Having previously won an acting Oscar (for Dreamgirls in 2007), two performing Grammys (best musical theater album for The Color Purple, in 2017, and best R&B album for Jennifer Hudson, in 2009) and a Daytime Emmy (as executive producer on the VR animated film Baby Yaga), the Tony would give her the final major awards show trophy she needs to join the elite award-winning Hollywood club that includes Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more.
Hudson, in 2016, was memorably snubbed by the Tonys when she didn’t receive a nod for her role as Shug Avery in The Color Purple, despite initially being the big name-draw around the nominated revival.
This year, Hudson is nominated as a producer for A Strange Loop, which topped the nods with 11 total nominations. The musical from Michael R. Jackson follows a Black queer man trying to write a musical as he grapples with desires, identity and instincts.
The production, which won the Pulitzer Prize for best drama in 2020, is up for best musical, best direction, best lead actor, best featured actor, best featured actress, best original score, best orchestrations and best book, best scenic design, best lighting design and best sound design of a musical.
Hudson is among a star-studded group of producers. The full list follows: Barbara Whitman, Pasek, Paul & Stafford, Hunter Arnold, Marcia Goldberg, Alex Levy & James Achilles, Osh Ashruf, A Choir Full Productions, Don Cheadle & Bridgid Coulter Cheadle, Paul Oakley Stovall, Jimmy Wilson, Annapurna Theatre, Robyn Coles, Creative Partners Productions, Robyn Gottesdiener, Kayla Greenspan, Grove Entertainment, Kuhn, Lewis & Scott, Frank Marshall, Maximum Effort Productions Inc., Joey Monda, Richard Mumby, Phenomenal Media & Meena Harris, Marc Platt & Debra Martin Chase, Laurie Tisch, Yonge Street Theatricals, Dodge Hall Productions/JJ Malley, Cody Renard Richard, John Gore Organization, James L. Nederlander, The Shubert Organization, RuPaul Charles, Alan Cumming, Ilana Glazer, Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter, Page 73 Productions, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons.