Jennifer Hudson Makes EGOT With Best Musical Tony Win for 'A Strange Loop'
Jennifer Hudson : EGOT ranks.
Last night's Tony Awards officially solidified Jennifer Hudson's EGOT status. The star worked as a producer on A Strange Loop - so when the show took home the coveted Best Musical title, Hudson crossed the T on an accolade that performers strive towards their entire careers.
She had previously won the Oscar for her work in the film adaptation of Dreamgirls. She has won Grammy Awards for both her R&B albums and for musical theatre albums she has appeared on, and she took home an Emmy for her work on Baba Yaga.
Last night, Hudson became the second black woman to hold the highly-desired EGOT title, with Whoopi Goldberg being the first.
She was not alone in making strides towards EGOT status. RuPaul, having also been a producer on the compelling new musical, has now collected both an E and a T on the path to the title. (With only the central two letters left, we can only encourage RuPaul by chanting: GO! (get it?))
A Strange Loop won the award for both Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. Michael R. Jackson, the brilliant mind behind the piece shared important and heartfelt words in his acceptance speech. The show, which (in a semi-autobiographical way) musically tells the story of a playwright working his days away as an usher for The Lion King, puts a fresh and heartfelt spin on the writers-writing-about-being-a-writer-struggling-to-write trope.
He shared in his speech:
"So many artists operate from a place of fear and risk aversion...Even when I felt my most alone. I was always fearless about art. So what I'm hoping is that people seeing the show - young artists and writers and actors, everybody who's in musical theater - maybe they'll feel a little less afraid to be weird and to step out and to try something different."
Congratulations to all on this well-deserved win!
