The Actors’ Equity Association’s Advisory Committee on Chorus Affairs (ACCA) has announced the shows nominated for its annual award. The ACCA Award is the only of its kind, honoring the contributions of original chorus members in Broadway shows.
This year six Broadway productions were nominated: “& Juliet,” “KPOP,” “New York, New York,” “Shucked,” “Some Like It Hot” and “Sweeney Todd.” A winner will be announced in July.
To determine the nominated choruses the ACCA took into consideration the requirements set by each production’s director, choreographer and musical director, the skills utilized to carry out those requirements and the chorus’s impact on the overall production.
Members of the ACCA, all of whom are chorus performers, serve as nominators. Voters will include ACCA members, Equity chorus councilors and past recipients of Equity’s Legacy Robe.
The last individual production to receive the honor was “Hadestown” in 2019. Two special ACCA Awards were given in 2022: one to every Broadway chorus working on the 2019-2020 season and one to each chorus of the 2021-2022 season that ushered in the return of Broadway.
“The 2022–2023 season is the first full year back for Broadway after the pandemic shutdown,” Al Bundonis, second vice president of Equity and ACCA chair, said in a statement. “It is important to highlight the impact that chorus musicals have on the theater industry. The goal of this award is to look beyond the caliber of a show’s choreography or music and focus instead on the actual contribution the chorus makes to the overall production. The chorus actors nominated this year each demonstrate in a unique way the value the chorus brings to the stage.”
