Alex Newell, a former “Glee” star whose barn-burning number in “Shucked” brings down the house every night, got the Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical on Sunday night. He is the first out nonbinary actor to win a Tony for performance.
Newell identifies as both nonbinary and gender fluid. In “Shucked,” a country-themed, pun-filled musical comedy about a small farming community whose corn crop starts strangely dying, she plays a fiercely independent whiskey distiller.
“To my entire building and cast and crew of ‘Shucked’ — you are my rock,” Newell said, accepting the award. “I love you all. Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, 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.”
Pop Crave Twitter Post:
Alex Newell makes history as the first out non-binary performer to win a Tony:
“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here, as a queer, non-binary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts. To anyone who thinks they can’t do it… you can do anything you put your… pic.twitter.com/ZINfdCFMPJ
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 12, 2023
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Newell agreed to be put in the gendered actor group. Last month, he told The New York Times, “I look at the word ‘actor’ as one, my vocation, and two, genderless. We don’t say plumbess for plumber.
We don’t say janitoress for janitor. We say plumber, we say janitor. That’s how I look at the word, and that’s how I chose my category.” At least two performers who later came out as nonbinary have won Tony Awards for best featured actress in a show.
Sara Ramirez won in 2005 for “Spamalot,” and Karen Olivo (also known as K O) won in 2009 for a revival of “West Side Story.” Also, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss won the Tony Award for best score for “Six” last year, and Marlow is nonbinary.
Newell, who is 30 years old, is best known for playing Unique Adams, a transgender teen, on “Glee.” Before that, he played a lead role in a Broadway version of “Once on This Island.” A spokesman for “Shucked” said that Newell uses all names.
One of Newell’s co-stars, Kevin Cahoon, as well as Justin Cooley (“Kimberly Akimbo”), Kevin Del Aguila (“Some Like It Hot”), and Jordan Donica (“Camelot”) were also up for the featured character in a musical award.
