Thursday June 1, 2023 – The 35 members of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing announced the winners and finalists of its inaugural Dorian Theater Awards, honoring the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2022-2023 season.
Like GALECA’s Dorian film and TV honors, the group’s theater honors celebrate both mainstream and LGBTQ+-themed productions. The wing’s members, listed below, are stage critics and / or journalists who regularly cover NYC 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 new play 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 the NYC theater industry 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 toe-tapping tuner.
The group’s trademark Broadway Showstopper Award, for a standout production number or scene, went to the rousing “Independently Owned” from Shucked.
In the Off-Broadway arena, GALECA members christened the parody musical Titaníque, which incorporates the songs of Celine Dion to tell a unique version of the Titanic story, as Outstanding Off-Broadway Production. Star and co-creator Marla Mindelle—who essays Dion in the play—received a performance nod.
Said wing co-chair Sam Eckmann of Gold Derby: “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.”
“GALECA’s Theater Wing is deeply grateful to the many productions and performers, on and off Broadway, who made voting a pleasure,” said theater co-chair Merryn Johns, editor of the website Queer Forty. “We’re already looking at next season with great anticipation.”
Full list of Dorian Theater Awards winners and finalists:
Note: 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
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Into the Woods
Finalists:
Parade
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
A Doll’s House
Finalists:
Ohio State Murders
The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window
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
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
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
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production
Titaníque
Finalists:
Dark Disabled Stories
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
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