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LGBTQ Critics reveal 2026 Dorian Theater Award nominations – Schmigadoon! leads Broadway nods while Prince F****t reigns Off-Broadway

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing has announced the nominations for its 4th Annual Dorian Theater Awards, celebrating the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2025-2026 season.

Leading with nine nominations is Schmigadoon!, the new Broadway musical adaption of the Apple TV series of the same name which pays loving homage to golden age musicals. In addition to nods for Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production, show creator Cinco Paul is a double nominee in the Dorian Theater Awards’ new categories: Outstanding Original Score of a Broadway Production and Outstanding Book of a Broadway Musical. Performers Sara Chase, Max Clayton and Ana Gasteyer also received nominations.

The 1980s-set vampire saga The Lost Boys, adapted from Joel Schumacher’s 1987 movie, garnered eight nominations, including the new Outstanding Design of a Broadway Production category, as well as three nominations in the Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical category for actors Shoshana Bean, Ali Louis Bourzgui and Benjamin Pajak.

The Lost Boys director Michael Arden is a double nominee in the group’s two special categories: LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season and LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer. The other LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season nominees include Obie-winning playwright Shayok Misha Chowdhury, The Rocky Horror Show star Luke Evans, trailblazing costume design Qween Jean, Titaníque co-creator and actor Constantine Rousouli, and Ragtime leading man Brandon Uranowitz.

The nominees for the group’s career achievement award, LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer also include ballroom icon, Junior LaBeija, currently making his Broadway debut in Cats: The Jellicle Ball; three-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane; director and actor Joe Mantello; and the irreverent veteran director Sam Pinkleton.

In the group’s Off-Broadway categories, Jordan Tannahill radical new play Prince Faggot dominates with seven nominations, earning the unique distinction of being nominated in every category for which it was eligible. This includes Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production, Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production for Tannahill, Outstanding Design of an Off-Broadway Production, and performance nominations for actors John McCrea, K. Todd Freeman and David Greenspan.

“From the radical reimagining of our world in Prince Faggot, to the tender themes of self-discovery in Schmigadoon!, it has been a wonderful season of queer storytelling on New York stages,” according to GALECA’s theater wing co-chair Sam Eckmann. “In addition to the new LGBTQ stories that we fell in love with, we were proud to see previous Dorian Theater Award winners Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Titaníque find new, fabulous life on Broadway. Our stories are connecting with wider audiences and enduring on stages both large and small.”

Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation, and Titaníque were previously recognized by the Dorian Theater Awards for their original Off-Broadway productions. As such, only “new elements” of their Broadway transfers were eligible for consideration this year.

Winners of the 2026 Dorian Theater Awards will be announced on Monday, June 1st, 2026.

Full list of 2026 Dorian Theater Awards nominees:

Outstanding Broadway Musical
The Lost Boys
Schmigadoon!
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Outstanding Broadway Play
The Balusters
Giant
Little Bear Ridge Road
Punch

Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Chess
Ragtime
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Becky Shaw
Fallen Angels
Marjorie Prime
Oedipus

Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
Little Bear Ridge Road
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!
The Lost Boys

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!
Kristin Chenoweth, The Queen of Versailles
Nicholas Christopher, Chess
Luke Evans, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Joshua Henry, Ragtime
Stephanie Hsu, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Caissie Levy, Ragtime
Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Rose Byrne, Fallen Angels
Carrie Coon, Bug
Will Harrison, Punch
Nathan Lane, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
John Lithgow, Giant
Lesley Manville, Oedipus
Laurie Metcalf, Little Bear Ridge Road
Kelli O’Hara, Fallen Angels
Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing
Mark Strong, Oedipus

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Melissa Barrera, Titaníque
Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys
Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys
Max Clayton, Schmigadoon!
Rachel Dratch, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!
Leiomy, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime
Benjamin Pajak, The Lost Boys
Layton Williams, Titaníque

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Christopher Abbott, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Marylouise Burke, The Balusters
Danny Burstein, Marjorie Prime
Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw
Linda Emond, Becky Shaw
Jessica Hecht, Dog Day Afternoon
Laurie Metcalf, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Cynthia Nixon, Marjorie Prime
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
June Squibb, Marjorie Prime

Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
The Balusters
Ragtime
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!

Outstanding Original Score of a Broadway Production
Death of a Salesman by Caroline Shaw
The Lost Boys by The Rescues
Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul
The Queen of Versailles by Stephen Schwartz
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

Outstanding Book of a Broadway Musical
The Lost Boys by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch
Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

Outstanding Script of a Broadway Play
The Balusters by David Lindsay-Abaire
Giant by Mark Rosenblatt
Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter.
Punch by James Graham

Outstanding Design of a Broadway Production
Bug
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
The Lost Boys
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!

The Broadway Showstopper Award – to a standout production number or scene
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Memory” (“Tempress” Chasity Moore)
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat” (Emma Sofia)
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Songs of the Jellicles and the Jellicle Ball” (company)
Chess – “Anthem” (Nicholas Christopher)
Titaníque – “River Deep, Mountain High” (Layton Williams)

Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical
Beau: The Musical
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse
Mexodus
Saturday Church
The Seat of Our Pants

Outstanding Off-Broadway Play
Are the Bennett Girls Ok?
Bowl EP
Cold War Choir Practice
Meet the Cartozians
Prince Faggot

Outstanding Off-Broadway Revival
Bat Boy: The Musical
Heathers, The Musical
Oratorio for Living Things
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
Beau: The Musical
Becoming Eve
Bowl EP
Prince Faggot
Saturday Church
ta-da!

Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Bryson Battle, Saturday Church
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Well, I’ll Let You Go
Alana Raquel Bowers, Cold War Choir Practice
Will Brill, Kramer/Fauci
Tommy Dorfman, Becoming Eve
David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water
Marin Ireland, Queens
John McCrea, Prince Faggot
Matt Rodin, Beau: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Caroline Aaron, The Reservoir
Sierra Boggess, Prosperous Fools
Justin Cooley, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
K. Todd Freeman, Prince Faggot
J. Harrison Ghee, Saturday Church
David Greenspan, Prince Faggot
Judy Kuhn, The Baker’s Wife
McKenzie Kurtz, Heathers, The Musical
Casey Likes, Heathers, The Musical
Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
Jasmine Amy Rogers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
David Turner, Mother Russia

Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production
Becoming Eve by Emil Weinstein
Bowl EP by Nazareth Hassan
Caroline by Preston Max Allen
Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick
Practice by Nazareth Hassan
Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill

Outstanding Design for an Off-Broadway Production
Beau: The Musical
Bowl EP
Cold War Choir Practice
Masquerade
Prince Faggot

LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season
Michael Arden
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Luke Evans
Qween Jean
Constantine Rousouli
Brandon Uranowitz

LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer – for a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Michael Arden
Junior LaBeija
Nathan Lane
Joe Mantello
Sam Pinkleton

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. Nearly 600 members strong, GALECA puts a critical LGBTQ+ eye on entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay, access, and respect for entertainment journalists, especially the underrepresented, and mentors and offers college scholarships for the next generation of entertainment journalists.

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