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[0:00] Jeff Malone: Welcome to Half Hour with Jeff and Richie. I'm Jeff.

[0:02] Richie Grasso: And I'm Richie. And today on our show, we are welcoming a very special guest, Hannah Cruz. Hannah, welcome to the show.

[0:08] Hannah Cruz: Hi, thank you for having me.

[0:11] Hannah Cruz: Hannah Cruz is an award-winning Broadway performer who's made her debut last spring in the Tony-winning musical, Suffs, starring as Inez Milholland, the iconic suffragist and activist. Her performance earned rave reviews and the Clarence Derwent Award. She recently wrapped production on Richard Linklater's upcoming Netflix film Merrily We Roll Along, where she stars alongside Paul Mezcal, Ben Platt, and Beanie Feldstein. You might also know Hannah from The Connector off-Broadway or from her breakout turn as Eliza in the first national tour of Hamilton. Hannah is currently starring in the revival of Chess on Broadway, where she stars as Svetlana alongside Lea Michele, Aaron Devait, and Nicholas Christopher. We've seen just about all those shows, and we're very excited to have you here. It's wonderful, so thanks for being here.

[0:53] Hannah Cruz: Thank you for having me. It's so nice to be reminded of your resume.

[0:57] Jeff Malone: I rolled through that. Amazing.

[1:02] Jeff Malone: All right, so Hannah, to start things off, can you tell us a little bit more about how you got started in the theater industry and what were some of your earliest experiences that drew you to the stage?

[1:12] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I grew up in a town that was very connected to theater, very connected to musicals and plays alike, and so I had a ton of opportunities growing up to act and to sing and to understand and learn that this is something that I really like to do and I had somewhat of an affinity for. So when it came time to choose a college or choose what I wanted to do, there was always only one thing I wanted to do, and that was to act and to sing. And I did apply to colleges. I applied to like 10. I auditioned at 10 musical theater schools. I ended up getting into two. I got into Emerson for acting and Ithaca for MT. And at the time, it was like when all the Umesh people were putting up their videos online.

I don't think submissions only was happening yet, but I remember Marla Mandel was putting up videos of her singing and Andrew Keenan-Bolger and all these people, and I wanted to be them so badly. So I would put up videos of my high school production, and one of them ended up going viral for the time, which is like 40K back then. It's easy to think of now. And I got an audition for the Legally Blonde non-union tour, the second national I think it was, and I ended up skipping school and going to that, and I booked it. And so I convinced my parents to let me do that instead of go to college. I moved to New York right after that tour, and then I've been here ever since.

[2:42] Jeff Malone: Wow. How interesting is that journey for you? Wow. Amazing. And we always talk about Legally Blonde. I'm like, when's that Broadway revival coming to that show? I'm waiting. I'm waiting.

[2:50] Richie Grasso: It's a perfect show. More people can do it. It's a great show.

[2:55] Hannah Cruz: It's such a great show. We've had Jerry Mitchell here on the pod before. We've talked about that experience. I always say, Jerry, what's going on with Legally Blonde?

[3:04] Jeff Malone: It's amazing. It's amazing. So let's go dive into a little bit of Chess. Chess is on Broadway right now. We've been waiting a long time for a revival of this. We saw this a few weeks ago, enjoyed this so, so much. What's something that maybe surprised you about stepping into Chess, either with the music, the staging, or the emotional journey of the story? What's something that's been your journey with Chess so far?

[3:25] Hannah Cruz: It's interesting because after Hamilton, I think, I was like, I only really want to do new stuff. Being plugged into an existing work is difficult for me because I feel like I have much less agency. From then on, I was only doing new things. When Chess came around, I love revivals. I've seen them all the time growing up. They were always the shows I was most interested in, weirdly. At first, I thought we're just going to do Chess as it stands, even though I didn't realize at the time there were so many different versions of it and no one ever really does it the same way. Once we got in the rehearsals for it, what surprised me is it was exactly like making a new musical. I remember talking to, I think it was Daniel Beeman in our ensemble.

