Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along is, once again, the talk of the town as it leads nominations for the LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Theater Award nominations. The original production was a notorious commercial and critical failure, but this production, directed by Maria Friedman, will be, no doubt, be a highlight of the late legendary composer’s heralded career. Stereophonic and Merrily each nabbed 6 nominations.
Unlike the Tony Awards, the Dorian Theater Awards also shines a light on Off Broadway productions, so it’s no surprised that the group uplifted Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary!, the true word-of-mouth sensation of the theater season.
Check below for the full press release and list of nominations.
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New York, N.Y. (May 13, 2024): GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ 39 theater wing members named their favorites in New York theater for the second annual Dorian Theater Awards, this time toasting the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2023-2024 season. Like GALECA’s Dorian film and TV awards, the group’s stage honors celebrate both mainstream and LGBTQ+-themed productions.
Leading on the Broadway side with six nominations each: The new play Stereophonic by David Adjmi and the Maria Friedman-helmed revival of Merrily We Roll Along. Dorian Award have four members of the Stereophonic cast competing for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play, and three actors from Merrily We Roll Along in the run. All Dorian Award performance categories are gender neutral.
In Off-Broadway categories, Oh, Mary!, writer-star Cole Escola’s Broadway-bound play about Mary Todd Lincoln, ruled with five nominations. Teeth, Michael R. Jackson and Anna K. Jacobs’ musical about an evangelical teen girl with hidden talents, and Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are—co-written with David Ives and adapted from two films by Luis Buñuel—each scored four nods.
For the wing’s special new accolade, LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season, GALECA members nominated writer/actor Cole Escola, composer Michael R. Jackson, director Michael Greif, along with actors Jonathan Groff, Sarah Paulson and Conrad Ricamora.
The nominees for the group’s career achievement award, LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer, are awe-inspiring multi-hyphenate André De Shields and four distinctly legendary playwrights: Charles Busch, Christopher Durang (nominated posthumously), Taylor Mac and Paula Vogel.
“I think we’re all actually happy to say GALECA’s members had a daunting task of sifting through so many exciting plays and musical this season,” said Cary Wong, the group’s Off-Broadway lead. “Considering Broadway alone put up 38 productions this season, New York theater has definitely bounced back from 18 months of Covid closures. From popular adaptations like The Notebook todaring new works likeLempicka, Dorian Award voters and all theater goers had plenty to rave and dish about.”
GALECA will once again help kick off Pride Month by announcing this year’s Dorian Theater Awards on Monday, June 3, 2024.
Full list of 2024 Dorian Theater Awards nominees:
Outstanding Broadway Musical
Here Lies Love
Hell’s Kitchen
Illinoise
Lempicka
The Outsiders
Suffs
Outstanding Broadway Play
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Just for Us
Mary Jane
Mother Play
Prayer for the French Republic
Stereophonic
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Merrily We Roll Along
The Who’s Tommy
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
Appropriate
An Enemy of the People
Purlie Victorious
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Who’s Tommy
Eden Espinosa, Lempicka
Brody Grant, The Outsiders
Jonathan Groff, Merrily We Roll Along
Brian d’Arcy James, Days of Wine and Roses
Maleah Joi Moon, Hell’s Kitchen
Kelli O’Hara, Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett, The Notebook
Eddie Redmayne, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Shaina Taub, Suffs
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Betsy Aidem, Prayer for the French Republic
Alex Edelman, Just For Us
William Jackson Harper, Uncle Vanya
Jessica Lange, Mother Play
Leslie Odom Jr., Purlie Victorious
Rachel McAdams, Mary Jane
Laurie Metcalf, Grey House
Sarah Paulson, Appropriate
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Hannah Cruz, Suffs
Amber Iman, Lempicka
Kecia Lewis, Hell’s Kitchen
Nikki M. James, Suffs
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Monty Python’s Spamalot
Lindsay Mendez, Merrily We Roll Along
Bebe Neuwirth, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Conrad Ricamora, Here Lies Love
Daniel Radcliffe, Merrily We Roll Along
Ricky Ubeda, Illinoise
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Brittany Adebumola, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Francis Benhamou, Prayer for the French Republic
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Doubt
Alex Brightman, The Shark is Broken
Will Brill, Stereophonic
Elle Fanning, Appropriate
Eli Gelb, Stereophonic
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Mother Play
Jay O. Sanders, Purlie Victorious
Tom Pecinka, Stereophonic
Sarah Pidgeon, Stereophonic
Kara Young, Purlie Victorious
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Illinoise
Lempicka
Mother Play
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
Here Lies Love
Illinoise
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Merrily We Roll Along
Suffs
Stereophonic
The Broadway Showstopper Award
— To a standout production number or scene
Appropriate, “Epilogue: The Plantation Decays”
Illinoise, “Chicago”
Lempicka, “Woman Is”
Merrily We Roll Along, “Franklin Shepard INC”
The Outsiders, “The Rumble”
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production
All the Devils Are Here
The Ally
The Connector
Oh, Mary!
