Winners of the 2025 Dorian Theater Awards were revealed on June 2. The honors celebrate excellence in stage productions, both with and without an LGBTQ theme, that played on and Off-Broadway in the 2024-2025 season. The Dorians are presented by the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA).
The Main Stem mounting of Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain” won three awards, the most among any Broadway production. The drama was named Outstanding Broadway Play. Fina Strazza won the award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play for her turn as Beth Powell, and the entire company (Nihar Duvvuri, Gabriel Eber, Molly Griggs, Maggie Kuntz, Hagan Oliveras, Morgan Scott, Sadie Sink, Strazza and Amalia Yoo) were cited as Outstanding Broadway Ensemble.
“Maybe Happy Ending” was named Outstanding Broadway Musical, while “Sunset Boulevard” and “Eureka Day” won Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival and Play Revival, respectively.
The award for Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway production went to “Death Becomes Her,” and Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production went to “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” which proved the most decorated of all Off-Broadway productions, with a total of three. The musical received additional accolades for Outstanding Off-Broadway production and Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production (for André De Shields).
De Shields was also named LGBTQ Theater Trailblazer, for demonstrating “a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity.”
Jonathan Groff, currently starring in the Bobby Darin bio-musical “Just in Time,” and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, author of the family drama “Purpose,” tied as LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season.
“This Pride month, I’m feeling extra proud of the queer journalists of our theater wing, who have uplifted delightfully bold work with this year’s awards,” said GALECA theater wing co-chair Sam Eckmann in a statement. “Revivals like ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ and ‘Sunset Boulevard’ dared to excavate well-worn material to find new meanings. New work like ‘Maybe Happy Ending’ and ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ reached into our souls with a striking sense of poignancy. A hearty congratulations to all of this year’s winners.”
The full list of winners of the 2025 Dorian Theater Awards can be found below, in bold and preceded by asterisks.
Outstanding Broadway Musical
“Death Becomes Her”
“Dead Outlaw”
“Just in Time”
**“Maybe Happy Ending”
“Operation Mincemeat”
“Real Women Have Curves”
Outstanding Broadway Play
“English”
**“John Proctor Is the Villain”
“The Hills of California”
“The Picture of Dorian Gray”
“Purpose”
Outstanding Broadway Musical Revival
“Floyd Collins”
“Gypsy”
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
**“Sunset Boulevard”
Outstanding Broadway Play Revival
**“Eureka Day”
“Our Town”
“Romeo + Juliet”
“Yellow Face”
Outstanding LGBTQ Broadway Production
“Cult of Love”
**“Death Becomes Her”
“Purpose”
“Redwood”
“Smash”
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Musical
Darren Criss, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Andrew Durand, “Dead Outlaw”
Tom Francis, “Sunset Boulevard”
Jonathan Groff, “Just in Time”
Megan Hilty, “Death Becomes Her”
**Audra McDonald, “Gypsy”
Jasmine Amy Rogers, “Boop! The Musical”
Nicole Scherzinger, “Sunset Boulevard”
Helen J Shen, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Jennifer Simard, “Death Becomes Her”
Outstanding Lead Performance in a Broadway Play
Kit Connor, “Romeo + Juliet”
Laura Donnelly, “The Hills of California”
Mia Farrow, “The Roommate”
Daniel Dae Kim, “Yellow Face”
Sydney Lemmon, “Job”
Louis McCartney, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Jon Michael Hill, “Purpose”
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “Purpose”
Sadie Sink, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
**Sarah Snook, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Jeb Brown, “Dead Outlaw”
Gracie Lawrence, “Just in Time”
Justina Machado, “Real Women Have Curves”
**Jak Malone, “Operation Mincemeat”
Jinkx Monsoon, “Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
Lea Salonga, “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends”
Christopher Sieber, “Death Becomes Her”
Taylor Trensch, “Floyd Collins”
David Thaxton, “Sunset Boulevard”
Michael Urie, “Once Upon a Mattress”
Joy Woods, “Gypsy”
Outstanding Featured Performance in a Broadway Play
Alana Arenas, “Purpose”
Tala Ashe, “English”
Molly Bernard, “Cult of Love”
Jessica Hecht, “Eureka Day”
Francis Jue, “Yellow Face”
Marjan Neshat, “English”
Bob Odenkirk, “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Zachary Quinto, “Cult of Love”
**Fina Strazza, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Amalia Yoo, “John Proctor Is the Villain”
Kara Young, “Purpose”
Outstanding Broadway Ensemble
“Cult of Love”
“Death Becomes Her”
**“John Proctor Is the Villain”
“Real Women Have Curves”
“Sunset Boulevard”
The Broadway Showstopper Award (tie)
To a standout production number or scene
“Death Becomes Her” — “For the Gaze,” performed by Megan Hilty
**“Gypsy” — “Rose’s Turn,” performed by Audra McDonald
“John Proctor Is the Villain” — “Green Light,” performed by Sadie Sink and
Amalia Yoo
“Maybe Happy Ending” — “Chasing Fireflies,” performed by Darren Criss and Helen J Shen
**“Sunset Boulevard” — “Sunset Boulevard,” performed by Tom Francis
Outstanding Off-Broadway Production
**“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
“Grangeville”
“Liberation”
“Vanya”
“Wine in the Wilderness”
Outstanding LGBTQ Off-Broadway Production
**“Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
“Drag: The Musical”
“Grangeville”
“The Fires”
“We Had a World”
Outstanding Lead Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Patsy Ferran, “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Susannah Flood, “Liberation”
Brandon Flynn, “Kowalski”
Joanna Gleason, “We Had a World”
Marla Mindelle, “The Big Gay Jamboree”
Paul Mescal, “A Streetcar Named Desire”
**Andrew Scott, “Vanya”
Paul Sparks, “Grangeville”
Alaska Thunderfuck, “Drag: The Musical”
Olivia Washington, “Wine in the Wilderness”
Outstanding Featured Performance in an Off-Broadway Production
Betsy Aidem, “Liberation”
Billy Crudup, “Ghosts”
**André De Shields, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Drew Elhamalawy, “We Live in Cairo”
Sydney James Harcourt, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Jujubee, “Drag: The Musical”
Ahmad Kamal, “Sumo”
Julia Lester, “All Nighter”
Paris Nix, “The Big Gay Jamboree”
Jeanine Serralles, “We Had a World”
Kyra Sedgwick, “All of Me”
“Tempress” Chastity Moore, “Cats: The Jellicle Ball”
Jenny Lee Stern, “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song”
Jason Veasey, “The Fires”
Natalie Walker, “The Big Gay Jamboree”
LGBTQ Theater Artist of the Season (tie)
Michael Arden
Tommy Dorfman
**Jonathan Groff
**Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Jinkx Monsoon
LGBTQ+ Theater Trailblazer
For a lifelong commitment to creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
**André De Shields
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Jinkx Monsoon
Andrew Scott
Paul Tazewell
George C. Wolfe
Productions by number of awards
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball” — 3
“John Proctor Is the Villain” — 3
“Gypsy” — 2
“Sunset Boulevard” — 2
“Death Becomes Her” — 1
“Eureka Day” — 1
“Maybe Happy Ending” — 1
“Operation Mincemeat” — 1
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” — 1
“Vanya” — 1
