Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee Become the First Nonbinary Actors to Win Tony Awards

The “Shucked” and “Some Like it Hot” actors created history within an hour each other on the Main Stem’s big night

Nonbinary Tony Awards winners Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee
Nonbinary Tony Awards winners Alex Newell and J. Harrison GheeNonbinary Broadway stars Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee (Getty Images)

Here’s to some real-life New Directions! In one of the earliest awards handed out in the 76th Tony Awards telecast on CBS and Paramount+, history was made as Alex Newell became the first-ever openly non-binary actor to win a Tony award, in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical category, for their showstopping role as cornpone character Lulu in the musical comedy “Shucked.”

Then, in the show’s final hour, that record was upheld by nonbinary actor J. Harrison Ghee, who won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in the Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman tuner “Some Like it Hot”, based on Billy Wilder’s classic 1950s comedy. Ghee, late of musicals such as “Kinky Boots” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”, was a favorite for their bold reimagining of the Jerry/Daphne role made famous by Jack Lemmon in the original film.

Newell burst onto TV screens as the vivacious Wade “Unique” Adams in the Fox smash “Glee,” a role they won after becoming a runner-up on the casting series “The Glee Project.” The Broadway revival of “Once on This Island” (which won the 2018 Best Musical Revival Tony) won Newell more acclaim, which led to a major featured role on NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” in which Newell could strut their stuff to the likes of tunes by Andra Day, Kelly Clarkson and Mary J. Blige among many.

Newell’s big “Shucked” number “Independently Owned” recently became the first Broadway number ever to be performed live on NBC’s “The Voice.”

Both wins were indicative of a strong LGBTQ+ wavelength which included emotional speeches by openly gay winners such as “Parade” director (and Tony winner) Michael Arden, who boldly used the F-word in his speech.

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