He was like, we're getting new pages every day. Is this normal? I was like, yes, this is what I love. This is building a new musical. He's only really done revivals, I think. It was a brand new experience for a lot of people. We got rewrites every day. Danny Strong, the book writer, was very collaborative in letting us figure out how the scenes work and what the lines felt like to us. I felt like we all had a lot of input, which was great. My song changed a couple or we had two options for it. It was really cool to have agency in picking what we thought and I thought would be best for Svetlana in that moment. It was really like building a brand new musical, which I was surprised by. I didn't expect that.

[5:02] Richie Grasso: That's interesting to hear because the biggest thing around Chess is that we always hear, oh, it's like what version of Chess did you see? There has such a cult following around that now. Svetlana is such an interesting character. How did you feel like you personally added your own touch to Svetlana?

[5:18] Hannah Cruz: I remember in the audition, we were doing the scene with Nick or something, but I was reading with a reader. They gave me a direction to do it as if I was lying to him instead. It totally flipped the scene on its head. I think that was where it was born. I do different versions of my show every night. I change whether or not I love Anatolia or hate Anatolia. I have a dimmer switch on that and I bump it up or bump it down. I think that was the impetus and the birth of that was seeing how both of these versions of her work in the existing text. Intention can change even though the text isn't changing. It's been really fun to play with. I know as a human woman, my mood changes by the hour. I can only imagine that someone who's been through as much as Svetlana would have varying peaks and valleys of emotionality throughout. It's really fun in 20 minutes of stage time to try and view it with that.

[6:34] Richie Grasso: I was going to bring that up because people ask, and I'll be curious to ask this too, what are you doing during act one to wait to go on for act two because you have this powerhouse entrance. It's like a moving train nonstop for act two. I always wonder, are you just waiting, building up that? What is your pre-show before you go on because you have a lot more time than the average person in the show?

[6:57] Hannah Cruz: Two show days can feel very long to me because I am at the theater all day, but on a one show day, I finally figured it out. When we were first in the run, I was like, this is terrifying actually. To hear the show going on and to try and jump on a bullet train is very scary. It was only really in act one and it was much easier to start the journey with the audience, but to be introduced to the audience who already have opinions and they're already on people's sides, it's scary. I get to the theater as the overture is starting and I say hi to people as I go upstairs. Then I make my tea, I slowly get into my robe and I do my makeup all act one. I'm usually not listening to the show. I'm usually listening to some lo-fi music or a podcast or something.

Then I get my wig on during Nobody's Side and that's when I start to try and lock in. I really use the intermission. I play Russian opera. I use my Svetlana scent, Red Moscow, which just helps me get into her headspace. I start talking in the dialect. I sing the first few lines of the song. Then I start mental imaging in my head of where I'm at that day. Usually, I picture our children and I picture who came and got her in their apartment in Russia and put them on a plane and took them to bed. I start getting there. It's a lot of internal alone time, which I really do need. I am given the privilege of having an abundance of free time, which is daunting some days. Some days I just want to get it over with and I can't, but most days it's really nice to sit in it and slowly unpeel Hannah off and come out as Svet. It's really cool to hear that process on how you get into that character.

[8:54] Jeff Malone: Also now because Chess has had so many incarnations, what choices did this production make that feel new or especially relevant right now for you?

[9:05] Hannah Cruz: Yeah. Danny had the privilege of hindsight. When the boys were writing this back in the 80s, the Cold War was happening. All the Abel Archer stuff, even the conversations between the CIA and the KGB, we could have never included something like that back then. We get to draw from history and make a more complete picture of what that time was like in a way that was just impossible for them in the 80s. I think it just adds more layers of political intrigue and context for what's going on.

[9:50] Richie Grasso: Totally, totally. It has been very impactful this season, having that show on. It's been wonderful. I know it got extended, I believe, so you're going even longer now, which is great. Good stuff. Congrats on that. Going over to Suffs a little bit now. Suffs was a very movement-based and ensemble-driven show. How did that collaborative energy differ from performing in something so stylized like Chess? What was the compare and contrast on those two shows?

