How Alex Newell, the Non-Binary and Gender Nonconforming Star of Broadway’s ‘Shucked,’ Decided to Compete for Supporting Actor at the Tonys
variety.comRebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Each night at Broadway’s new musical-comedy “Shucked,” audiences are treated to the sweet (and pun-filled) story of Cobb County residents Maizy and Beau, who are forced to postpone their wedding when the corn stalks that fuel their small rural town are ravaged.
But the show’s undeniable breakout is Maizy’s cousin Lulu, a local whiskey distiller who convinces her too-innocent relative to travel to Florida to find a way to save their crops.
Alex Newell, who plays Lulu, brings down the house in the middle of Act I with the show-stopper “Independently Owned,” an anthem to warn to Maizy’s new friend Gordy, a conman pretending to help Cobb County, that she don’t need no man.
On most nights, the rafter-shaking performance concludes with the rare mid-show standing ovation. “I’m so exhausted by the end of the number because I’ve just spent a minute and a half screaming to the back row,” she says.
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