# Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations

The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in musical theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. This category was eliminated after the 2011 ceremony, only to be reinstated about a week later due to popular and overwhelming demand from much of the Broadway community.

## Winners and nominees
### 1980s

| Year | Orchestrator | Production |
| 1983 |
| 1983 | Michael Gibson | My One and Only |
| 1983 | Hans Spialek | On Your Toes |
| 1984 |
| 1984 | Michael Starobin | Sunday in the Park with George |
| 1984 | Jonathan Tunick | Baby |
| 1984 | Jim Tyler | La Cage aux Folles |
| 1985 |
| 1985 | Steven Margoshes and Danny Troob | Big River |
| 1985 | Bill Byers | Grind |
| 1985 | Michael Starobin | Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down |
| 1985 | Michael Starobin | La bohème |
| 1986 |
| 1986 | Rupert Holmes | The Mystery of Edwin Drood |
| 1986 | Ralph Burns | Sweet Charity |
| 1986 | James McElwaine | Goblin Market |
| 1987 |
| 1987 | John Cameron | Les Misérables |
| 1987 | Wally Harper | Barbara Cook: A Concert for the Theatre |
| 1987 | Michael Starobin | Rags |
| 1987 | Chris Walker | Me and My Girl |
| 1988 |
| 1988 | David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber | The Phantom of the Opera |
| 1988 | Michael Gibson | Anything Goes |
| 1988 | Michael Starobin | Birds of Paradise |
| 1988 | Jonathan Tunick | Into the Woods |
| 1989 | — | — |

### 1990s

| Year | Orchestrator | Production |
| 1990 |
| 1990 | Billy Byers | City of Angels |
| 1990 | Rodolfo Alchourron and James Kowal | Dangerous Games |
| 1990 | David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber | Aspects of Love |
| 1990 | Peter Matz | Grand Hotel |
| 1991 |
| 1991 | William David Brohn | Miss Saigon |
| 1991 | William David Brohn | The Secret Garden |
| 1991 | Billy Byers | The Will Rogers Follies |
| 1991 | David Krane | And the World Goes 'Round |
| 1991 | Mboni Ngema | Township Fever |
| 1992 |
| 1992 | Luther Henderson | Jelly's Last Jam |
| 1992 | John Carlini | Song of Singapore |
| 1992 | William David Brohn | Crazy For You |
| 1993 |
| 1993 | Jose Libertella and Luis Stazo | Tango Pasion |
| 1993 | Steven Margoshes | The Who's Tommy |
| 1993 | Michael Starobin | My Favorite Year |
| 1993 | Chris Walker | Putting It Together |
| 1994 |
| 1994 | Jonathan Tunick | Passion |
| 1994 | Douglas Besterman | Damn Yankees |
| 1994 | Peter Matz | The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public |
| 1994 | Danny Troob | Beauty and the Beast |
| 1995 | — | — |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | Steve Skinner | Rent |
| 1996 | Bruce Coughlin | Floyd Collins |
| 1997 |
| 1997 | Jonathan Tunick | Titanic |
| 1997 | Michael Gibson | Steel Pier |
| 1997 | Joseph Joubert and Buryl Red | Violet |
| 1997 | Don Sebesky and Harold Wheeler | The Life |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | William David Brohn | Ragtime |
| 1998 | Lisandro Adrover | Luis Bravo's Forever Tango |
| 1998 | Bruce Coughlin | The Sound of Music |
| 1998 | Robert Elhai, David Metzger and Bruce Fowler | The Lion King |
| 1998 | Michael Gibson | Cabaret |
| 1998 | Stanley Silverman | The Capeman |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Don Sebesky | Parade |
| 1999 | Michael Starobin | A New Brain |
| 1999 | Jonathan Tunick | Captains Courageous |
| 1999 | Jeff Waxman | Woody Guthrie's American Song |

