Alex Newell knows how to command the spotlight.
With a megawatt smile and a vibrantly expressive voice, Newell has carved out a niche for themselves as a no-nonsense vessel of exhilaration. First bursting onto the scene as a standout member of the television show Glee, Newell has split their time between the screen and the stage, most recently starring on screen in the television musical comedy Zoey鈥檚 Extraordinary Playlist. Now, Newell is back on the boards, playing strong-tempered whisky distiller Lulu in the new musical comedy Shucked.
鈥淟ulu knows everything, she has a dirty dirty mind, and is creative in every sense of the word,鈥� Newell tells 半岛体育 as they lean forward, eager to share. 鈥淪he is this independent person that鈥檚 had to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and teach themselves a lot of things, express themselves in different ways. It鈥檚 like me, but heightened.鈥�
At its core, Shucked is a story about breaking barriers, and reshaping traditions to support a new generation. Set in a small rural community in the middle of the country, the town is almost completely isolated from the outside world. When the area's corn crop is suddenly blighted, innocent Maizy (played by Caroline Innerbichler) takes the advice of her worldly cousin, Lulu, and ventures into the outside world in search of a miracle鈥攐r perhaps, a miracle worker?
Newell, a gender-nonconforming person who uses all pronouns (she/he/they), made their Broadway debut in 2017 as Asaka in the revival of Once On This Island. That debut was both triumphant and bittersweet: In spite of rave reviews for their performance, they were overlooked come Tony Awards season, with numerous nominators telling Newell that they didn鈥檛 know if they should have voted them into the Actor or Actress categories.
鈥淢y entire first time on Broadway was, 鈥榊ou were snubbed鈥�,鈥� Newell remembers. 鈥淚 went everywhere, and that's what I was. Not, 鈥楬ello Alex how are you.鈥� It was always, 鈥極h how awful.鈥� The rationality that was given to me was, 鈥榃ell we didn't know what category to put you in. You鈥檙e just so different.鈥� Was that supposed to make me feel better or worse?鈥�
A lot has changed in the last five years: many award ceremonies have done away with gendered categories altogether, or at least asked gender-nonconforming or non-binary performers to select the category they would prefer to be considered for. When asked for a comment about Newell鈥檚 criticisms, the Tony Awards said to 半岛体育, 鈥淲e recognize that the current acting categories are not fully inclusive, and we are currently in discussion about how to best adjust them to address this. Unfortunately, we are still in process on this and our rules do not allow us to make changes once a season has begun. We are working thoughtfully to ensure that no member of our community feel excluded (on the basis of gender identity) in future seasons.鈥�
To Newell, the fact these such conversations are happening is a step in the right direction. 鈥淎ward shows should work for the season that's at hand. If Aaron Tveit can be nominated by 丑颈尘蝉别濒蹿...鈥� Newell smiles, waving off the memory of the unorthodox 2020 Tony Awards. 鈥淚t really is time. We are so wrapped up in tradition that we鈥檙e shutting out good people.鈥�
Newell has resisted categorization throughout their career, playing characters across the gender identity spectrum, including cis men, cis women, and everything in between. In Shucked, Newell plays cis woman Lulu with aplomb, navigating the tightly constructed Robert Horn zingers (one cut line: 鈥淗ell, men lie all the time. One tried to convince me you could suck out a kidney stone!鈥�) in between moments of real emotional heart.
鈥淲hen we first meet Lulu, she's at this, 鈥業 don't need anybody else鈥� place, romantically. And then wham!鈥� Newell laughs. 鈥淭he most independent people are the people that want even more from life. They shove their feelings down, and they don't realize that asking for help does not make them seem weak. Lulu has to learn that.鈥�
Lulu鈥檚 run-in with unexpected love mirrors the love story of Newell鈥檚 parents, they note: 鈥滿y mother and my father met on a plane ride to Alabama. My mother slapped him in the face with her mink tailcoat and fell asleep on him. She drooled all over him, and he chased her down in the airport and asked for her phone number. I was born a year later.鈥� Newell鈥檚 father, a deacon, died when they were six years old, but Newell still has clear memories of how he brought music into their life.
鈥淚 used to know the hymnal front to back, but my father's favorite song was, 鈥業f God Is Real鈥�,鈥� Newell remembers. 鈥淲hen I was younger, I used to hate singing because every time I would sing, people would cry. I thought that something was wrong with me!鈥� Newell swallows a wave of sentimentality with a trademark smile. 鈥淚 had to realize what it was that was making them cry. I had to embrace that emotion, trust that crying wasn鈥檛 a bad thing.鈥�
The out-of-town tryout in Utah of Shucked drew comparisons to N. Richard Nash鈥檚 The Rainmaker, with the lines between love, faith, and hope blurring in a joyous portrait of a community on the brink of change. Newell trusts that through the show's comedy, they can open audiences' hearts to accepting change in a world that鈥檚 always evolving with, especially these days, breakneck speed. 鈥淭radition is always there,鈥� Newell explains 鈥渂ut you鈥檒l choke if you get too wrapped up in it. It's time to really turn to the mirror and look at ourselves.鈥�
It鈥檚 a topic they鈥檙e personally passionate about, speaking at length: 鈥淓veryone is stubborn, and set in their own ways, and it's hard to try to have a conversation about it when you could just show someone,鈥� they say, fervently. 鈥淪how them what it is to have this joy and to have this need and want to grow further and faster than where you are right now. To show you that you don't have to be stagnant...You learn different ways of doing things, how to solve new problems, and all of that good stuff if you just look beyond your horizon. Everything light touches is yours, even in the shadows.鈥�
