With the huge hit the theatre industry took during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) decided that, rather than honoring a single outstanding chorus in a new Broadway show as it usually does, this year they would present a special ACCA Award honoring the resilience of everyone in the Broadway choruses who faced the unique challenges of navigating the pandemic, both in the new and still-running shows of the shuttered 2019-20 Broadway season, as well as in the shows that brought Broadway back in the 2021-22 season.
“16 chorus musicals shuttered overnight in March of 2020. The members of those choruses showed strength in adversity – the ability to adapt and accept change,” said Al Bundonis, 2nd vice president of Actors’ Equity Association and chair of the ACCA. “The ability to handle change is something that is built into the DNA of every member of a chorus. But those performing on Broadway during the pandemic brought change to a new level. The chorus has become the MVP of this industry. And while the ACCA Award is specific to Broadway, these extraordinary tasks are being performed across the country by chorus members keeping the curtain up, allowing a show to go on.”
In addition to Bundonis, the ceremony featured remarks by Equity Executive Director Al Vincent, Jr. and director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who was himself once a chorus performer.
“As the industry started to reopen as things came to life in 2021 and 2022, it was the hard work of the chorus – the tenacity, the dedication – that really brought Broadway back,” said Al Vincent, Jr.
“I started in the chorus, and the funny thing is, I still feel like I’m in the chorus,” said Jerry Mitchell. “None of my shows could have made it through the pandemic without the ensemble performers. COVID changed all of us, but the truth is the ensemble, the chorus – we had it. There’s something about an ensemble person that is in your DNA that makes you different. You have the ability to make it happen. When I need help, when I need to make it better, when I need to lift a production number, I look at around at the ensemble members.”
The shows honored were:
2019-20 Season Chorus Musicals
- Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
- Aladdin
- Beetlejuice
- The Book of Mormon
- Chicago
- Frozen
- Girl From the North Country*
- Hadestown
- Hamilton
- Jagged Little Pill*
- The Lion King
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical*
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Tina: The Tina Turner Musical*
- West Side Story*
- Wicked
2021-22 Chorus Musicals that Brought Broadway Back
- Ain't Too Proud- The Life and Times of the Temptations
- Aladdin
- Beetlejuice (*)
- The Book of Mormon
- Chicago
- Diana The Musical*
- Funny Girl*
- Girl From the North Country
- Hadestown
- Hamilton
- Jagged Little Pill
- The Lion King
- MJ The Musical*
- Moulin Rouge! The Musical
- Mrs. Doubtfire*
- The Music Man*
- Paradise Square*
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
- Waitress (*)
- Wicked
Note: In the list above, shows making their premiere are marked with an asterisk, and shows that had closed but then re-opened a new company are marked with an asterisk in parentheses.
Presented by Equity’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA), the ACCA Award is the only industry accolade of its kind to honor the distinctive talents and contributions made by the original chorus members of a Broadway musical. It has not been presented since the nine original members of the Hadestown chorus received the award in 2019.
Previous 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).
