Sunday night at the 2023 Tony Awards was an amazing evening for BIPOC and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee made history by becoming the first two openly non-binary performers to receive statuettes.
Newell took home the Tony for best performance in a featured role in a musical for their role as Lulu in Shucked. Upon receiving their award, Newell addressed the crowd, saying, “I have wanted this my entire life… I should not be up here as a queer non-binary fat little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone who thinks they can’t do it. You can do anything you put your mind to.”
According to Playbill, Ghee also grabbed a Tony for later in the evening for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical for their role as Jerry/Daphne in the hit revival of Some Like It Hot.
They gave a stirring acceptance speech, and thanked the people that helped them in their life and career. “My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me. To use them to be effective in the world, to help somebody else’s journey,” Ghee said during their acceptance speech.
“So thank you for teaching me how to live, how to love, how to give,” they continued. “For every trans, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn’t be, you couldn’t be seen, this is for you.”
In addition to these monumental wins. Topdog/Underdog won a Tony for Best Revival – Play, Lisa Dawn Cave was awarded with the Excellence in Theater accolade, Bryan Carter received a statuette for the orchestration in Some Like It Hot.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards were hosted by Ariana DeBose and were held at the United Palace theater in the Washington Heights section of New York City.
For the full list of winners, head to the official website of the Tony Awards.