The 76th Tony Awards ceremony was held yesterday, honoring the most remarkable and dazzling Broadway performances of the past year. Alongside recognizing the theater world’s biggest stars, yesterday’s ceremony was marked by Alex Newell‘s historical win when they secured the award for best-featured actor in a musical for their outstanding performance in Shucked. This remarkable achievement not only became Newell’s first Tony win but also broke barriers as the first non-binary actor to receive this prestigious accolade.
During their historical moment on the red carpet, keen-eyed fans noticed a seemingly indifferent encounter between Newell and former cast member Lea Michele, that left some non-Gleeks curious about their connection. If you’re anything like me, you might recall Newell’s breakthrough role as Unique Adams on Glee, where they starred alongside lead actress Michele. While this particular interaction may not have held any ill-intent and could be attributed to the excitement of the moment, Newell and Michele share a history together. With that in mind, let’s explore the journey of this dynamic acting duo.
How does Alex Newell know Lea Michele?
Newell and Michele crossed paths back in 2011, when Newell emerged as the runner-up winner of The Glee Project. Admittedly, as a Glee fan myself, I almost forgot about this reality TV series, but in the end, it aimed to uncover fresh talents for the upcoming seasons of Glee. Despite winning only two episodes on the show, along with Ali Stroker, Newell quickly captured the hearts of fans and secured a regular role starting from the third season onwards.
Portraying the show’s first openly transgender character, Newell made waves on television as one of the pioneers in openly exploring gender identity during daytime TV back in 2011. Glee, for all its hits and misses, was always at the forefront of representing social issues, and it introduced some truly powerful characters to the small screen, including the unforgettable Unique played by Newell.
While Newell engrossed the cast in 2011, during the show’s third season, they fully integrated into the show in season four. Unique was a new member of the New Directions glee club, which still had some familiar faces in its midst. On the other side of the country, Rachel Berry (played by Michele) was in New York, starting her journey as an up-and-coming Broadway star attending college. Albeit Unique and Rachel met on some occasions, the two rarely interacted on screen.
Is Alex Newell feuding with Lea Michele?
For almost three years, Michele and Newell co-starred on Glee, even though their moments together aren’t as prominent, since their characters were in strikingly different places in the storyline after the fourth season. Nonetheless, the two shared a set for years, and as any Glee fan may suspect, a lot went down on that set. While they are not necessarily feuding, Michele has an reportedly strained relationship with her former cast members, Newell included.
During the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, Glee actress Samantha Wire publicly called out Michele after the lead Glee actress showed her support for the movement, despite her actions saying otherwise. In the now-deleted tweet (per Entertainment Weekly), Newell responded with a gif that read “Get her, Jade.” Although they never directly commented on the subject themselves, Newell and other Glee actors left their subtle thoughts under Wire’s tweet.
“LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON [sic] GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU [sic] HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD ‘S— IN MY WIG! AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS [sic] THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD…”
While the Glee drama debacle has been feeding fans for years, their Tony Awards ceremony encounter (or lack thereof) may just have been a product of the heat of the moment. As a matter of fact, Michele posted a picture not long after the award ceremony with the duo celebrating their own achievements, namely, Newell’s win, and Michele’s performance as Fanny Brice. Newell’s award also marks the fourth Glee member to win the accolade after being on Glee, preceded by Ali Stroker and Jenna Ushkowitz, making this moment all the more emotion-inducing.
Shucked, the musical that sees Newell in its star-studded cast, is still with its open doors on Broadway, whereas Michele’s Funny Girl recently closed its stage curtains a year after its revival. After this interaction, we can only hope to see a Glee crossover on the Broadway stage at some point in time.