[10:12] Hannah Cruz: Yeah. It's very interesting. It was very much an ensemble piece and I also had the luxury of doing it off-Broadway as well and playing a different character. I've seen that show from different perspectives, which is really interesting, but it was very much like the core. We call ourselves the Scoobies, the core five of us, the whole Great American Bitch crew. We were all very much together, but then I do, spoiler alert, die. Then I was alone in my tower for quite a long time. In that way, it can be a little similar in the isolation, but Chess, I find, and maybe it's just with musicals in this time period, I'm not downplaying it by saying it's melodramatic. The stakes just couldn't be higher.

Not that the stakes in Suffs weren't high, but there's something about singing this score that lends itself to just complete, like, not soap opera, but I never have to worry about that I'm doing too much in Chess, ever. That's a very nice freedom to have. I can run the gamut of deep emotionality and not be like, oh, did I overdo it? Whereas in Suffs, at least the scenes felt a little more naturalistic and maybe it was just being in that space. I think Inez keeps her emotions closer to the chest, so I think there was a difference there.

[11:51] Richie Grasso: That's very cool. You were also in The Connector, so you worked with Jason Robert Brown, whose music pushes storytelling in such nuanced ways. What did you learn in that show that you now carry on into your other projects?

[12:00] Hannah Cruz: Oh, man. I loved doing that show. First of all, one act. What a dream. Oh, my gosh. It wasn't a two-hander at all, but I do feel like me and Ben had such a strong bond doing that show, and it felt like we were partners in doing that show. Again, in Suffs and in Chess, I don't really feel like I have a partner. I feel like it's me alone. To have someone to go through that process with and go through that show with every night felt very safe and exciting, because I also really like Ben as an actor, and he always wants to play. Same with Scott Bakula, honestly. Super playful and fun to explore with. That whole cast was really malleable and cool and artistic. Building that.

[13:27] Hannah Cruz: I can't lie that I listened to the Western Walls song multiple times.

[13:31] Jeff Malone: Oh my god.

[13:31] Hannah Cruz: That's incredible. The vocal, the orchestration, the power on that. I mean the whole score, but that song in particular.

[13:36] Jeff Malone: No, I watched, me and Scott would watch it every night backstage and just like weep. It's so, it is so effective.

[13:44] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[13:45] Jeff Malone: Oh my god. And then to see Jason playing it up in the orchestra up there and then moments, even all the paper, spoiler alert, all the paper falling at the end. I was like, oh man, who's got to put that up every night?

[14:00] Hannah Cruz: Because it's an amazing moment. Do you know anything about where that's going next?

[14:06] Jeff Malone: I was hoping it was going somewhere next.

[14:09] Hannah Cruz: I do too. I mean, Jason teased something a couple of weeks ago where he was like, more new soon. And I was like, what? But maybe I'll just text him and ask. But I feel like he's so busy. Everyone's doing the last five years now. So he's just wrapping around to all the last five years.

[14:25] Jeff Malone: Right, right. But no, that was an amazing show. We loved that and it was very, very impressive. Yes.

[14:32] Hannah Cruz: I want to dive over to Merrily We Roll Along. So for those who don't know, I know we had a Broadway revival of this recently. There is a film version Richard Linklater is doing over many, many years the show takes place. And so the film is being filmed over many, many years as well. And you're going to be gussy in that, which is very exciting and wonderful. Talk to us a little bit about this process, whatever you're able to say, because I know that, I believe I read recently, you just wrapped filming on this. Is this true?

[15:00] Hannah Cruz: No. So, well, we wrapped a section.

[15:03] Jeff Malone: Oh, I see.

[15:04] Hannah Cruz: There are 10 sections. We filmed three of them. And so I've filmed one. We filmed not this past December, but the December before. And we'll film again this December and then take another two year break, I believe, and then film again. So it's like, it's kind of hard to conceptualize, to be honest. I had a great time filming that one section. It was very intimidating and very scary at the point that I was filming that. I don't think, no, I had filmed some of, I did a Peacock TV show. And so I had filmed a couple episodes of that, I think before. So I had some sort of knowledge, but we're shooting on film, which is a whole different thing. And I'm fascinated by filmmaking. And so I was trying to soak in on that set as much as I could.

