Winners of the 2026 Dorian Theater Awards Announced
What are the best shows on Broadway and Off-Broadway? Which ones are of LGBTQ+ excellence and interest? GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards and the Theater Wing have taken the guesswork out of it for you.
GALECA’s 2026 Dorian Theater Awards kicked off Pride Month by announcing the best and queerest in show for this season on stage in New York City. The radical, meta-theatrical tragicomedy Prince Faggot led the field with six wins, the most of any production this season, and it was the Off-Broadway sensation of the year.
The Lincoln Center Theater revival of Ragtime earned three awards, the most of any Broadway production. Voted on by GALECA’s theater wing, now in its fourth year, the Dorian Theater Awards celebrate the best of Broadway and Off-Broadway, from mainstream shows with mass appeal to LGBTQ-focused productions.
“We are thrilled to kick off LGBTQ Pride Month by celebrating a season that uplifted queer voices,” said GALECA theater wing co-chair Sam Eckmann.
“Whether it was a tender love story within Schmigadoon! or mainstream audience members discovering the fabulous world of ballroom through Cats: The Jellicle Ball, New York’s theater scene has consistently made us proud.”
GALECA voters, who comprise a select and vetted group of veteran journalists and theater critics, myself included, enthusiastically embraced both new work and revivals. Prince Faggot, the queer coming-of-age tale by Jordan Tannahill, claimed Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Outstanding Off-Broadway LGBTQ Production, Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production, Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production for John McCrea—and Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production for David Greenspan.
Ragtime, the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical directed by Lincoln Center Theatre artistic director Lear deBessonet, topped the Broadway categories with three wins: Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival, Outstanding Broadway Ensemble, and Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical for Joshua Henry.
Other Broadway winners included the joyful, alternate-universe Schmigadoon!, which claimed Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding Book of a Musical for writer Cinco Paul.
The Balusters and Giant tied for Outstanding Broadway Play—both dramas explore high-stakes conflicts in small spaces with an ideologically driven ensemble of characters. The Balusters playwright David Lindsay-Abaire won Outstanding Script of a Broadway Play, while Giant leading man John Lithgow won Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play.
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, won Outstanding Broadway Play Revival.
Another redux, but a truly beloved, queer classic in a completely different vein—Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show—was awarded Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production. This award honors exceptional theatrical work that spotlights LGBTQ stories and themes. This production was helmed by Dorian Theater Award nominee Sam Pinkleton
While Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Titaníque were ineligible for top production categories after winning Outstanding Off-Broadway Production in prior seasons, voters eagerly recognized their 2026 Broadway runs as eligible in other categories. Titaníque newcomer Layton Williams won Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball received the Broadway Showstopper Award for the voguing number “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat,” led by Emma Sofia.
Qween Jean was named LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season. The costume designer and trans rights activist has created standout looks all season long, having designed the costumes for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation, Saturday Church, Angry Alan, and Oh Happy Day!
This year’s LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer was Junior LaBeija—a member of the House of LaBeija for over 50 years—who plays Gus the Theatre Cat in Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
Here is the complete list of winners for the 2026 Dorian Theater Awards:
Outstanding Broadway Musical
The Lost Boys
Schmigadoon!
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Outstanding Broadway Play
The Balusters (tie)
Giant (tie)
Little Bear Ridge Road
Punch
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Chess
Ragtime
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Becky Shaw
Fallen Angels
Marjorie Prime
Oedipus
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
Little Bear Ridge Road
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!
The Lost Boys
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!
Kristin Chenoweth, The Queen of Versailles
Nicholas Christopher, Chess
Luke Evans, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Joshua Henry, Ragtime
Stephanie Hsu, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Caissie Levy, Ragtime
Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Rose Byrne, Fallen Angels
Carrie Coon, Bug
Will Harrison, Punch
Nathan Lane, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
John Lithgow, Giant
Lesley Manville, Oedipus
Laurie Metcalf, Little Bear Ridge Road
Kelli O’Hara, Fallen Angels
Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing
Mark Strong, Oedipus
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Melissa Barrera, Titaníque
Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys
Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys
Max Clayton, Schmigadoon!
