ALEX NEWELL

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR

- Laura Zornosa

ABOUT A YEAR AGO, ALEX NEWELL HAD JUST RETURNED to New York City after the pre-Broadway tryout of the musical Shucked in Salt Lake City. A Utah alt-weekly was already calling Newell's number "Independently Owned," sung from the perspective of the self-reliant whiskey distiller Lulu, a "knockout show-stopper." Broadway agreed: in June, Newell won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, becoming one of the first two out nonbinary people to win in an acting category, alongside Some Like It Hot's J. Harrison Ghee.