2024 Dorian Theater Awards nominations announced: LGBTQ journalists champion ‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ ‘Stereophonic,’ ‘Oh, Mary!’

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics unveiled nominations for their 2nd annual Dorian Theater Awards on Monday, March 13. GALECA’s 39-member theater wing decided this season’s crop of nominees, which honor the best of Broadway and Off-Broadway.

The nominations list is dominated by the current revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” and new play “Stereophonic.” Both productions netted six nominations a piece. In the case of “Merrily,” that tally includes bids for its Tony-nominated trio of stars: Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe. “Stereophonic” managed one better with four members of its cast nominated in the same featured performance category: Will Brill, Eli Gelb, Tom Pecinka, and Sarah Pidgeon. The individual acting races at the Dorian Awards are gender neutral.

The Best Broadway Musical category features Tony Award nominees “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Illinoise,” “The Outsiders,” and “Suffs,” along with the closed David Byrne tuner “Here Lies Love” and soon-to-be closing “Lempicka.” All five Tony nominees for Best Play are included in the Dorian lineup for Best Broadway Play, with the addition of last summer’s “Just For Us” by Alex Edelman.

SEE Tony Talk: What will win Best Musical?

The Off-Broadway categories are dominated by “Oh, Mary!” which picked up five nominations. It’s a wild comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln, played by Cole Escola in drag, and will transfer to Broadway for a limited run this summer.

The Dorian Awards include several categories which specifically uplift the contributions of the LGBTQ community to the NYC theater scene. The LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season category includes comedic force Escola, his “Oh, Mary!” co-star and “Here Lies Love” player Conrad Ricamora, “Teeth” composer Michael R. Jackson, Tony nominee Sarah Paulson, aforementioned Tony nominee Jonathan Groff, and the busy Broadway director Michael Greif.

Several iconic members of the theater community are nominated for the LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer award. This includes drag legend Charles Busch, pioneering multi-hyphenate André De Shields, avant garde dynamo Taylor Mac, Pulitzer Prize winning “Mother Play” author Paula Vogel, and the late playwright Christopher Durang.

Dorian Theater Awards winners will be announced on Monday, June 3 to help kick off Pride Month.

Read the complete list of Dorian Award nominees below:

Best Broadway Musical
“Here Lies Love”
“Hell’s Kitchen”
“Illinoise”
“Lempicka”
“The Outsiders”
“Suffs”

Best Broadway Play
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
“Just for Us”
“Mary Jane”
“Mother Play”
“Prayer for the French Republic”
“Stereophonic”

Best Broadway Musical Revival
“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
“Merrily We Roll Along”
“The Who’s Tommy”

Best Broadway Play Revival
“Appropriate”
“An Enemy of the People”
“Purlie Victorious”

Best 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”

Best 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”

Best 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”

Best 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”

Best LGBTQ Broadway Production
“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
“Illinoise”
“Lempicka”
“Mother Play”

Best 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

Best Off-Broadway Production
“All the Devils Are Here”
“The Ally”
“The Connector”
“Oh, Mary!”
“Primary Trust”
“Teeth”

Best LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
“Bark of Millions”
“Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet”
“Make Me Gorgeous”
“Oh, Mary!”
“Teeth”

Best 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”

Best 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

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