Alex Newell in Blonde’s video “All Cried Out.” Newell played a recurring transgender role on “Glee.”
BY MICHELLE DURGIN
LYNN — Alex Newell played Wade “Unique” Adams on “Glee,” and when the show ended in March, Newell did not skip a beat. He is currently preparing for a role in NBC’s “Imaginary Friend.”
Her son’s fast-moving feet are no surprise to Newell’s mother, Brenda, a Lynn resident, who remembers her stage-happy child making his performance debut at the age of 2.
“We were at the Topsfield Fair, and Alex asked me for some juice. As I was searching for a juicebox in my bag, he wandered off and as I looked up he was walking onto a stage. Someone gave him a microphone and he began to sing. He didn’t miss a word, and I was blown away,” she said.
Newell, 23, grew into singing and acting during his childhood, honing his skills as a member of the Zion Baptist Church choir as well as a regular performer in both North Shore Music Theatre and Marblehead Little Theater productions. He attended the KIPP Academy charter school in Lynn and graduated Bishop Fenwick in 2012.
He auditioned for “Glee Project,” a television reality show, scoring runner-up honors but falling short of the grand prize — a role on Fox Network’s “Glee.” Soon after, he was accepted to Berklee College of Music, but Hollywood came calling with an offer to join the cast of “Glee,” playing Adams, a transgender student.
According to broadway.com, “Imaginary Friend” is a comedy about an unmotivated woman, played by actress Megan Neuringer, who discovers a special way of dealing with life. Brenda Newell said her son understands nothing is permanent in show business.
“He’s a wonderful young man and I hope all of his dreams come true. Right now things are wonderful and I couldn’t be happier for him,” she said.
Newell has also been busy in the recording studio, releasing a single, “Nobody to Love,” in 2014. He has been featured on several other artist’s albums, according to broadwayworld.com.
Michele Durgin can be reached at [email protected]