Rachel Dratch, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!
Leiomy, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime
Benjamin Pajak, The Lost Boys
Layton Williams, Titaníque
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Christopher Abbott, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Marylouise Burke, The Balusters
Danny Burstein, Marjorie Prime
Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw
Linda Emond, Becky Shaw
Jessica Hecht, Dog Day Afternoon
Laurie Metcalf, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Cynthia Nixon, Marjorie Prime
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
June Squibb, Marjorie Prime
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
The Balusters
Ragtime
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!
Outstanding Original Score of a Broadway Production
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman by Caroline Shaw
The Lost Boys by The Rescues
Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul
The Queen of Versailles by Stephen Schwartz
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan
Outstanding Book of a Broadway Musical
The Lost Boys by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch
Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan
Outstanding Script of a Broadway Play
The Balusters by David Lindsay-Abaire
Giant by Mark Rosenblatt
Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter.
Punch by James Graham
Outstanding Design of a Broadway Production
Bug
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
The Lost Boys
Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show
Schmigadoon!
The Broadway Showstopper Award
To a standout production number or scene
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Memory” (“Tempress” Chasity Moore)
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat” (Emma Sofia)
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Songs of the Jellicles and the Jellicle Ball” (company)
Chess – “Anthem” (Nicholas Christopher)
Titaníque – “River Deep, Mountain High” (Layton Williams)
Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical
Beau: The Musical
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse
Mexodus
Saturday Church
The Seat of Our Pants
Outstanding Off-Broadway Play
Are the Bennett Girls Ok?
Bowl EP
Cold War Choir Practice
Meet the Cartozians
Prince Faggot
Outstanding Off-Broadway Revival
Bat Boy: The Musical
Heathers, The Musical (tie)
Oratorio for Living Things
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (tie)
Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
Beau: The Musical
Becoming Eve
Bowl EP
Prince Faggot
Saturday Church
ta-da!
Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Bryson Battle, Saturday Church
Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Well, I’ll Let You Go (tie)
Alana Raquel Bowers, Cold War Choir Practice
Will Brill, Kramer/Fauci
Tommy Dorfman, Becoming Eve
David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan
Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water
Marin Ireland, Queens
John McCrea, Prince Faggot (tie)
Matt Rodin, Beau: The Musical
Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Caroline Aaron, The Reservoir
Sierra Boggess, Prosperous Fools
Justin Cooley, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
K. Todd Freeman, Prince Faggot
J. Harrison Ghee, Saturday Church (tie)
David Greenspan, Prince Faggot (tie)
Judy Kuhn, The Baker’s Wife
McKenzie Kurtz, Heathers, The Musical
Casey Likes, Heathers, The Musical
Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.
Jasmine Amy Rogers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
David Turner, Mother Russia
Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production
Becoming Eve by Emil Weinstein
Bowl EP by Nazareth Hassan
Caroline by Preston Max Allen
Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick
Practice by Nazareth Hassan
Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill
Outstanding Design for an Off-Broadway Production
Beau: The Musical
Bowl EP
Cold War Choir Practice
Masquerade
Prince Faggot
LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season
Michael Arden
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Luke Evans
Qween Jean
Constantine Rousouli
Brandon Uranowitz
LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer: For a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth, and equity
Michael Arden
Junior LaBeija
Nathan Lane
Joe Mantello
Sam Pinkleton
About GALECA
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and its Dorian Awards honor the best in film, television, and, under its theater wing, Broadway and Off-Broadway. Nearly 600 members strong, GALECA puts a critical LGBTQ+ eye on entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay, access, and respect for entertainment journalists, especially the underrepresented, and mentors and offers college scholarships for the next generation of entertainment journalists.
