‘Schmigadoon!,’ ‘The Lost Boys’ Lead LGBTQ Critics’ Dorian Theater Award Nominations

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ theater wing members announced their favorites in New York theater for the fourth annual Dorian Theater Awards. These awards celebrate the best in Broadway and Off-Broadway for the 2025-2026 season. Like GALECA’s annual Dorian film and TV awards, the group’s stage honors celebrate both mainstream and LGBTQ+-themed productions.

“From the radical reimaging of our world in Prince Faggot, to the tender themes of self-discovery in Schmigadoon!, it has been a wonderful season of queer storytelling on New York stages,” says GALECA’s theater wing co-chair Sam Eckmann. “In addition to the new LGBTQ stories that we fell in love with, we were proud to see previous Dorian Theater Award winners Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Titaníque find new, fabulous life on Broadway. Our stories are connecting with wider audiences and enduring on stages both large and small.”

Schmigadoon! earned nine nominations, the most nominations of any production. The new Broadway musical is adapted from the Apple TV series of the same name, which pays loving homage to golden age musicals. In addition to bids for Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production, show creator Cinco Paul is a double nominee in the Dorian Theater Awards’ new categories: Outstanding Original Score of a Broadway Production and Outstanding Book of a Broadway Musical. Performers Sara Chase, Max Clayton and Ana Gasteyer are also nominated.

Trailing just behind Schmigadoon! is the vampire saga The Lost Boys. The epic staging earned eight nominations. This includes a nomination in the new Outstanding Design of a Broadway Production category, as well as three nominations in the Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical category, for actors Shoshana Bean, Ali Louis Bourzgui and Benjamin Pajak.

The Lost Boys director Michael Arden is a double nominee in the group’s two special categories: LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season and LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer. The other LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season nominees include Obie-winning playwright Shayok Misha Chowdhury, The Rocky Horror Showstar Luke Evans, trailblazing costume design Qween Jean, Titaníque co-creator and actor Constantine Rousouli, and Ragtime leading man Brandon Uranowitz.

The nominees for the group’s career achievement award, LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer, include Arden; ballroom icon, Junior LaBeija, currently making his Broadway debut in Cats: The Jellicle Ball; three-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane; director and actor Joe Mantello; and the  irreverent veteran director Sam Pinkleton.

In the group’s Off-Broadway categories, Prince Faggot dominated. The radical new play from Jordan Tannahill earned seven nominations, with the unique distinction of being nominated in every category for which it was eligible. This includes Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production, Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production for Tannahill, Outstanding Design of an Off-Broadway Production, and performance nominations for actors John McCrea, K. Todd Freeman and David Greenspan.

Winners of the 2026 Dorian Theater Awards will be announced on Monday, June 1, 2026.    

Full list of 2026 Dorian Theater Awards nominees:

Outstanding Broadway Musical

The Lost Boys

Schmigadoon!

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Outstanding Broadway Play

The Balusters

Giant

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

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

Oratorio for Living Things

Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

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

Nazarth Hassan, 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

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

David Greenspan, Prince Faggot

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 Keenan Tyler Oliphant

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 equit

Michael Arden

Junior LaBeija

Nathan Lane

Joe Mantello

Sam Pinkleton

 

Broadway Productions with Multiple Nominations

Schmigadoon! – 9

The Lost Boys – 8

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show – 7

Ragtime – 6

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman – 5

The Balusters – 4

Cats: The Jellicle Ball – 4

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) – 4

Becky Shaw – 3

Chess – 3

Fallen Angels – 3

Giant – 3

Little Bear Ridge Road – 3

Oedipus – 3

Punch – 3

Titaníque – 3

Bug – 2

The Queen of Versailles -2

 

Off-Broadway Productions with Multiple Nominations

Prince Faggot – 7

Bowl EP – 4

Cold War Choir Practice – 4

Saturday Church – 4

Beau: The Musical – 3

Becoming Eve – 3

Heathers, The Musical – 3

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee –  3

A note on eligibility: Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation, and Titaníque were previously recognized by the Dorian Theater awards for their original Off-Broadway productions. As such, only “new elements” of their Broadway transfers were eligible for consideration this year.

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.