History Is Made As Two Non-Binary Performers Win Tony Awards
History was made at the 76th Tony Awards when J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell became the first non-binary actors to win for their performances. Ghee won Best Lead Actor in a Musical for their performance in Some Like It Hot, portraying a Chicago musician disguised as a woman. They declared, "For every trans, nonbinary, gender nonconforming human, who was ever told you couldn’t be seen - This is for you." Newell won Best-Featured Actor in a Musical for Shucked, playing an independent whiskey distiller amidst strict Puritans in the American heartland. "Thank you for seeing me Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, black little baby from Massachusetts" - Alex Newell 26 Tony Awards were awarded throughout the evening for a season of 40 new Broadway productions, among 15 musicals and 24 plays. In support of the writers’ strike, host Ariana Debose opened a blank script backstage to open the ceremony before leaping on stage. Broadway folk displayed their solidarity with the striking writers this year by wearing pins on the red carpet and on stage.
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The intimate, funny-sad musical "Kimberly Akimbo" nudged aside splashier rivals on Sunday to win the musical crown at the Tony Awards on a night when Broadway flexed its creative muscle amid the Hollywood writers' strike and made history with laurels for nonbinary actors J. Harrison Ghee and Alex Newell.
