From toxic goo to a Tonys coup, did New Jersey finally get its Broadway due?

The Tony Awards were a big night for shining a light on the nonbinary community, for highlighting injustices and bigotry, and for ... a turnabout for New Jersey?

You bet.

The 76th annual Tony Awards, held Sunday, were a big night for history, with Alex Newell (Best Featured Actor in a Musical for "Shucked") and J. Harrison Ghee (Best Lead Actor in a Musical for "Some Like It Hot") becoming the first openly nonbinary performers to win Tony awards. Toby Marlow was the first behind-the-scenes nonbinary Tony winner in 2022, sharing the Best Original Score award with Lucy Moss for "Six".

The Tonys were also a big night for highlighting themes of hatred and bigotry, with the Best Revival ("Parade") and Best Play ("Leopoldstadt") each examining facets of antisemitism and Jewish identity.

The awards were a big night for support, both for the LGBTQ community and for the Writers Guild of America strike, which forced the evening to go on unscripted.

“Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts," Newell said in their acceptance speech. "And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to.”

More: Here's the buzz on Tony Awards 2023, including winners

But what about New Jersey?

Garden State blues

New Jersey hasn't always gotten the nicest of mentions on Broadway. Being the suburbs to the big city, backdrop to many beautiful odes, will do that.

Even the biggest blockbuster of the century gets in its digs.

"Everything is legal in New Jersey" anyone?

New Jersey Hamilton's Right Hand Land

The infamous "Hamilton" line has been co-opted by many, often accompanied by a not-so-knowing sneer. I mean c'mon, Midwestern tweens throwing it out any time New Jersey is mentioned can get old. Spare us the shade.

Off-Broadway's onetime show "The Toxic Avenger" is about a toxic nuclear waste dump ... in New Jersey. Some of its lyrics are hysterical, but generally unprintable here.

This isn't to say there aren't nice things to say in shows about Garden State bands, for example, but for every "Jersey Boys" there's a "Gettin' The Band Back Together." They all love New Jersey but don't hesitate to stick the knife in, and our great state rarely gets the chance to fight back.

But we're New Jersey. We can shake it off, especially when a show like "Kimberly Akimbo" comes around.

'Kimberly Akimbo' a love letter to New Jersey

Best Musical award winner "Kimberly Akimbo" is set solidly in the Garden State, with plenty of references peppered throughout, drawing "ooohs" (and plenty of groans). It's a true love letter to New Jersey, and we know those are filled with plenty of ribbing and good-natured jokes — mostly.

David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori took home the Tony Awards' first honor of the evening, winning for Best Original Score.

More: NJ takes center stage in fun, moving 'Kimberly Akimbo' on Broadway

And they started things off with a New Jersey shoutout.

"We first want to thank the great state of New Jersey. Of every town in New Jersey that we mentioned tonight, our favorite town in New Jersey is Union," Lindsay-Abaire said, in reference to the WGA strike. "If you want to believe in the power of storytelling, please support the WGA and everything that they're fighting for."

"Kimberly Akimbo" led the night with five Tony Awards.

The musical, which tells the story of a teenager afflicted with a disorder that makes her age four to five times faster than her peers, is a wry, beautiful, funny and touching piece. Kimberly (played by Victoria Clark, who won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical) struggles with the day-to-day triumphs and pitfalls of being a teenager, while also wrestling with her own mortality and limitations.

And she's not just a teen, but a teen growing up in the '90s in New Jersey, bringing the nostalgia factor way up for many theatergoers.

For just some of the show's references:

Its setting is "somewhere in Bergen County" — we all know that feel, right?

More specifically, we're introduced to the town's skating rink (neon signs, candy counter and all) in the opening number, "Skater Planet."

"It’s Saturday night in Buttcrack Township/on a road without a sign/in a town where there’s not much in/forty minutes east of Hope/forty miles from Metuchen."

Kimberly has slightly nicer words for the town, although granted some serious stuff went down in Lodi involving her Aunt Debra (Bonnie Milligan, who won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical) that probably color her opinions.

"Next to Lodi, this is dreamy./Sure, tonight I’m getting looks/but tomorrow they might see me."

Her soon-to-be-friends prove themselves to be a little questionable, though.

"We’re too chipper./We’re too loud./We don’t blend into a crowd./We’re too weird in every way./I think Springsteen’s just okay./Which is not a thing to think/in New Jersey."

From there, we're treated to references to Jersey power lines, show choir teams from West Orange and Six Flags Great Adventure (and Safari), which is introduced with this line from Kimberly's dad: "You drive through and wild animals s--- on your car. It’s pretty cool."

But the theme park gets its due later, with the show's touching closing number called "Great Adventure."

Oh, and lest we forget, there's a caper that involves this memorable trek:

"Take the Honda/out to Wood-Ridge./Up to Teaneck,/then Route Four./Then what?/Stop in Maywood./Hit Paramus./Do Ho-Ho-kus./That’s the score!"

Love it or hate it (or love it and hate it), New Jersey is a special place, and "Kimberly Akimbo" shows that in sarcastic, sweet, brash and beautiful spades.

Milligan had a message to the audience in her acceptance speech that we hope was shaped by her time in New Jersey.

“I want to tell everybody that doesn’t maybe look like what the world is telling you what you should look like — whether you’re not pretty enough, you’re not fit enough, your identity is not right, who you love isn’t right — that doesn’t matter.”

“‘Cause just guess what?” she said. “It’s right, and you belong.”

And for a little extra Jersey power, Tony night was capped off by a powerful rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Lea Michele ("Glee"), a Tenafly native who currently is starring on Broadway in "Funny Girl."

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Kimberly Akimbo, set in New Jersey, shines at 2023 Tony Awards