Fans of The Glee Project, this is for you. Alex Newell, the actor known for competing in the first season of The Glee Project and starring as Unique in the third season of Glee, is now the first out nonbinary person to win a Tony Award: Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for Shucked. As a nonbinary actor playing a woman, the fierce corn-whiskey proprietress Lulu, Newell chose to enter the Actor category despite the Tony Awards’ gendered acting categories. “Acting is my craft. I am an actor,†Newell, whose pronouns are he/she/they, told Rolling Stone upon their nomination. “Actor is a genderless word. It truly is. And the last time I checked, we didn’t say plumb-ess for a plumber. We didn’t say I’m going to see my doctor-ress.†They are, notably, the second actor from The Glee Project to win a Tony, after Ali Stroker won in 2019 for Oklahoma. Below, find Newell’s entire speech, which brought a single tear to the entirety of Vulture’s eyes that beautifully dripped down each of our faces:
“I’m not gon’ hold y’all, ’cause it’s hot in here. I have wanted this my entire life. And I thank each and every one of you in this room. Mommy, I love you. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for teaching me what strength is. To my entire building and cast and crew of Shucked, you are my rock. 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 and tell you that you can do anything you put your mind to.â€