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