GALECA: ‘Kimberly Akimbo,’ ‘Fat Ham,’ ‘Titaníque’ score in LGBTQ Critics’ first Dorian Theater Awards
The GALECA theater wing of the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ 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, Leopoldstadt
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival: Into the Woods
Finalists: Parade, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
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 in Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists: Annaleigh Ashford in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, J. Harrison Ghee in Some Like it Hot
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical: Bonnie Milligan in Kimberly Akimbo
Finalists: Justin Cooley in Kimberly Akimbo, Alex Newell in Shucked
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play: Jodie Comer in Prima Facie
Finalists: Jessica Chastain in A Doll’s House, Sean Hayes in Good Night, Oscar, Stephen McKinley Henderson in Between Riverside and Crazy
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play: Crystal Lucas-Perry in Ain’t No Mo’
Finalists: Jordan E. Cooper in Ain’t No Mo, Miriam Silverman in 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 in Titaníque
Finalists: K. Todd Freeman in Downstate, Ryan J. Haddad in Dark Disabled Stories, Parker Posey in 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, etc.
- 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, StinkyLulu 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 RadioTim Teeman, The Daily Beast
- Kyle Turner, Slant, etc.
- Lindsey Weber, Not Broadway newsletter, etc.
- Matthew Wexler, Queerty
- Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter
- Curtis Wong, HuffPost
Theater Wing Diversity Liaison: Jose Solis
Historian: Will Kohler
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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