ILLINOISE, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG And OH, MARY! Take Top Honors At LGBTQ Critics' Dorian Theater Awards

The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics' 39 theater wing members gave Illinoise, Merrily We Roll Along and Oh, Mary! top honors in the group's second annual Dorian Theater Awards, honoring the best of 2023-24's Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, mainstream to LGBTQ+.

The revival if Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's beloved tale of evolving friendships, nabbed four Dorian Awards, including Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival. Star Jonathan Groff took Best Lead Performance in a Musical, while costar Daniel Radcliffe scored two kudos: Best Featured Performance in a Musical and GALECA's trademark Broadway Showstopper Award, the latter for his dynamic rendition of the tune "Franklin Sheppard, Inc."

Stereophonic, David Adjmi's new play about a fame-hungry rock band recording an album circa 1976, won Outstanding Broadway Play and Outstanding Broadway Ensemble. In a tie, the production's costar Sarah Pidgeon and Kara Young of the lively satire Purlie Victorious both won Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play.

Illinoise, the dance musical directed by noted choreographer Justin Peck (see Stephen Spielberg's big-screen version of West Side Story) and written by Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury-and inspired by pop star Sufjan Stevens' titular, semi-autobiographical album-took Outstanding Broadway Musical. The tale of a young gay man wracked with trauma, Illinoise also earned Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production.

Sarah Paulson (who won a Dorian in 2017 for TV's American Crime Story) won Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play for Appropriate, playwright Branden Jacob-Jenkins's searing look at a white Southern family dealing with the legacy of their recently deceased father. Appropriate, first mounted in 2013, was named Outstanding Broadway Play Revival.

Cole Escola's outlandish comedy, Oh, Mary!, dominated the group's Off-Broadway categories, winning for outstanding production, LGBTQ production and the division's two performance categories. Escola managed a Dorian for his turn as, yes, Mary Todd Lincoln, while costar Conrad Ricamora triumphed as Mary's husband, Abe. Moreover, Escola-who costarred in the Dorian TV Award-nominated series Difficult People and At Home with Amy Sedaris-was named LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season, making the firebrand the first honoree of this newly added Dorian Award.

GALECA's career achievement accolade here, the LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award, went to venerable playwright Paula Vogel.

"We're thrilled to be able to pay respect to Ms. Vogel's lifelong contributions to the American theater, as well as to her ongoing support of the LGBTQ community," said Cary Wong, the group's Off-Broadway Lead. Vogel won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1999 for her play, How I Learned to Drive. Her incredible body of work includes The Baltimore Waltz, Hot 'N Throbbing, The Mineola Twins and Indecent, which garnered Vogel her first Tony nomination for Best Play in 2017. Vogel's latest lauded play, Mother Play, currently on Broadway, counted four Dorian nominations this year.

2024 Dorian Theater Awards-List of Winners:

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

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

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

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

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play - TIE

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

Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
**Illinoise
Lempicka
Mother Play

Outstanding 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"

Outstanding Off-Broadway Production

All the Devils Are Here
The Ally
The Connector
**Oh, Mary!
Primary Trust
Teeth

Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production

Bark of Millions
Eddie Izzard's Hamlet
Make Me Gorgeous
**Oh, Mary!
Teeth

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

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

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 500 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.