And the LGBTQ Theater Critics Broadway Nominations Are …
What are the most deserving productions on Broadway serving the LGBTQ community? If you want to locate all the queer excellence of this year’s theatre season, check out the nominations from GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced its latest shortlist of standout New York stage productions for the third annual Dorian Theater Awards. Honoring excellence across Broadway and Off-Broadway during the 2024–2025 season, the awards celebrate both mainstream achievements and works that reflect LGBTQ+ themes and perspectives—in the spirit of GALECA’s longer-established film and television honors.
Leading the Broadway categories with seven nominations is Death Becomes Her, the musical adaptation of the cheeky 1992 fantasy film about two women seeking eternal (outer) beauty. In addition to nods for Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Musical, the show—directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with music by Noel Carey and Julia Mattison—earned acting nominations for Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, and Christopher Sieber. The team’s production number “For the Gaze” is in line for the wing’s signature Broadway Showstopper Award.
Boosted by appreciation for their well-represented cast members, three productions show six Dorian nominations each: the provocative The Crucible-meets-#MeToo tale John Proctor is the Villain, the reflective civil rights drama Purpose, and the second-ever Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd., another musical take on a film about ephemeral beauty (the first stage mounting premiered in 1994).
In the Off-Broadway categories, Cats: The Jellicle Ball leads with five nominations, including acting nods for André De Shields, Sydney James Harcourt, and ballroom icon “Tempress” Chastity Moore. DRAG: The Musical and its stars Alaska Thunderfuck and Jujubee, both of TV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, all hold nominations. And the Manhattan Theatre Club’s We Had a World, byplaywright Joshua Harmon, is in the running for Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production World‘s stars Joanna Gleason and Jeanine Serralles are nominated as well.
Nominees for GALECA’s LGBTQ+ Theater Trailblazer Award—which honors a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth, and equity—include performer André De Shields, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, actor Andrew Scott, costume designer Paul Tazewell, director George C. Wolfe, and Drag Race alum turned multihyphenate Jinkx Monsoon.
Monsoon is also up for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical for Pirates! The Penzance Musical, as well as another special accolade, LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season.
Last year, the Off-Broadway staging of Oh, Mary! and the Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along topped the Dorian Theater Awards, winning four prizes each. The wing’s voters also fell in love with the queer sensibilities at the heart of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise, naming the dance musical Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Musical. In the inaugural year, the musicals Kimberly Akimbo and Titanique!, and drama Fat Ham scored the most Dorian wins.
GALECA will once again help kick off Pride Month by announcing the winners of the 2025 Dorian Theater Awards on Monday, June 2.
Full list of 2025 Dorian Theater Awards nominees:
Outstanding Broadway Musical
Death Becomes Her
Dead Outlaw
Just in Time
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat
Real Women Have Curves
Outstanding Broadway Play
English
The Hills of California
John Proctor is the Villain
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Purpose
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
Eureka Day
Our Town
Romeo + Juliet
Yellow Face
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
Cult of Love
Death Becomes Her
Purpose
Redwood
SMASH
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Darren Criss, Maybe Happy Ending
Andrew Durand, Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis, Sunset Blvd.
Jonathan Groff, Just in Time
Megan Hilty, Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald, Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers, BOOP! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger, Sunset Blvd.
Helen J. Shen, Maybe Happy Ending
Jennifer Simard, Death Becomes Her
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Kit Connor, Romeo + Juliet
Laura Donnelly, The Hills of California
Mia Farrow, The Roommate
Daniel Dae Kim, Yellow Face
Sydney Lemmon, JOB
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow
Jon Michael Hill, Purpose
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Purpose
Sadie Sink, John Proctor is the Villain
Sarah Snook, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, Buena Vista Social Club
Jeb Brown, Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence, Just in Time
Justina Machado, Real Women Have Curves
Jak Malone, Operation Mincemeat
Jinkx Monsoon, Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Lea Salonga, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Christopher Sieber, Death Becomes Her
Taylor Trensch, Floyd Collins
David Thaxton, Sunset Blvd.
Michael Urie, Once Upon a Mattress
Joy Woods, Gypsy
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Alana Arenas, Purpose
Tala Ashe, English
Molly Bernard, Cult of Love
Jessica Hecht, Eureka Day
Francis Jue, Yellow Face
Marjan Neshat, English
Bob Odenkirk, Glengarry Glen Ross
Zachary Quinto, Cult of Love
Fina Strazza, John Proctor is the Villain
Amalia Yoo, John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young, Purpose
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
Cult of Love
Death Becomes Her
John Proctor is the Villain
Real Women Have Curves
Sunset Blvd.
The Broadway Showstopper Award
— To a standout production number or scene
Death Becomes Her – “For the Gaze,” performed by Megan Hilty
Gypsy – “Rose’s Turn,” performed by Audra McDonald
John Proctor Is the Villain – “Green Light,” performed by Sadie Sink, Amalia Yoo
Maybe Happy Ending – “Chasing Fireflies,” performed by Darren Criss, Helen J. Shen
Sunset Blvd. – “Sunset Boulevard,” performed by Nicole Scherzinger
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Grangeville
Liberation
Vanya
Wine in the Wildernes
Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
DRAG: The Musical
Grangeville
The Fires
We Had a World
Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Patsy Ferran, A Streetcar Named Desire
Susannah Flood, Liberation
Brandon Flynn, Kowalski
Joanna Gleason, We Had a World
Marla Mindelle, The Big Gay Jamboree
Paul Mescal, A Streetcar Named Desire
Andrew Scott, Vanya
Paul Sparks, Grangeville
Alaska Thunderfuck, DRAG: The Musical
Olivia Washington, Wine in the Wilderness
Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Betsy Aidem, Liberation
Billy Crudup, Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts
André De Shields, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Drew Elhamalawy, We Live in Cairo
Sydney James Harcourt, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Jujubee, DRAG: The Musical
Ahmad Kamal, SUMO
Julia Lester, All Nighter
Paris Nix, The Big Gay Jamboree
Jeanine Serralles, We Had a World
Kyra Sedgwick, All of Me
“Tempress” Chastity Moore, Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Jenny Lee Stern, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
Jason Veasey, The Fires
Natalie Walker, The Big Gay Jamboree
LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season
Michael Arden
Tommy Dorfman
Jonathan Groff
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Jinkx Monsoon
LGBTQ+ Theater Trailblazer
— For a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
AndréDe Shields
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Jinkx Monsoon
Andrew Scott
Paul Tazewell
George C. Wolfe
Productions With Multiple Nominations
Death Becomes Her – 7
John Proctor is the Villain – 6
Purpose – 6
Sunset Blvd. – 6
Cats: The Jellicle Ball – 5
Cult of Love – 4
Gypsy – 4
Maybe Happy Ending – 4
The Big Gay Jamboree – 3
Drag: The Musical – 3
English – 3
Dead Outlaw – 3
Grangeville – 3
Just in Time – 3
Liberation – 3
Real Women Have Curves – 3
We Had a World – 3
Yellow Face – 3
Eureka Day – 2
The Fires – 2
Floyd Collins – 2
The Hills of California – 2
Operation Mincemeat – 2
The Picture of Dorian Gray – 2
Pirates! The Penzance Musical – 2
A Streetcar Named Desire – 2
Vanya – 2
Wine in the Wilderness – 2
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. More than 550 members strong, GALECA reminds society that the world values the informed Q+ eye on everything entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay, access, and respect for entertainment journalists, especially the underrepresented. For more informations, visit galeca.org and find us at @DorianAwards on social media.
