‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ ‘Stereophonic,’ Oh, Mary!’ Lead LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Theater Award Nominations

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GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing members named their favorites in New York theater for the second annual Dorian Theater Awards with their nominations for 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 were Stereophonic by David Adjmi, which led the recent Tony Awards nominations with a record 13, and the Maria Friedman-helmed revival of Merrily We Roll Along, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. 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 running. As with their film and television Dorian Awards, performance categories for theater 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 to daring new works like Lempicka, Dorian Award voters and all theater goers had plenty to rave and dish about.”

GALECA’s Dorian Theater Awards will reveal their winners on Monday, June 3, 2024. Full list of nominees below:

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