Margate Native Gives Powerful Performance on Tony Awards

An actress who grew up in Margate gave a powerful performance of a song she sings in the hit Broadway musical revival of "Parade", Sunday night at the 2023 Tony Awards in New York City.

Micaela Diamond sang "This Is Not Over Yet" with her "Parade" co-star Ben Platt, best known for his title role in "Dear Evan Hansen".

“Parade,” telling the story of a Jewish man’s wrongful conviction and lynching in Georgia a century ago, won the Tony Award for best musical revival on Sunday.

Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond were nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress and Actress in a Musical Revival. However, J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot) was victorious in the Lead Actor category; Victoria Clark (Kimberly Akimbo) took home the win in Leading Actress.

Even though the "Parade" actors didn't win their individual awards, their live performance Sunday night was a winner, described by critic Just Jared as, "a masterclass..hit all the right notes."

Micaela Diamond, 23, is widely thought of as a rising Broadway star.

According to a 2018 article in South Jersey Magazine, Micaela was just 4 years old when she got the bug for musical theater and she spent much of her early life performing in community theater productions in Margate, including at her mother’s little art studio on Ventnor Avenue.

By seventh grade, she and her mom moved to New York City so Micaela could pursue a career in the theater.

She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and went on to appear in the live network rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar that aired on NBC in 2018. She was also the understudy for Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene.

After high school, she played the youngest version of Cher in The Cher Show, landing the role three days before she had planned to enter Carnegie Mellon University for her freshman year, according to Wikipedia.

Reviews for "Parade" have been outstanding, with Deadline saying Platt and Diamond are "two of the best singers on Broadway", and Time Out calling the pair "splendid".

"Parade" is on stage at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City.

Watch the Tony Awards performance of "This Is Not Over Yet". Micaela Diamond enters the scene at 2:29 in the video.