GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing has announced the winners and finalists of its inaugural Dorian Theater Awards, honoring the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2022-2023 season. As with GALECA’s Dorian film and TV awards, the group’s theater honors celebrate both mainstream and LGBTQ+ themed productions. The wing’s 34 members, listed below, are critics and journalists who regularly cover New York theater for notable media outlets.
Kimberly Akimbo was a clear favorite in the Broadway categories. The new musical, by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire, was the most awarded production, picking up four awards: Outstanding Broadway Musical, Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical for Victoria Clark, Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical for Bonnie Milligan, and Outstanding Broadway Ensemble. Voters also demonstrated love for James Ijames’ audacious Fat Ham, which won Outstanding Broadway Play and Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production.
J. Harrison Ghee, star of Some Like it Hot, was bestowed the LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award. The honor is given to a figure in New York theater who inspires empathy, truth, and equity. Ghee recently became the first nonbinary performer to receive a Tony Award nomination for Lead Actor in a Musical for their sensitive portrayal of Daphne in the show with a peppy book by The Inheritance playwright Matthew López and comedian Amber Ruffin, and music composed by Marc Shaiman, who co-wrote the lyrics with his Hairspray partner Scott Wittman.
The Broadway Showstopper Award, for a standout production number or scene, went to the rousing “Independently Owned” from Shucked, currently being performed by Alex Newell as Lulu who brings down the house at every performance.
The parody musical Titaníque, which incorporates the songs of Céline Dion to tell a unique version of the Titanic story, was named Outstanding Off-Broadway Production by GALECA. The show’s star and co-creator Marla Mindelle—who is magnifique as Dion—also received a performance nod for her work in the production.
“I’m thrilled to commence Pride Month with the first ever crop of Dorian Theater Award winners. From the gentleness of Kimberly Akimbo and Into the Woods, to boundary-pushing works such as Fat Ham and Prima Facie to the shot of serotonin that is Titaníque, our cohort of passionate journalists has uplifted the spectacular artistry that thrives in the New York theater scene”, commented GALECA’s theater wing co-chair Sam Eckmann.
“GALECA’s Theater Wing is deeply grateful to the many productions and performers, on and off Broadway, who made voting a pleasure and we’re already looking at next season with great anticipation”, added GALECA’s theater co-chair Merryn Johns.
Full list of Dorian Theater Awards winners and finalists:
(Three finalists rather than two denotes a tie in voting)
Outstanding Broadway Musical: Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists: Shucked
Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Broadway Play: Fat Ham
Finalists: Cost of Living
Leopoldstadt
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival: Into the Woods
Finalists: Parade
Sweeney Todd
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival: A Doll’s House
Finalists: Ohio State Murders
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Topdog/Underdog
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical: Victoria Clark, Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists: Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd
J. Harrison Ghee, Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical: Bonnie Milligan, Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists: Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo
Alex Newell, Shucked
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play: Jodie Comer, Prima Facie
Finalists: Jessica Chastain, A Doll’s House
Sean Hayes, Good Night, Oscar
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Between Riverside and Crazy
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play: Crystal Lucas-Perry, Ain’t No Mo’
Finalists:Jordan E. Cooper, Ain’t No Mo
Miriam Silverman, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble: Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists:Into the Woods
Shucked
The Broadway Showstopper Award – to a standout production number or scene: “Independently Owned” from Shucked
Finalists:“Better” from Kimberly Akimbo
“You Coulda Knocked Me Over with a Feather” from Some Like it Hot
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production: Fat Ham
Finalists:& Juliet
Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production: Titaníque
Finalists:Dark Disabled Stories
Downstate
Outstanding Off-Broadway Performance: Marla Mindelle, Titaníque
Finalists: K. Todd Freeman, Downstate
Ryan J. Haddad, Dark Disabled Stories
Parker Posey, The Seagull/Woodstock, NY
LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award – to a figure who inspires empathy, truth, and equity: J. Harrison Ghee
Finalists:Jordan E. Cooper
Ryan J. Haddad
GALECA theater wing members, 2022-23: Merryn Johns (co-chair), Queer Forty; Sam Eckmann (co-chair), Gold Derby; Marshall Heyman (Broadway lead), Town and Country; Cary Wong (Off-Broadway lead), Film Score Monthly Online, etc.; Frank J. Avella (Industry Liaison), Edge Media Network, Awards Daily; Kerensa Cadenas, GQ, etc.; Chris Carpenter, Rage magazine, etc.; Murtada Elfadl, The A.V. Club, etc.; Adam Feldman, Time Out; Brian Herrera, Stinky Lulu Says podcast; James Kleinmann, The Queer Review; Naveen Kumar, Variety, etc.; Stacy Lambe, ET Online; Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour, etc.; Soraya McDonald, Andscape; Charles O’Keefe, E! News; Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater; Dan Meyer, Theatrely; Abby Monteil, them, etc.; Michael Musto, The Village Voice, etc.; Louis Peitzman, High Drama newsletter, etc.; Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, TDF Stages; Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely; Mathew Rodriguez, them; Nathaniel Rogers, The Film Experience; Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide; Michael Schulman, The New Yorker; Marcus Scott, Time Out, American Theatre; Ashley Steves, Today on Broadway podcast/Broadway Radio; Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast; Kyle Turner, Slant, etc.; Lindsey Weber, Not Broadway newsletter, etc.; Abbey White, Variety; Curtis Wong, HuffPost. Theater Wing Diversity Liaison: Jose Solis. Historian: Will Kohler.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and its Dorian Awards honor the best in film, television and, under its theater wing, Broadway and Off-Broadway. More than 480-members strong, GALECA seeks to remind society that the world loves the Q+ eye on everything entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay and access for underrepresented entertainment journalists.
Follow @DorianAwards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For more information, visit GALECA.org.