Fredrik Egerman |
| 2010 | Julian Ovenden | Annie Get Your Gun | Frank Butler |
| 2010 | Tony Sheldon | Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | Bernadette Bassenger |
| 2011 | Ramin Karimloo | Love Never Dies | The Phantom |
| 2011 | Michael Arden | Aspects of Love | Alex Dillingham |
| 2011 | Alex Gaumond | Legally Blonde | Emmett Forrest |
| 2011 | Sahr Ngaujah | Fela! | Fela Kuti |
| 2011 | John Owen-Jones | Les Misérables | Jean Valjean |
| 2011 | Mark Umbers | Sweet Charity | Charlie, Vittorio and Oscar |
| 2012 | Richard Fleeshman | Ghost | Sam Wheat |
| 2012 | Bertie Carvel | Matilda the Musical | Miss Trunchbull |
| 2012 | Nigel Lindsay | Shrek The Musical | Shrek |
| 2012 | Sean Palmer | Crazy for You | Bobby Child |
| 2012 | Reece Shearsmith | Betty Blue Eyes | Gilbert Chilvers |
| 2012 | Oliver Tompsett | Rock of Ages | Drew Boley |
| 2013 | Michael Ball | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Sweeney Todd |
| 2013 | Alex Bourne | Kiss Me, Kate | Fred Graham |
| 2013 | Tom Chambers | Top Hat | Jerry Travers |
| 2013 | Adam Cooper | Singin' in the Rain | Don Lockwood |
| 2013 | Lloyd Owen | The Bodyguard | Frank Farmer |
| 2013 | Mark Umbers | Merrily We Roll Along | Franklin Shepard |
| 2014 | Gavin Creel | The Book of Mormon | Elder Price |
| 2014 | Declan Bennett | Once | Guy |
| 2014 | Killian Donnelly | The Commitments | Deco |
| 2014 | Douglas Hodge | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Willy Wonka |
| 2014 | Robert Lonsdale | From Here to Eternity | Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt |
| 2015 | Jon Jon Briones | Miss Saigon | The Engineer |
| 2015 | Alistair Brammer | Miss Saigon | Chris |
| 2015 | Killian Donnelly | Memphis | Huey Calhoun |
| 2015 | Robert Lindsay | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Lawrence Jameson |
| 2015 | Marti Pellow | Evita | Che |
| 2016 | Matt Henry | Kinky Boots | Lola |
| 2016 | Michael Ball | Mack and Mabel | Mack Sennett |
| 2016 | Killian Donnelly | Kinky Boots | Charlie Price |
| 2016 | Ben Forster | Elf | Buddy |
| 2016 | Sam Mackay | In the Heights | Usnavi De La Vega |
| 2017 | Charlie Stemp | Half a Sixpence | Arthur Kipps |
| 2017 | Michael C. Hall | Lazarus | Thomas Jerome Newton |
| 2017 | Ramin Karimloo | Murder Ballad | Tom |
| 2017 | Andy Karl | Groundhog Day | Phil Connors |
| 2017 | Michael Xavier | Sunset Boulevard | Joe Gillis |
| 2018 | John McCrea | Everybody's Talking About Jamie | Jamie New |
| 2018 | Hadley Fraser | Young Frankenstein | Frederick Frankenstein |
| 2018 | Tom Lister | 42nd Street | Julian Marsh |
| 2018 | Danny Mac | Sunset Boulevard | Joe Gillis |
| 2018 | Andrew Polec | Bat Out of Hell: The Musical | Strat |
| 2019 | Jamael Westman | Hamilton | Alexander Hamilton |
| 2019 | Kobna Holdbrook-Smith | Tina | Ike Turner |
| 2019 | Rob Houchen | Eugenius! | Eugene |
| 2019 | Jamie Muscato | Heathers: The Musical | Jason "J.D." Dean |
| 2019 | Giles Terera | Hamilton | Aaron Burr |

### 2020s

| Year | Performer | Musical | Male Identifying Character |
| 2020 | Sam Tutty | Dear Evan Hansen | Evan Hansen |
| 2020 | David Hunter | Waitress | Dr. Jim Pomatter |
| 2020 | Charlie Stemp | Mary Poppins | Bert |
| 2020 | Oliver Tompsett | & Juliet | William Shakespeare |
| 2020 | Jac Yarrow | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Joseph |
| 2021 | Not presented due to impact on theatres of COVID-19 pandemic | Not presented due to impact on theatres of COVID-19 pandemic | Not presented due to impact on theatres of COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Eddie Redmayne | Cabaret | Emcee |
| 2022 | Roger Bart | Back to the Future: The Musical | Emmett "Doc" Brown |
| 2022 | Olly Dobson | Back to the Future: The Musical | Marty McFly |
| 2022 | Arinzé Kene | Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical | Bob Marley |
| 2022 | Julian Ovenden | South Pacific | Emile de Becque |
| 2022 | Ivano Turco | Cinderella | Prince Sebastian |

## Multiple wins and nominations
### Wins
#### 2 wins

* Michael Ball

### Nominations
#### 4 nominations

* Michael Ball
* Julian Ovenden

#### 3 nominations

* Killian Donnelly
* Daniel Evans
* Douglas Hodge
* Philip Quast

#### 2 nominations

* Bertie Carvel
* Adam Cooper
* Ramin Karimloo
* Paul Keating
* Charlie Stemp
* Oliver Tompsett
* Mark Umbers