"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...

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Cannes: With "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma" Jane Schoenbrun doubles down on becoming a defining generational voice.

by Elisa Giudici

TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA. MUBI

By the time Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma premiered at Cannes, Jane Schoenbrun had already become something close to a generational folk hero for younger cinephiles. You could feel it inside the Debussy theater before the lights even went down: critics squeezed onto theater steps, festival attendees treating an Un Certain Regard opener like the hottest ticket on the Croisette, audiences buzzing less about Cannes prestige than about what the filmmaker behind I Saw the TV Glow might do next. And honestly, the excitement makes sense. Few filmmakers right now understand how media obsession functions emotionally for millennials and Gen Z quite like Schoenbrun does. Their work isn’t simply nostalgic. It treats pop culture, horror movies, forgotten VHS relics, fandom rituals, and half-ironic internet cinephilia as part of the architecture of identity itself...

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Review: Elliot Tuttle’s “Blue Film” is a transfixing transgression

by Cláudio Alves

© Obscured Releasing

Every year, so-called provocateurs come out of the woodwork with films that promise to shock audiences, challenge norms and push boundaries, leaving behind broken taboos in their wake. And yet, true transgressions are few and far between. More often than not, viewers are met with the pretension of risk-taking on the part of artists too timorous to take any actual risk. When a picture comes about and honestly earns these descriptors, one should take note. So, please note Elliot Tuttle’s Blue Film. It’s the sordid yet simple story of the night spent between a gay camboy and the stranger who paid for his company. 

During those hours, perversity takes on another meaning as actors Kieron Moore and Reed Birney playact a scenario in which nothing feels more verboten than a show of affection, empathy extended toward those who would rightfully revolt us. Blue Film forms a lewd poem of broken hearts and sad monsters, a mural of cumstains and razor burns, topped by a secret song that you listen to while feeling like you shouldn’t, like you’re encroaching on something so private that to witness it is a violation. All throughout, there’s this pervading sense one is peeking into what ought to remain unseen…

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Drag Race RuCap: Better late than never, it’s the “Grand Finale”

RuPaul and Miley Cyrus welcome you to the 76th Hunger Gam... I mean the season 18 Drag Race Grand Finale!

CLÁUDIO ALVES: And just like that, it’s over. Season 18 started pretty shapeless, with a scrappy, talented cast who exuded early Drag Race vibes, only to face late Drag Race challenges that did little to capitalize on their energy. The scandal of the Rate-a-Queen Talent Show two-parter suddenly gave us narrative propulsion that elevated the second half of the season until that dreadful makeover episode derailed it all again. We never recovered, enthusiasm dwindling and a bouquet of finalists that, though not undeserving, felt vaguely lackluster. And though the lip-sync LaLaPaRuza gave the show a jolt of life last week, the finale proper couldn’t help but be a letdown, perfunctory apart from one queen’s performance that, for a moment, gave the episode some necessary purpose. 

Grand finales are seldom great hours of television, but we know, from season 16, that this same format can beget better results than what we got this year. Oh well, could’ve been worse.

NICK TAYLOR: It could have been much worse!...

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Drag Race RuCap: "All RuPaul-A-Paruza Smackdown"

This year's reunion lip-sync smackdown has a trickier format than usual.

NICK TAYLOR: After several episodes of confusing judging and unsatisfyingly resolved lip-syncs, this RuPaulaPaRuZa felt like a return to form for Drag Race as a well-judged variety special. The ultimate top two and winner are maybe not surprising, but the talent on display is immense, and I haven’t had this much fun watching season 18 in a few weeks. As our friend Ale said, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword to see these talented queens strut their stuff and remember how the show’s done them dirty along the way. There’s a world where Jane vs Juicy is the lip-sync for the crown, and that sounds like a very tantalizing reality, but the queen’s performances and the show’s presentation of them are operating on such a high baseline. Were you entertained?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: I was thoroughly entertained, even if I’m still sorting through my feelings about the shape this year’s lip-sync tournament took. Format doubts aside, this was a smashing hour of queer television and while I like your idea of Juicy and Jane at the finale, I’m not sure Baby Dion should be among the two vying for the crown. She’d put on one hell of a show, but I also feel she’s better suited for a future All Stars title…

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