SCHMIGADOON!, THE BALUSTERS and GIANT Win Top Categories at 2026 Dorian Theater Awards

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics kicked off Pride Month by bestowing Prince Faggot and Ragtime top honors in the group’s fourth annual Dorian Theater Awards. Radical Off-Broadway sensation Prince Faggot led the field with six wins, the most of any production this season. The Lincoln Center Theater revival of Ragtime earned three awards, the most of any Broadway production. Voted on by GALECA’s theater wing, the Dorian Theater Awards celebrate the best of Broadway and Off-Broadway, from mainstream to LGBTQ+.

Prince Faggot, the queer coming-of-age tale by Jordan Tannahill, won Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Outstanding Off-Broadway LGBTQ Production, Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production, Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production for John McCrea, and Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production for David Greenspan. 

Ragtime, the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical with direction from Lincoln Center Theatre artistic director Lear deBessonet, topped the Broadway categories with three victories: Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival, Outstanding Broadway Ensemble, and Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical for Joshua Henry.

Other top Broadway winners include Schmigadoon!, which claimed Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding Book of a Musical for writer Cinco Paul. The Balusters and Giant tied for Outstanding Broadway Play. The Balusters playwright David Lindsay-Abaire won Outstanding Script of a Broadway Play, while Giant leading man John Lithgow won Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, won Outstanding Broadway Play Revival.

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show, helmed by Dorian Theater Award nominee Sam Pinkleton, was awarded Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production. This award honors exceptional theatrical work that spotlights LGBTQ stories and themes. 

Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Titaníque were ineligible for top production categories after winning Outstanding Off-Broadway Production in prior seasons, but voters recognized their 2026 Broadway runs as eligible. Titaníque newcomer Layton Williams won Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical. Cats: The Jellicle Ball received the Broadway Showstopper Award for the musical number “Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat,” which has been reimagined as an energetic voguing performance led by Emma Sofia. 

Qween Jean was named LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season. The Costume Designer and trans rights activist has created standout looks all season long, having designed the costumes for Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Liberation, Saturday Church, Angry Alan, and Oh Happy Day! 

The Dorian’s special LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer award was given to Junior LaBeija. A member of the House of LaBeija for over 50 years, LaBeija is a ballroom icon who served as master of ceremonies for the annual “Paris is Burning Ball,” as captured in the documentary Paris Is Burning. Now, LaBeija is proving to be a master storyteller in his role as Gus the Theatre Cat in Cats: The Jellicle Ball, where he ensures that queer history is accorded reverence on Broadway.

Below is the complete list of winners for the 2026 Dorian Theater Awards:

Outstanding Broadway Musical

The Lost Boys

Schmigadoon!

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Outstanding Broadway Play

The Balusters (tie)

Giant (tie)

Little Bear Ridge Road

Punch

Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival

Chess

Ragtime

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Outstanding Broadway Play Revival

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Becky Shaw

Fallen Angels

Marjorie Prime

Oedipus

Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production

Little Bear Ridge Road

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Schmigadoon!

The Lost Boys

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical

Sara Chase, Schmigadoon!

Kristin Chenoweth, The Queen of Versailles

Nicholas Christopher, Chess

Luke Evans, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Joshua Henry, Ragtime

Stephanie Hsu, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Caissie Levy, Ragtime

Sam Tutty, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)

Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play

Rose Byrne, Fallen Angels

Carrie Coon, Bug

Will Harrison, Punch

Nathan Lane, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

John Lithgow, Giant

Lesley Manville, Oedipus

Laurie Metcalf, Little Bear Ridge Road

Kelli O’Hara, Fallen Angels

Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing

Mark Strong, Oedipus

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical

Melissa Barrera, Titaníque

Shoshana Bean, The Lost Boys

Ali Louis Bourzgui, The Lost Boys

Max Clayton, Schmigadoon!

Rachel Dratch, Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!

Leiomy, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Ben Levi Ross, Ragtime

Benjamin Pajak, The Lost Boys

Layton Williams, Titaníque

Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play

Christopher Abbott, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Marylouise Burke, The Balusters

Danny Burstein, Marjorie Prime

Alden Ehrenreich, Becky Shaw

Linda Emond, Becky Shaw

Jessica Hecht, Dog Day Afternoon

Laurie Metcalf, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Cynthia Nixon, Marjorie Prime

Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

June Squibb, Marjorie Prime

Outstanding Broadway Ensemble

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman

The Balusters

Ragtime

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Schmigadoon!

Outstanding Original Score of a Broadway Production

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman by Caroline Shaw

The Lost Boys by The Rescues

Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul

The Queen of Versailles by Stephen Schwartz

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

Outstanding Book of a Broadway Musical

The Lost Boys by David Hornsby and Chris Hoch

Schmigadoon! by Cinco Paul

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

Outstanding Script of a Broadway Play

The Balusters by David Lindsay-Abaire

Giant by Mark Rosenblatt

Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter

Punch by James Graham

Outstanding Design of a Broadway Production

Bug

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

The Lost Boys

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show

Schmigadoon!

The Broadway Showstopper Award

To a standout production number or scene

Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Memory” (Tempress Chasity Moore)

Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat” (Emma Sofia)

Cats: The Jellicle Ball – “Songs of the Jellicles and the Jellicle Ball” (company)

Chess – “Anthem” (Nicholas Christopher)

Titaníque – “River Deep, Mountain High” (Layton Williams)

Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical

Beau: The Musical

The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse

Mexodus

Saturday Church

The Seat of Our Pants

Outstanding Off-Broadway Play

Are the Bennett Girls Ok?

Bowl EP

Cold War Choir Practice

Meet the Cartozians

Prince Faggot

Outstanding Off-Broadway Revival

Bat Boy: The Musical

Heathers, The Musical (tie)

Oratorio for Living Things

Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (tie)

Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production

Beau: The Musical

Becoming Eve

Bowl EP

Prince Faggot

Saturday Church

ta-da!

Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production

Bryson Battle, Saturday Church

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Well, I’ll Let You Go (tie)

Alana Raquel Bowers, Cold War Choir Practice

Will Brill, Kramer/Fauci

Tommy Dorfman, Becoming Eve

David Greenspan, I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan

Ryan J. Haddad, Hold Me in the Water

Marin Ireland, Queens

John McCrea, Prince Faggot (tie)

Matt Rodin, Beau: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production

Caroline Aaron, The Reservoir

Sierra Boggess, Prosperous Fools

Justin Cooley, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

K. Todd Freeman, Prince Faggot

J. Harrison Ghee, Saturday Church (tie)

David Greenspan, Prince Faggot (tie)

Judy Kuhn, The Baker’s Wife

McKenzie Kurtz, Heathers, The Musical

Casey Likes, Heathers, The Musical

Deirdre O’Connell, Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Jasmine Amy Rogers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

David Turner, Mother Russia

Outstanding Writing for an Off-Broadway Production

Becoming Eve by Emil Weinstein

Bowl EP by Nazareth Hassan

Caroline by Preston Max Allen

Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick

Practice by Nazareth Hassan

Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill

Outstanding Design for an Off-Broadway Production

Beau: The Musical

Bowl EP

Cold War Choir Practice

Masquerade

Prince Faggot

LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season

Michael Arden

Shayok Misha Chowdhury

Luke Evans

Qween Jean

Constantine Rousouli

Brandon Uranowitz

LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer

For a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth, and equity.

Michael Arden

Junior LaBeija

Nathan Lane

Joe Mantello

Sam Pinkleton

Shows with Multiple Wins

6 – Prince Faggot

3 – Ragtime

2 – The Balusters; Giant; The Lost Boys; Schmigadoon!