This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:10] Amber Brzezinski: Hello, are we live? Why don't I get an intro? That's bizarre. Well, I think we might be live already. So hi everyone. Welcome to the Broadway Fan Club. Um, we are here on our usual Monday night. Um, as you can see, I am missing someone, someone very important. Um, she is unfortunately not feeling well and in the middle of a humongous move. Um, so we are just making do with what we can. Let me just go over here and share to some groups really quick while we get things going um and get some people joining us. Hi, everybody. Welcome. Um, I'm just gonna we're just gonna do a quick recap tonight. Um, I did spend the weekend in the city. We'll talk a little bit about that. Um, and then we're gonna play an old episode.

Well, not old, it was just from last month, um, featuring the incredible Hannah Cruz who um was just nominated for her first Tony Award. So congratulations to Hannah. We are so incredibly proud of you. Um, and just talk about what she must be on such a high right now because you know, she's she's got that Suffs pro shot that just is incredible. Uh comment below if you have watched it yet, because I have certainly watched it, and it is absolutely amazing. Um, and then we also have her currently uh being nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Svetlana in Chess right now. So we are just so proud to you know have gotten to talk to her last month, and we really want to just share that.

Um oh cat's being loud. Sorry, Kat. Um, we just really want to share that um interview again while Heather is away, just to give you guys something to uh listen to this week, and then also just one quick announcement that tomorrow I will also be going live, and um we will be able to chat during the Miscast live stream while that is going on. So um I believe that starts at 7 p.m. tomorrow. I am going to try to log on around like 6:55 or so so we can settle in. And if you'd like to watch the Miscast um live stream with us, we would love to hang out and just chill and watch it with you guys and have a fun time um as a community together, since that's what we like to do. We like to hang out with you guys, we love to chill, so um, you know, RSVP below or just show up tomorrow between any time at you know six, six fifty-five to whenever and we'll be there.

So uh we're looking forward to that as well. Um, so let me just go into a couple more groups, share this post. Um, I was in the city this weekend, I had bought tickets to see um Just in Time. I bought them to see Jeremy and didn't realize that Isa was going to be in the show. So when Isa was announced, I was like so excited, and I invited my friend's daughter who's 11 to go with me. I take her to a lot of shows, and uh she loves the pit. So I was like, oh, of course, I'll take you. And when they um when we got to the box office, they were like, We don't have tickets for you, and I was like, Yes, you do. Here is my order, and then I looked closer at my order, and guys, my tickets were for the evening, and I was at the matinee.

Oh, and I'm from I come all the way from Connecticut, so it was certainly a trek and a nightmare. So, and it and I don't know if any of you guys are local to the city, but as maybe some of you know, Saturday was not a wonderful weather day, so we had to deal with uh some rain and just nasty icky weather. Uh, so we decided to impromptu see if we could get tickets to The Lost Boys, and we luckily did. We got amazing seats. We were in like row G, like very close to the front of the stage, and um, like I said, just the seats were incredible. Uh, we had a blast, we loved the show, it was amazing. Um, and ended up staying dry for three hours, which really was just the most ideal situation of everything because who wants to walk around in New York City in the rain?

I know I certainly don't, and I did have an umbrella, but I of course offered it to the child and pity the child. I offered it to the child instead of myself because I'm a good person. Um, but we we did see Lost Boys, and then we went and saw Just in Time. We had amazing seats for both shows, it was absolutely incredible. I got to meet some of our masquerade members at the stage door for Lost Boys, which was super fun. We were chatting, we were having a great time. Um, so it was so awesome to meet you guys, and we had um we wished more people came out, but of course it's a matinee, so you can never know what's gonna happen with a matinee. But while um I finished sharing, I am going to just tune into the episode and we are going to go from there.

[7:23] Heather Bedor: Hello, welcome to a happy little Thursday. I'm excited. Happy Surprise Thursday. Oh well, they kind of knew that we were gonna be doing this, but yeah, happy, happy right after hump day episode for everybody. Yeah. Well, um, we're gonna make this short and sweet. We have like the coolest guest joining us today.

[7:53] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, but we're excited for the Broadway Fan Club podcast um to be able to have this wonderful incredible performer with us. So I'm just gonna bring her on. Are you cool with that, Amber?