And working with someone as legendary and prolific as Richard is like, I really, the whole time I was a little petrified. I thought I was going to get fired. I thought I didn't know what I was doing. And so I'm excited to learn more and to, in the years between sections, do more TV and film so that I can just continue to get better and understand the nuances of that medium, because it is just very different to theater. It's also just not less satisfying because I do get so much satisfaction from it, but to film something so broken up, it's hard to get any kind of momentum. So in that way, it's hard, but in another way, it's easy because I get so much time to build her, so much more time than I think anyone's had to build these characters up.

And I also find it interesting that Gussie is a Broadway star and when we film next, Gussie will be in her fifth Broadway show and I'm on my second Broadway show. So there's things that I can add in there. And yeah, it's fascinating. I think it's going to be fascinating.

[17:07] Jeff Malone: I'd want to say, I think I read it may have a 2040 potential release.

[17:14] Hannah Cruz: I mean, I would hope someone like Stephen Sondheim would just be fascinated by that too and would have wanted to witness this. Well, they started when he was still alive.

[17:23] Jeff Malone: Okay. I was hoping that.

[17:29] Hannah Cruz: Yeah. He was on board. He was very excited about it. I wish he'd come on board when he was still living because I would love to have met him. And it's also interesting to kind of hear this because the film is actually recording in the correct order of from start to finish instead of doing it in reverse. We're just going to watch it in reverse, which is even more cool, I think. Can you imagine being, I don't know how old I am going to be when it finishes, but to be sitting there and the last thing you see is you at your youngest.

[18:04] Jeff Malone: Yeah. Well, especially since the first thing you'll see is something the most recent that you have recorded. So you'll be like, okay, cool. I just did this recently. This is awesome. And then I'm sure, I don't know what you'll feel, but as you go through, you'll probably be like, whoa, whoa, this is really drifting away in a weird way. It's going to be for you all involved. It's going to probably be fascinating in that way.

[18:21] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, it is. I can't wait. I think the whole process is so cool. I think that's so awesome. And then I guess that's kind of cool. Every couple of years, I'm like, hey, we're doing another scene. There'll just be the work that keeps on giving.

[18:32] Jeff Malone: Yeah, I'm not mad about it. I got a job in early December.

[18:36] Hannah Cruz: Right, right, right.

[18:40] Jeff Malone: As we get towards the end of the podcast episode here, we always like to come up with a couple of last minute questions here. But one thing we like to have our guests talk about is for younger performers coming up now, what's one piece of advice you wish someone had told you about?

[18:54] Hannah Cruz: I have to remind myself of this all the time, and I do, and also my husband does. Your opinion of yourself and your work and your worth is going to change all the time. And I think being okay with that roller coaster is something you have to learn how to be. And I wish someone had told me that it is inevitable and that we all feel it, that one day we're going to think we are the worst actor in the world. We should never work again. We should get off the American stage. And then two days later, we can think that we are the best thing to have ever happened. And to kind of take that voice in your head and be like, I don't need you right now, and try and find some sort of median. I just wish someone had told me that that was normal, because I think for a long time, I thought that it was just me, or that I truly was really bad, and no one was telling me. And so I think the struggle with our worth and our confidence is something you have to become friends with, because it's going to be present forever.

[20:01] Jeff Malone: Totally, totally. And kind of bringing full circle back to chess, if chess sends the audience home reflecting on something deep, what do you hope that that spark is when people leave chess? What do you want people to be thinking?

[20:13] Hannah Cruz: It's a great question. That's a great question. I don't know how to put it into words. I think our show is many things. I think it is very dramatic. It's a love story. It's full of flawed, flawed people. I don't think anybody is without flaws in this show. And it's also about, I think what Aaron says to Nick at the end, what he's like, none of this matters. Just do you, play your game, win the game. Don't let these outside pressures impact you with their agendas. Care about yourself and what you want. Have you ever thought about yourself? I think about that a lot. I think about Bryce leaves us with a beautiful monologue at the end about Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan coming together and creating a nuclear arms pact.

