Here are some real life New Directions! In one of the first awards handed out at the 76th Tony Awards broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, history was made when Alex Newell became the first openly non-binary actor to win a Tony Award, for Best Performance by an Actor. Featured in a Musical category, for her spectacular role as the composite character Lulu in the musical comedy “Shucked.”
Newell burst onto television screens as the feisty Wade “Unique” Adams on Fox’s hit “Glee,” a role they won after coming second in the casting series “The Glee Project.” The Broadway revival of “Once on This Island” (which won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival of 2018) garnered Newell more acclaim, leading to a featured leading role in NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” in which Newell could strut to the likes. of melodies by Andra Day, Kelly Clarkson and Mary J. Blige, among many others.
Newell’s breakout “Shucked” number, “Independently Owned,” recently became the first Broadway number to be performed live on NBC’s “The Voice.”
Newell was the favorite to win this category and, in a fortuitous coincidence, Newell could become one of the two non-binary actors to win Tony Awards on the same night, as “Some Like It Hot” lead actor J. Harrison Ghee is also widely favored to win the award for Lead Actor in a Music category.