Maleah Joy Moon won a Tony Award for best actress in a musical on Sunday night for her Broadway debut in “Hell's Kitchen,” a fictional remix of Alicia Keys' childhood.
Moon recently spoke to The New York Times about her Tony nomination for her first professional role as a 17-year-old girl who chafes under her mother's watchful eye but discovers her talent for piano.
“It's surreal and it's ridiculous and it's crazy and it's insane and all that,” says Moon, 21. “But the kid inside me who wanted to be Nala on Broadway is like, this is right, this is God's will, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for fate.”
Other nominees for best actress were Eden Espinosa (Lempicka), Mary Ann Plunkett (The Notebook), Kelli O'Hara (Days of Wine and Roses) and Gayle Rankin (Cabaret).
Moon's first stage role was as Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard of Oz, the same role that Keys first played as a child, and Moon went on to star in school productions of Annie, Shrek, Sister Act, Rent, Into the Woods, Peter and the Starcatcher, and West Side Story.
Before landing the role on “Hell's Kitchen,” Moon auditioned on Broadway for roles in “The Lion King” and as young Nala in the musical “Six.” After her Tony win was announced on Sunday, Moon remained in her seat for a few seconds, stunned and sobbing.
In her acceptance speech, Moon thanked her parents, Keys and the Public Theater's creative team: “You all saw something in me years ago and have been nurturing it ever since,” Moon said.
