The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway plays (distinct from full musicals) produced in New York City. This category was introduced at the 1980 ceremony, presented sporadically (seven times) through 2008, and has been regularly awarded since 2009.

Winners and nominees Key

1980s Year Composer Production 1980 Norman L. Berman Strider Richard Peaslee Teibele and Her Demon Stanley Silverman Bent 1981–89 colspan="2"

1990s Year Composer Production 1990–91 colspan="2" 1992 Jan A.P. Kaczmarek 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Richard Peaslee Akin 1993 Ladysmith Black Mambazo The Song of Jacob Zulu 1994 Stephen Warbeck An Inspector Calls Jonathan Dove Medea Duke Ellington & Stanley Silverman Timon of Athens 1995–98 colspan="2" 1999 Jeanine Tesori Twelfth Night Steven Edis Not About Nightingales Drew McVety Corpus Christi David Van Tieghem The Turn of the Screw Richard Woodbury Death of a Salesman

2000s Year Composer Production 2000–01 colspan="2" 2002 Willy Schwarz Metamorphoses Crispin Cioe True Love Nona Hendryx Blue Peter John Still Cymbeline 2003–06 colspan="2" 2007 Mark Bennett The Coast of Utopia Adam Cork Frost/Nixon Gerard McBurney Oliver Twist The Propeller Company The Taming of the Shrew Ray Rizzo, Adam Rapp & Lucas Papaelias Essential Self-Defense David Van Tieghem Inherit the Wind 2008 colspan="2" 2009 Dominic Kanza Ruined Mark Bennett The Cherry Orchard The Winter's Tale DJ Rekha Rafta, Rafta... Richard Woodbury Desire Under the Elms Gary Yershon The Norman Conquests

2010s Year Composer Production 2010 Branford Marsalis Fences |- | Adam Cochran | A Play on War |- | Adam Cork | Red |- | Shelby Gaines & Latham Gaines | A Lie of the Mind |- | Philip Glass | The Bacchae |- | Hem | Twelfth Night |- ! rowspan="7"| 2011 |- style="background:#DCEEFF" | Wayne Barker| Peter and the Starcatcher |- | Kathryn Bostic | Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo |- | Lars Petter Hagen | Baby Universe |- | Alan John | The Diary of a Madman |- | Tom Kitt | The Winter's Tale |- | Dan Moses Schreier | The Merchant of Venice |- ! rowspan="7"| 2012 |- style="background:#DCEEFF" | Grant Olding| One Man, Two Guvnors |- | rowspan="2"| Mark Bennett | An Iliad |- | Richard III |- | Tom Kitt | All's Well That Ends Well |- | Gina Leishman | Septimus and Clarissa |- | Duncan Sheik & Suzanne Vega | Carson McCullers Talks About Love |- ! rowspan="7"| 2013 |- style="background:#DCEEFF" | Glen Kelly| The Nance César Alvarez with The Lisps The Good Person of Szechwan Jiří Kadeřábek, Mahir Cetiz & Ana Milosavljevic Act Before You Speak: The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Eugene Ma The Man Who Laughs Steve Martin As You Like It Jane Wang Strange Tales of Liaozhai 2014 Nico Muhly The Glass Menagerie Lewis Flinn The Tribute Artist Elliot Goldenthal A Midsummer Night's Dream Rob Kearns The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle Tom Kochan Almost, Maine Duncan Sheik A Man's a Man 2015 Arthur Solari & Jane Shaw Tamburlaine the Great Cesar Alvarez An Octoroon Danny Blackburn and Bryce Hodgson Deliverance Sean Cronin Kill Me Like You Mean It Bongi Duma Generations Freddi Price The Pigeoning 2016 Philip Glass The Crucible Billie Joe Armstrong These Paper Bullets! Estelle Bajou Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally Shaun Davey Pericles Tom Kitt Cymbeline2017Bill Sims Jr.JitneyDaniel Ocanto, Graham Ulicny, & Sean SmithAlligatorMarcus ShelbyNotes from the Field2018Imogen HeapHarry Potter and the Cursed ChildJustin HicksMlima's TaleAmatus Karim-AliThe Homecoming QueenJustin LevineA Midsummer Night's DreamAdrian SuttonAngels in America 2019Jason Michael Webb and Fitz PattonChoir BoyPaul Castles and Jongbin JungWild Goose DreamsJustin EllingtonMrs. Murray's MenagerieThe House That Will Not StandNick PowellThe Lehman Trilogy

2020s Year Composer Production 2020 Martha Redbone for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf Steve Earle Coal Country Frightened Rabbit Square Go Jim Harbourne Feral Adam Seidel, Jane Bruce, and Daniel Ocanto Original Sound 2021 colspan="2" 2022 Bill Sims Jr. Lackawanna Blues Te'La and Kamauu Thoughts of a Colored Man Michael Thurber and Farai Malianga (drum compositions) Merry Wives2023Suzan-Lori ParksPlays for the Plague YearBen Edelman, Zane Pais, & Sinan Rafik ZafarLetters from Max, a ritualMauricio Escamillathe bandaged placeIan RossWuthering HeightsDaniel SchlosbergMontag2024Will Butler Stereophonic Michael "Mikey J" Asante The Effect S T A R R Busby and JJJJJerome Ellis (pray) Dionne McClain-Freeney The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents The 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel Ben Steinfeld Pericles2025No award given.2026John Patrick ElliotKenrexDonald LawrenceOh, Happy Day!Stan Mathabane and Munir ZakeeThe Brothers SizeJohnathan MooreThe Imaginary Invalid (Molière in the Park)Ro ReddickCold War Choir PracticeDarron L. West and Alexander SovronskyThe Wild Duck

Multiple win 2 wins Bill Sims Jr.

Multiple nominations 5 nominations Mark Bennett

3 nominations Tom Kitt

2 nominations Richard Peaslee Stanley Silverman David Van Tieghem Richard Woodbury Adam Cork Philip Glass Bill Sims Jr. Daniel Ocanto Justin Ellington

See also Tony Award for Best Original Score Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score

References