"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 at Home: “Moulin Rouge!” @25

by Cláudio Alves

The 79th Cannes Film Festival is upon us and, as ever, Elisa is on the ground to report directly from the Croisette. Sadly, most of us can only watch from afar. For years, I struggled with festival-related FOMO, but one little annual series here at The Film Experience has helped combat it. Obviously, I’m referring to “Cannes at Home,” the rubric I’m happy to revive once more, perusing past films from the various cineastes in the Main Competition that are widely available. Alas, it’s very rare for a title vying for the Palme to open celebrations at Cannes, and this year is no different. Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss marked the fest’s official start, but it’s playing Out of Competition so the director’s work won’t be showcased here, in “Cannes at Home.”

Instead, let’s rewind to 2001, when the Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 54th edition. A quarter century ago, the Opening Film was actually among the competition lineup. It was none other than Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!, the best movie musical yet produced since the millennium changed. Damn, 21st century cinema peaked early…

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Drag Race RuCap: "Fannie: The Hard Knock Ball Rusical"

"Fannie: The Hard Knock Ball Rusical" as told through wigs.

NICK TAYLOR: It appears a major theme of this season’s post-talent show episodes is the psychological torment of Juicy Love Dion. The diva has gone from being season 18’s first two-time winner to sending home two of her closest friends in the competition, including her own grandmother. She’s been struggling hard, and who knows how long this gauntlet of pain will last. You can tell Ru really wants to push her queens this season, all the better to win that Emmy and make some drama. This push has led to the best Rusical since season 15 and a heartbreaking lip sync battle, in spite of a guest judge and lip sync song with the combined impact of powdered milk. The race is tight, the queens are on fire, and the teaser promises even more shenanigans to come. But let’s not hit the end before the beginning, yes? What’d you think?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: What did powdered milk ever do to you? Anyway, I’m happy that my predictions in our private convos have proven mostly right, while also begrudging the show for being so damn predictable in its storytelling…

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2025 in Review: Music Music Music

by Nathaniel R

Charli XCX has four feature film projects arriving in 2026. But still found time to make a great music video in 2025

I promise we'll pull this back to music in movies at the end of the post but for a curveball we'll first share favourite music videos of 2025. Those mini-musicals haven't had a true "home" in decades (after the initial heyday of MTV many moons ago) but they still continue to be a fascinating shortform offshoot of cinema itself. We use to think of them as training ground for future film directors but it feels like that's been a long while since it was a "path" to Hollywood. How long until we get another music video master that moves up to auteur status? It's been 30 years since that happened for David Fincher! Still, we're always hoping it will happen again...

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Power Ranking the Songs and Performances from "White Christmas"

by Ben Miller

WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) Michael Curtiz | © Paramount Pictures

In my house, few Christmas traditions persevere more than my wife's annual viewings of 1954's White Christmas. From a few days after Thanksgiving, up until Christmas day, three yearly screenings are par for the course. With such an ingrained viewing experience, I feel uniquely qualified to power rank the songs and performances from Irving Berlin's holiday classic...

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