"Kimberly Akimbo" and "Fat Ham" win the 1st Annual Dorian Theater Awards
Friday, June 2, 2023 at 5:46PM
NATHANIEL R in Alex Newell, Bonnie Milligan, Broadway and Stage, Dorian Awards, GALECA, Kathy Deitch, Kimberly Akimbo, Titanique, Victoria Clark, musicals

By Nathaniel R

As we previously shared GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics recently launched a theater wing comprised of 34 members (including myself) which will be honoring the best in Broadway and Off Broadway theater each season. Our wing co-chair Sam Eckmann (Gold Derby) says:

"I’m thrilled to commence Pride Month with the first ever crop of Dorian Theater Award winners. From the gentleness of Kimberly Akimbo and Into the Woods, to boundary-pushing works such as Fat Ham and Prima Facie to the shot of serotonin that is Titaníque, our cohort of passionate journalists has uplifted the spectacular artistry that thrives in the New York theater scene."

For the inaugural our group chose one winner and two or three finalists (if there was a tie in voting) in 13 categories. They were...

Outstanding Broadway Musical  KIMBERLY AKIMBO
(finalists: Shucked and Some Like It Hot)

More on these shows a bit later but Kimberly Akimbo is a great choice. Highly original, sweet, poignant, and quite funny, too.

Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival INTO THE WOODS
(finalists: Parade and Sweeney Todd)

Into the Woods was all the rage early in the theater season but closed before its latest round of awards. The latest revival of Sweeney Todd is a marvel though if you're needing some Sondheim soon and visiting NYC.

"Fat Ham" Photograph by Joan Marcus  

Outstanding Broadway Play FAT HAM
(finalists: Cost of Living and Leopoldstadt)

Fat Ham already won the 2022 Pulitzer so this is a minor feat but still. Congratulations. (More on finalist Leopoldstadt soon)

Outstanding Broadway Play Revival A DOLL'S HOUSE
(finalists: Ohio State Murders, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, and Topdog/Underdog)

The minimalist revival of A Doll's House beat out its competition in what was probably a tight race given the extra finalist.

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical VICTORIA CLARK in KIMBERLY AKIMBO
(finalists: Annaleigh Ashford, Sweeney Todd and J Harrison Ghee, Some Like It Hot)

We've been fans of Victoria Clark's since her Tony winning performance in Light in the Piazza in the Aughts. Is it Tony #2 this month? The 63 year old lyric soprano gives a marvelously believable performance as a New Jersey teenager in the 1990s trapped in older woman's body due to a rare genetic condition.

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical BONNIE MILLIGAN in KIMBERLY AKIMBO
(finalists: Justin Cooley, Kimberly Akimbo and Alex Newell, Shucked)

We've also been fans of Bonnie Milligans for some times. She's been a sly marvel in the musical theater scene for a while but Broadway is finally catching on. She's hilarious as the criminally minded aunt of the titular teenager. 

 

 

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play JODIE COMER in PRIMA FACIE
(finalists: Jessica Chastain in A Doll's House, Sean Hayes in Good Night Oscar, and Stephen McKinley Henderson in Between Riverside and Crazy)

She has an Emmy and may soon have a Tony. Will Oscar be next? 

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play CRYSTAL LUCAS-PERRY in AINT NO MO
(finalists: Jordan E Cooper in Aint No Mo, and Miriam SIlverman in The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window)

Outstanding Broadway Ensemble KIMBERLY AKIMBO
(finalists: Into the Woods, Shucked)

Broadway Showstopper Award "INDEPENDENTLY OWNED" from SHUCKED
(finalists: "Better" from Kimberly Akimbo and "You Coulda Knocked Me Over with a Feather" from Some Like it Hot)

Alex Newell can very much stop a show. They did just that the night we attended Shucked. And the night we attended Once On This Island some years back come to think of it. 

Outstanding Off-Broadway Production TITANIQUE
(finalists: Dark Disabled Stories and Downstate)

Outsanding Off-Broadway Performance MARLA MINDELLE in TITANIQUE
(finalists: K Todd Freeman in Downstate, Ryan J Haddad in Dark Disabled Stories, and Parker Posey in The Seagull)

Check out Marla Mindelle and cast mates (including friend of TFE Kathy Deitch!) in the Titanique promo above. The spoof show has had real legs here in NYC. 

LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer Award J HARRISON GHEE
(finalists: Jordan E Cooper, and Ryan J Haddad) 

J Harrison Ghee is the first non-binary actor to be Tony-nominated. He's playing the "Daphne" (Jack Lemmon) role in the musical adaptation of comedy classic Some Like It Hot. 

 

More from the press release...

GALECA’s Theater Wing is deeply grateful to the many productions and performers, on and off Broadway, who made voting a pleasure,” said theater co-chair Merryn Johns, editor of the website Queer Forty. “We’re already looking at next season with great anticipation."

GALECA theater wing members, 2022-23:

Merryn Johns (co-chair), Queer Forty
Sam Eckmann (co-chair), Gold Derby
Marshall Heyman (Broadway lead), Town and Country
Cary Wong (Off-Broadway lead), Film Score Monthly Online, etc.
Frank J. Avella (Industry Liaison), Edge Media Network, Awards Daily
Kerensa Cadenas, GQ, etc.
Chris Carpenter, Rage magazine, etc.
Murtada Elfadl, The A.V. Club, etc. 
Adam Feldman, Time Out
Brian Herrera, StinkyLulu Says podcast
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review
Naveen Kumar, Variety, etc.
Stacy Lambe, ET Online
Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour, etc. 
Soraya McDonald, Andscape
Charles O’Keefe, E! News
Jonathan Mandell, New York Theater
Dan Meyer, Theatrely
Abby Monteil, them, etc.
Michael Musto, The Village Voice, etc. 
Louis Peitzman, High Drama newsletter, etc.
Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, TDF Stages
Juan A. Ramirez, Theatrely
Mathew Rodriguez, them
Nathaniel Rogers, The Film Experience
Gillian Russo, New York Theatre Guide
Michael Schulman, The New Yorker
Marcus Scott, Time OutAmerican Theatre
Ashley Steves, Today on Broadway podcast / Broadway Radio
Tim Teeman, The Daily Beast
Kyle Turner, Slant, etc.
Lindsey Weber, Not Broadway newsletter, etc.
Abbey White, Variety
Curtis Wong, HuffPost

 

Theater Wing Diversity Liaison: Jose Solis
Historian: Will Kohler

 

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 480-members strong, GALECA seeks to remind society that the world loves the Q+ eye on everything entertainment. A nonprofit organization, GALECA also advocates for better pay and access for underrepresented entertainment journalists. 

 

Support our efforts by following @DorianAwards on Twitter,  Facebook and InstagramFor more information, visit GALECA.org.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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