"Schmigadoon" and "Prince Faggot" lead the Dorian Theater Awards

by Nathaniel R

John McRae & Mihir Kumar starred in "Prince Faggot". Photo © Marc J Franklin

As many readers know a few members of Team Experience belong to GALECA the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics though most of us vote on the film and television side. I have the privilege of also being a voter in the society's Dorian Theater Awards, which celebrate both Broadway & Off Broadway productions. The nominations were announced this past week for the 2025-2026 theater season which wrapped up recently and will be a closed book once the Tony Awards are announced on June 7th. The Dorian winners will be announced on June 1st. The TV-to-Stage transfer Schmigadoon (9) led the Broadway shows and Prince Faggot (7) was the nomination leader for Off Broadway on the Dorian ballots. The latter is a truly riveting play which I actually went to twice (very rare for me with so much to see!). It had the distinction of landing a nomination in every category for which it was eligible.

From the press release: 

“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.”

After the jump let's talk the nominees and how they differ (or don't) from the Tony nominations...

Click to read more ...

Tony Nominations ~ The Plays

by Nathaniel R

While I made a real effort to catch all the musicals this season I'm weaker on the plays having seen only 5 of the 18 that opened this past season. Let's talk about the nominees. I'll be sure to mention any film connections to keep the less theater-inclined interested...

Click to read more ...

Tony Award Nominations Are In ~ The Musicals

by Nathaniel R

While The Film Experience is about, well, the movies, longtime readers know that I like to throw in a little live theater whenever possible. And these days as with TV and Film, the line between mediums is ever blurry with stage shows making it to screen or TV and vice versa or both unconnected when they are inspired by the same novel. Though I’ve always tried to be a somewhat regular theatergoer, funding and time often refuse to comply. But during the 2025-2026 season I hit the boards a lot and managed to see 100% of the eligible New Musicals and 40% of the revivals (though I fully hope to make that 80% soon). I did less well with plays though I'll try to see something else before the big night.  In short, my opinions hold more weight (with myself) since I caught a lot more of the season. 

Today nominations were announced for the 79th Annual Tony Awards which will be held June 9th in New York City, and broadcast on CBS Paramount+. This year's festivities will be hosted by Grammy winner P!nk so you can bet there will be aerial action given that one of the two nomination leaders is an adaptation of the 1987 vampire movie The Lost Boys (which, a full review later). So let's talk about the musical nominations...

Click to read more ...

Tony Awards in Review

Editors Note: Oscar predictions for the 98th Academy Awards begin tomorrow -- we're only two months late for "April Foolish" predictions! But first, a bit of theater to wrap up that season which just ended.

Cynthia Erivo -- all she needs is a song! -- at the Tony Awards

The 78th Annual Tony Awards were held on Sunday night, June 8th, with Cynthia Erivo hosting. It was a big night for fans of minimal sets apart from screen projections, non binary performers, frequent mic problems, and 2024 Olivier Award winners (5 repeats!) from the West End. It was even a big night for Grindr -- was Cole Escola's hilarious shout out to "T-Bo from Grindr" the first ever awards mention for the hook-up app?  The winners and a few comments after the jump... 

Click to read more ...

Chita Rivera Awards: 2025 Nominations for Film and Broadway

by Nathaniel R

We've mentioned the low-profile Chita Rivera Awards a few times here at The Film Experience. The awards, named after the legendary Broadway performer of West Side Story, The Rink, Chicago, and Sweet Charity fame are a fun idea, honoring dance in both feature films and on Broadway (the more common place for dance to be honored). Since we love all three art forms and the namesake we are all for this! The 2025 honors will be their 7th installment.

This year's ceremony will be held in NYC on May 19 with the amazing Tony & Emmy winner Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago, Cheers) as host. The most famous nominee this year is surely Jonathan Groff. While we've had an enormous crush on him for years, we swear that it's his abundant talent and not his beauty that have kept the fires burning. Plus mad respect for the surely difficult but highly welcome balancing act he's been doing mixing feature films, tv shows, and Broadway shows fairly consistently for years. Groff is involved in both the stage and film categories this year. Read on for the nominations and a few comments...

Click to read more ...