Actor Alex Newell made history at this year’s Tony Awards, becoming the first openly nonbinary performer to win an acting prize for their performance as Lulu in Jack O’Brien’s “Shucked.”
“Thank you for seeing me Broadway,” Newell said. “I should not be up here as a queer, non-binary, fat, Black, little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Newell isn’t the only nonbinary actor nominated at the Tonys, with J. Harrison Ghee among the shortlisted performers for lead actor (musical) for their performance as Jerry/Daphne in Casey Nicholaw’s “Some Like It Hot.” Ghee and Newell already walked into the ceremony making history as the first nonbinary-identifying actors recognized.
With music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and a book by Robert Horn, “Shucked” opened on April 4 at the Nederlander Theatre.
Thanks to a deal, the 76th Tony Awards were allowed to go on, albeit unscripted. So viewers get to find out if returning host Ariana DeBose is as talented at improvisation as she is at singing and dancing.
Read the full list of Tony winners, in addition to the fashion standouts in the red carpet gallery.