Primary Trust
Teeth
Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
Bark of Millions
Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet
Make Me Gorgeous
Oh, Mary!
Teeth
Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Charles Busch, Ibsen’s Ghost: An Irresponsible Biographical Fantasy
Nicholas Christopher, Jelly’s Last Jam
Cole Escola, Oh, Mary!
William Jackson Harper, Primary Trust
Moses Ingram, Sunset Baby
Rachel Bay Jones, Here We Are
Alyse Alan Louis, Teeth
Taylor Mac, Bark of Millions
Ruthie Ann Miles, The Light in the Piazza
Cynthia Nixon, The Seven Year Disappear
Patrick Page, All the Devils Are Here
Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Susan Blommaert, Grief Hotel
Marylouise Burke, Infinite Life
Bobby Cannavale, Here We Are
Micaela Diamond, Here We Are
Joaquina Kalukango, Jelly’s Last Jam
Julia Lester, I Can Get it For You Wholesale
Steven Pasquale, Teeth
David Hyde Pierce, Here We Are
Conrad Ricamora, Oh, Mary!
James Scully, Oh, Mary!
Jennifer Van Dyck, Ibsen’s Ghost: An Irresponsible Biographical Fantasy
Anna Zavelson, The Light in the Piazza
LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season
Cole Escola
Michael Greif
Jonathan Groff
Michael R. Jackson
Sarah Paulson
Conrad Ricamora
LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award
— For a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Charles Busch
André De Shields
Christopher Durang (nominated posthumously)
Taylor Mac
Paula Vogel
Productions With Multiple Nominations
Merrily We Roll Along – 6
Stereophonic – 6
Illinoise – 5
Lempicka – 5
Oh, Mary! – 5
Suffs – 5
Appropriate – 4
Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club – 4
Here We Are – 4
Mother Play – 4
Purlie Victorious – 4
Teeth – 4
Hell’s Kitchen – 3
Here Lies Love – 3
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding – 3
The Outsiders – 3
Prayer for the French Republic – 3
All the Devils Are Here – 2
Bark of Millions – 2
Days of Wine and Roses – 2
Ibsen’s Ghost – 2
Jelly’s Last Jam – 2
Just for Us – 2
The Light in the Piazza – 2
Mary Jane – 2
Primary Trust – 2
The Who’s Tommy – 2
GALECA Theater Wing members, 2023-2024 season:
Frank J. Avella Edge Media Network, Awards Daily
Drew Burnett Gregory, Autostraddle
Kerensa Cadenas, Elle, Vogue, etc.
Chris Carpenter, Rage magazine, MovieDearest
Sam Eckmann (co-chair), Gold Derby
Murtada Elfadl, The A.V. Club, Variety, etc.
Adam Feldman, Time Out
Brian Eugenio Herrera, #TheatreClique (Substack), etc.
Marshall Heyman (Broadway lead), Dujour, Town & Country, etc.
Merryn Johns (co-chair), Queer Forty
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review
Naveen Kumar, them, The Daily Beast
Ryan Leeds, Metro Weekly, Manhattan Digest
Christian Lewis, Variety, TheaterMania, etc.
Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour, Theater Pizzazz, etc.
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater
Meg Masseron, Playbill
Abby Monteil, them, etc.
Michael Musto, The Village Voice, etc.
Charles O’Keefe, E! News
Louis Peitzman, High Drama (Substack)
Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, TDF Stages
Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely, The New York Times
Mathew Rodriguez, them
Nathaniel Rogers, The Film Experience
Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide
Patrick Ryan – USA Today
Michael Schulman, The New Yorker
Marcus Scott, National Black Theatre Cohort, 2023-24
Joey Sims, Theatrely, The Brooklyn Rail, etc.
Jose Solís, Dorian Theater Awards Diversity Liaison
Ashley Steves, Today on Broadway podcast, Broadway Radio
Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast
Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide, etc.
Lindsey Weber, Not Broadway (Substack), etc.
Matthew Wexler, Q Digital
Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter
Cary Wong (Off-Broadway lead), Film Score Monthly, The Interested Bystander blog
Curtis Wong, HuffPost
About GALECA
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 500 members strong, GALECA reminds society that the world values the informed Q+ eye on everything entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay, access and respect for entertainment journalists, especially the underrepresented. Follow us @DorianAwards on social media, and find more information about who we are and what we do at GALECA.org.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment journalists is a core member of CGEM: Critics Groups for Equality in Media, an alliance of underrepresented entertainment journalists organizations.