And I think, and he says something like, these negotiations brought about the end of the Cold War, the first one that is. And I think we're obviously in very tumultuous political times right now. And I think we're all really scared, like what's going on in Iran. And it's very scary to live in New York. And we're all very scared. But I think, hopefully, sitting in this audience and seeing that, we've been in times like this before, history continues to repeat itself and we are okay. And maybe hopefully leaving with some kind of hope that the people who went through it back then are okay. And we will hopefully be okay now. Maybe some semblance of hope. I know it's hard because there's so much we don't know or have any power over. There's only so much we can all do as citizens. But yeah, maybe a little hope and hopefully the show makes you smile.

[22:13] Jeff Malone: Yeah, yeah. That's a great way to put it. Wow. Well, before we wrap up, we'll go to a slightly lighter note. We love to ask guests on our podcast to share a funny or silly or cool behind the scenes story on any show or work they've worked on in their career. It could be anything you're allowed to say on the mic. That's just something behind the scenes and fun because our audience loves to hear things like that. So any story you're willing to share on the pod.

[22:41] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I mean, this is the one that's closest to my mind and it did occur backstage. So I think it works. But we were, it was a two show day, I think a couple weeks ago and the show was about to start. And I just hear outside of my dressing room, yo. And I was like, oh, it's Lynn. Because you always hear Lynn before you see Lynn. And he was like, I'm going to show you the alleyway that leads to the Rogers. And so I'm in my slippers and he's like, come on, let's go. And we run downstairs. My husband is playing Hamilton at the Richard Rogers right now. Downstairs through this little dark, I'm sure rat infested alleyway, with lots of things to trip on. It's a hazard. And we snuck into the Rogers and the door, it spits you out right on stage, right, I believe, right in the wing. And my husband is standing there in his Hamilton costume. Skylar Sisters is happening. And we just tap on his shoulder and he turns around and it's his wife and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

[23:46] Jeff Malone: Oh, what are you doing here?

[23:46] Hannah Cruz: I got to like, wow. And he's, it was trippy for both of us, I think, because we met doing the show. And so to hear Skylar Sisters and see him in his costume, he was like very heady. And then Lynn took me back up. And then I think yesterday or two days ago, he did the same thing with my husband. I wasn't at the theater yet, but he took my husband his way through the Imperial. And Lynn just sent me a picture of Edward in my dressing room.

[24:15] Jeff Malone: Oh my God.

[24:22] Hannah Cruz: I feel like this might be a stage manager's nightmare story, but maybe. Like, where are they? Wait, where are I? But I love things like that. I love that. It was like the most Broadway thing to ever happen to me. And I didn't even know those theaters were connected like that.

[24:34] Jeff Malone: Yeah, apparently the music boxes too.

[24:36] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, they're all kind of there, right? And you were there too.

[24:39] Jeff Malone: I know. I only exist on that block.

[24:44] Hannah Cruz: If those walls and those alleyways could talk, they'd probably tell historic stories of people passing through at some point, you know?

[24:50] Jeff Malone: Isn't that cool?

[24:52] Hannah Cruz: That is so cool. I think our listeners will love that too. That was a great story. Yay, thank you.

[24:58] Jeff Malone: Well, we do have to wrap up and I wish we had more time. We could talk to you for a whole nother half hour, I'm sure, but we're very excited to have you. And that is all the time we have for today. So thank you all so much for listening to us.

[25:09] Richie Grasso: Yes, we hope you enjoyed our conversation with Hannah Cruz. In the description, we'll share more information on where you can learn more about Hannah and how you can get tickets to CHESS.

[25:18] Jeff Malone: Yes, and to all our listeners, if you ever have suggestions on future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. You can connect with us on Instagram at half hour podcast. And Hannah, where can people find you? I'm assuming Instagram, maybe too?

[25:28] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I am only on Instagram. But it's just, this is Hannah Cruz.

[25:33] Jeff Malone: Cool. Awesome. All right, people can go check out and make sure everyone goes see Hannah and CHESS. And then in 2040, go see Merle and Merle.

[25:43] Richie Grasso: All right. Thanks so much for joining us today, Hannah.

[25:45] Hannah Cruz: Yay. Thank you for being here.

[25:47] Richie Grasso: Yay. All right. Getting ready to sign off for now. I'm Richie.

[25:49] Jeff Malone: And I'm Jeff.

[25:50] Richie Grasso: Saying ta-ta for now.

[25:51] Jeff Malone: Bye.