Metro Weekly

‘Oh, Mary!’ and ‘Merrily’ Lead Gay Critics’ Theater Nominations

The LGBTQ critics group GALECA handed out nominations for the season's best Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.

Oh, Mary! Conrad Ricamora and Cole Escola -- Photo: Emilio Madrid
Oh, Mary! Conrad Ricamora and Cole Escola — Photo: Emilio Madrid

The theater branch of the national LGBTQ critics’ group GALECA announced its nominations for the second annual Dorian Theater Awards, recognizing the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2023-2024 season.

Similar to the group’s Dorian film and TV awards, both mainstream and LGBTQ-themed productions will be honored.

Leading the Broadway nominations, with six apiece, are Stereophonic and the revival of Merrily We Roll Along. Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s riotous comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln, garnered the most Off-Broadway nods, followed by Teeth and Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, Here We Are.

LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season nominations went to Escola, composer Michael R. Jackson, director Michael Greif, and actors Jonathan Groff, Sarah Paulson, and Conrad Ricamora.

Nominees for LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer, the group’s career achievement award, are André De Shields, Charles Busch, Christopher Durang, Taylor Mac, and Paula Vogel.

GALECA’s Theater Wing is comprised of 39 critics and theater journalists, including Adam Feldman (Time Out), Merryn Johns (Queer Forty), Ryan Leeds (Metro Weekly), Abby Monteil (them), Michael Musto (The Village Voice), Michael Schulman (The New Yorker), Abbey White (The Hollywood Reporter), and Curtis Wong (HuffPost).

GALECA will announce the Dorian Theater Awards on Monday, June 3, 2024.

The complete list of 2024 Dorian Theater Awards nominees follow and include links to shows that Metro Weekly reviewed.

The Outsiders

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

Tommy on Broadway
Tommy on Broadway

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

Purple Victorious: Leslie Odom, Jr. and Kara Young -- Photo: Marc J. Franklin
Purple Victorious: Leslie Odom, Jr. and Kara Young — Photo: Marc J. Franklin

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

Here Lies Love
Here Lies Love: Conrad Ricamora

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

The Shark is Broken: Alex Brightman, Ian Shaw & Colin Donnell -- Photo: Matthew Murphy THE SHARK IS BROKEN - Alex Brightman, Ian Shaw, Colin Donnell - Photo by Matthew Murphy
The Shark is Broken: Alex Brightman, Ian Shaw & Colin Donnell — Photo: Matthew Murphy

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

Cabaret - Eddie Redmayne - Photo: Marc Brenner
Cabaret – Eddie Redmayne – Photo: Marc Brenner

Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club

Illinoise

Lempicka

Mother Play

Suffs: Jenn Colella and company - Photo: Joan Marcus
Suffs: Jenn Colella and company – Photo: Joan Marcus

Outstanding Broadway Ensemble

Here Lies Love

Illinoise

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

Merrily We Roll Along

Suffs

Stereophonic

The Broadway Showstopper Award

(Given for 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

Eddie Izzard's Hamlet -- Photo: Amanda Searle
Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet — Photo: Amanda Searle

Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production

Bark of Millions

Eddie Izzard’s Hamlet

Make Me Gorgeous

Oh, Mary!

Teeth

Oh, Mary! Cole Escola and Bianca Leigh -- Photo: Emilio Madrid
Oh, Mary! Cole Escola and Bianca Leigh — Photo: Emilio Madrid

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

André De Shields -- Photo: Lia Chang
André De Shields — Photo: Lia Chang

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

GALECA will announce the Dorian Theater Awards on Monday, June 3, 2024. Visit them online at www.galeca.org and follow them on X at @DorianAwards.

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