Joaquina Kalukango wins Tony Award for commanding performance in ‘Paradise Square’

Joaquina Kalukango won the Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical on Sunday, earning the honor for her commanding and emotional portrayal of a determined bar owner in “Paradise Square,” set in Civil War-era lower Manhattan.

The musical features the latest buzzed-about performance from Kalukango, a rising Broadway star who was also nominated at the 2021 Tony Awards for her role in “Slave Play,” but did not win.

“I’ve got to give thanks and praise to God,” Kalukango, 33, said in her acceptance speech on Sunday. “Thank you, God, for giving me the best parents in the world. My parents sacrificed everything for me to live my dreams.”

“Paradise Square,” a tale of fleeting harmony between African-American and Irish New Yorkers amid the horrifying racism of 19th-century America, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards.

But Kalukango earned the production’s only trophy.

Kalukango was long viewed as a favorite to land a Tony for her work; she has said she prepared for her stirring turn in the role by reading books about the pre-Civil War history of African-Americans in New York.