### 2000s

| Year | Orchestrator | Production |
| 2000 |
| 2000 | Don Sebesky | Kiss Me, Kate |
| 2000 | Doug Besterman | The Music Man |
| 2000 | Michael Gibson | The Wild Party |
| 2000 | Taliep Petersen | Kat and the Kings |
| 2000 | Jonathan Tunick | Saturday Night |
| 2000 | Harold Wheeler | Swing! |
| 2001 |
| 2001 | Doug Besterman | The Producers |
| 2001 | Bruce Coughlin | Urinetown |
| 2001 | Michael Starobin | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
| 2001 | Jonathan Tunick | Follies |
| 2001 | Harold Wheeler | The Full Monty |
| 2002 |
| 2002 | Doug Besterman and Ralph Burns | Thoroughly Modern Millie |
| 2002 | Jason Robert Brown | The Last Five Years |
| 2002 | Jonathan Tunick | Elaine Stritch: At Liberty |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Harold Wheeler | Hairspray |
| 2003 | Luther Henderson | Little Ham |
| 2003 | Michel Legrand | Amour |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | William David Brohn | Wicked |
| 2004 | Paul Bogaev | Bombay Dreams |
| 2004 | Michael Starobin | Assassins |
| 2004 | Harold Wheeler | Never Gonna Dance |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Bruce Coughlin, Adam Guettel and Ted Sperling | The Light in the Piazza |
| 2005 | Steven M. Alper | The Immigrant |
| 2005 | Larry Hochman | Monty Python's Spamalot |
| 2005 | Doug Katsaros and Lynne Shankel | Altar Boyz |
| 2005 | Kim Scharnberg | Little Women |
| 2005 | Harold Wheeler | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Sarah Travis | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
| 2006 | Larry Blank | The Drowsy Chaperone |
| 2006 | Bruce Coughlin | Grey Gardens |
| 2006 | Bruce Coughlin | See What I Wanna See |
| 2006 | Daniel Feyer and Peter Mills | The Pursuit of Persephone |
| 2006 | Danny Troob and Dick Lieb | The Pajama Game |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Mary Mitchell Campbell | Company |
| 2007 | Jonathan Tunick | LoveMusik |
| 2007 | William David Brohn | Curtains |
| 2007 | Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman | In the Heights |
| 2007 | Duncan Sheik | Spring Awakening |
| 2007 | Jonathan Tunick | The Apple Tree |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Jason Carr | Sunday in the Park with George |
| 2008 | Doug Besterman | Young Frankenstein |
| 2008 | Michael Starobin | The Glorious Ones |
| 2008 | Stew and Heidi Rodewald | Passing Strange |
| 2008 | Jonathan Tunick | A Catered Affair |
| 2008 | Tim Weil | 10 Million Miles |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | Martin Koch | Billy Elliot the Musical |
| 2009 | Larry Blank | Irving Berlin's White Christmas |
| 2009 | Bruce Coughlin, Stephen Oremus and Alex Lacamoire | 9 to 5 |
| 2009 | Aaron Johnson and Antibalas | Fela! |
| 2009 | Edward B. Kessel | A Tale of Two Cities |
| 2009 | Danny Troob and John Clancy | Shrek the Musical |

