Actors’ Equity Association has awarded the Tony-winning musical Hadestown the 13th annual ACCA Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. The show’s nine-member chorus are recognized for their contributions to the ensemble show that earned eight 2019 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
The award is the only industry accolade of its kind to honor the talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical. Members of the ACCA, all of whom have worked on a chorus contract and have seen all of the ACCA-nominated musicals during the season, cast their vote for the winning chorus.
The Hadestown chorus features Malcolm Armwood, Afra Hines, Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Kimberly Marable, T. Oliver Reid, Jessie Shelton, Ahmad Simmons, and Khaila Wilcoxon.
The honor was presented June 18 during Equity’s National Council meeting in New York. Each original chorus member received a plaque.
“In Hadestown, the audience looks to the Chorus to guide them,” said Jennifer Cody, 2nd Vice President and ACCA Chair in a statement. “They are the constant emotion of the piece. They have the ability to, at one moment, work as a unit, and then in the next moment become five completely different individuals. We follow them from the highs of Persephone's party to the depths of...well, Hell. They are a stunning group of Actors who happen to also sing and dance.”
Past recipients of the ACCA award are the original chorus members of Legally Blonde (2007), In the Heights (2008), West Side Story (2009), Fela! (2010), The Scottsboro Boys (2011), Newsies (2012), Pippin (2013), Beautiful–The Carole King Musical (2014), An American in Paris (2015), Shuffle Along, Or The Making of The Musical Sensation of 1921 And All That Followed (2016), Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (2017), and Once On This Island (2018).
André De Shields in the original Broadway cast of Hadestown