### 2010s

| Year | Orchestrator | Production |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | Daryl Waters and David Bryan | Memphis |
| 2010 | Larry Hochman | The Scottsboro Boys |
| 2010 | Tom Kitt | American Idiot |
| 2010 | Tom Kitt | Everyday Rapture |
| 2010 | John Oddo | All About Me |
| 2011 |
| 2011 | Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus | The Book of Mormon |
| 2011 | Mary-Mitchell Campbell | Hello Again |
| 2011 | Bruce Coughlin | The Burnt Part Boys |
| 2011 | Simon Hale, Jim Abbott and David Yazbek | Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown |
| 2011 | Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank | Catch Me If You Can |
| 2011 | Lynne Shankel | The Extraordinary Ordinary |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Martin Lowe | Once |
| 2012 | Bill Elliott | Nice Work If You Can Get It |
| 2012 | Larry Hochman | Death Takes a Holiday |
| 2012 | John McDaniel | Bonnie & Clyde |
| 2012 | Michael Starobin | Queen of the Mist |
| 2012 | Danny Troob | Newsies |
| 2013 |
| 2013 | Danny Troob | Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella |
| 2013 | Trey Anastasio and Don Hart | Hands on a Hardbody |
| 2013 | Larry Blank | A Christmas Story: The Musical |
| 2013 | Bruce Coughlin | Giant |
| 2013 | Larry Hochman | Chaplin: The Musical |
| 2013 | Steve Margoshes | Soul Doctor |
| 2014 |
| 2014 | Jason Robert Brown | The Bridges of Madison County |
| 2014 | John Clancy | Fun Home |
| 2014 | Larry Hochman | Big Fish |
| 2014 | Steve Sidwell | Beautiful: The Carole King Musical |
| 2014 | Michael Starobin | If/Then |
| 2014 | Jonathan Tunick | A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder |
| 2015 |
| 2015 | Christopher Austin | An American in Paris |
| 2015 | Mary-Mitchell Campbell | Allegro |
| 2015 | Larry Hochman | Something Rotten! |
| 2015 | Alex Lacamoire | Hamilton |
| 2015 | Rob Mathes | The Last Ship |
| 2015 | Don Sebesky, Larry Blank, Jason Robert Brown and Charlie Rosen | Honeymoon in Vegas |
| 2016 |
| 2016 | Larry Hochman | She Loves Me |
| 2016 | August Eriksmoen | Bright Star |
| 2016 | Joseph Joubert and Catherine Jayes | The Color Purple |
| 2016 | Andrew Lloyd Webber | School of Rock |
| 2016 | Michael Starobin and Bruce Coughlin | First Daughter Suite |
| 2017 |
| 2017 | Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen | Bandstand |
| 2017 | Doug Besterman | Anastasia |
| 2017 | Bruce Coughlin | War Paint |
| 2017 | Benjamin Cox | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
| 2017 | August Eriksmoen | Come from Away |
| 2017 | Jamshied Sharifi | The Band's Visit |
| 2018 |
| 2018 | Jonathan Tunick | Carousel |
| 2018 | Tom Kitt | SpongeBob SquarePants |
| 2018 | Annmarie Milazzo and Michael Starobin | Once on This Island |
| 2018 | Charlie Rosen and Erin McKeown | Miss You Like Hell |
| 2018 | Jonathan Tunick | Pacific Overtures |
| 2019 |
| 2019 | Daniel Kluger | Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! |
| 2019 | Larry Blank | Fiddler on the Roof |
| 2019 | Simon Hale | Girl from the North Country |
| 2019 | Charlie Rosen | Be More Chill |
| 2019 | Daryl Waters | The Cher Show |

### 2020s

| Year | Orchestrator | Production |
| 2020 |
| 2020 | Tom Kitt | Jagged Little Pill |
| 2020 | Alex Lacamoire | The Wrong Man |
| 2020 | Or Matias and Dave Malloy | Octet |
| 2020 | Danny Troob, John Clancy, and Larry Hochman | Soft Power |
| 2020 | Jonathan Tunick | West Side Story |
| 2021 | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City | No awards: New York theatres shuttered, March 2020 to September 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Jason Michael Webb and David Holcenberg | MJ |
| 2022 | Tom Curran | Six |
| 2022 | Greg Jarrett | Assassins |
| 2022 | Mark Hartman and Yasuhiko Fukuoka | The Streets of New York |
| 2023 |
| 2023 | Bryan Carter and Charlie Rosen | Some Like It Hot |
| 2023 | Bruce Coughlin | A Man of No Importance |
| 2023 | Jason Howland | Shucked |
| 2023 | Kenny Seymour | The Harder They Come |
| 2023 | Daryl Waters and Sam Davis | New York, New York |
| 2024 |
| 2024 | Marco Paguia | Buena Vista Social Club |
| 2024 | Timo Andres | Illinoise |
| 2024 | Will Butler and Justin Craig | Stereophonic |
| 2024 | Andy Evan Cohen | The Greatest Hits Down Route 66 |
| 2024 | Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek | Dead Outlaw |
| 2024 | Michael Starobin, Shaina Taub (vocal arrangements), and Andrea Grody (vocal arrangements) | Suffs |