[8:03] Heather Bedor: Totally cool. I'm just gonna do my thing, share away.

[8:03] Amber Brzezinski: Share away.

[8:07] Heather Bedor: I'm gonna like the woman. Here she is, boys. Here she is, crap.

[8:20] Hannah Cruz: Hi.

[8:21] Heather Bedor: Look at this. I cannot get over it's very Marilyn Monroe with the pink and the blonde.

[8:25] Hannah Cruz: It is.

[8:26] Heather Bedor: I know it's Britain Carpenterella, like yeah.

[8:29] Hannah Cruz: Love it.

[8:30] Heather Bedor: Very pink in here. I really love it. I mean, did you get to pick that color backstage?

[8:35] Hannah Cruz: Yeah.

[8:36] Heather Bedor: Yeah, it's called begonia.

[8:39] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, and we had it painted before we moved in, and I really at first I was like, oh, it's too much, but now I really love it.

[8:46] Heather Bedor: It's not like a Pepto-Bismol bottle, it's great.

[8:49] Hannah Cruz: No, no, it really feels like insulating and cool in a nice way.

[8:53] Heather Bedor: Yeah, I love that. Well, because this is kind of your like real home for a good long while.

[8:59] Hannah Cruz: Oh yeah. I spend probably honestly more time here than I do in my apartment.

[9:03] Heather Bedor: So I was gonna ask. And how far is your commute? Because I know that a lot of performers are on the Jersey side and it takes an hour.

[9:11] Hannah Cruz: You know, my husband tried to get me to go to Jersey and I'm not there yet.

[9:14] Heather Bedor: No, but we live downtown.

[9:16] Hannah Cruz: And that's easy.

[9:18] Heather Bedor: It's great. It's like maybe 25 minutes. If there's traffic, maybe like 35, but it's a pretty straight shot on the West Side Highway, and we really love being down there.

[9:27] Hannah Cruz: So I love that. No, that's incredible. And we're so excited to have you join us from backstage. The Imperial Theater to Amber and I are it's a very important place.

[9:36] Heather Bedor: Um because it was the first show that we had been part of, which is Water for Elephants, and then we created the Broadway Fan Club based off of the Water for Elephants feedback we got.

[9:47] Hannah Cruz: So the Imperial Theater is like our little home away from home too.

[9:51] Heather Bedor: I really love a lot.

[9:53] Hannah Cruz: Oh yeah.

[9:55] Heather Bedor: With all that construction next door.

[9:57] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, that I could do without. But other than that, I mean, I love that it's kind of connected to the Music Box, which is where Suffs was, and then it's connected to the Rogers, which is where my husband is.

[10:08] Heather Bedor: So it's like

[10:11] Hannah Cruz: Right.

[10:12] Heather Bedor: It's your block.

[10:12] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, it's my block.

[10:12] Heather Bedor: 4640. I'll see you on the other side of the boa.

[10:19] Hannah Cruz: It's of my favorite thing.

[10:21] Heather Bedor: So cute.

[10:22] Hannah Cruz: It's pretty cool. We're it's we got to come in to work together today and like kiss each other at the stage door and say goodbye and have a good time.

[10:30] Heather Bedor: Now for those that are like, How is Hannah talking to you? She's on Broadway, it's Thursday night. There's a Broadway show. What is going on? If you guys are living under a rock and are not familiar with Chess at all, um, Hannah is starring in Chess right now, and her character's role is majority present in act two.

[10:51] Hannah Cruz: So we have this wonderful opportunity right now to have this quick time with Hannah.

[10:56] Heather Bedor: So if you don't know why we get to talk to Hannah now, go see Chess.

[11:01] Amber Brzezinski: Rind out why, what is going on and why we get to see um all the craziness that goes on in that amazing show.

[11:11] Heather Bedor: And probably why she needs the calming begonia pink.

[11:15] Hannah Cruz: I was just gonna say, exactly.

[11:17] Heather Bedor: Exactly.

[11:21] Hannah Cruz: Well, you've played some pretty intense roles.

[11:24] Heather Bedor: Yeah, yeah.

[11:25] Hannah Cruz: Um, and it's not like you're being pigeonholed, you just pull them off flawlessly.

[11:30] Heather Bedor: But it's true. I mean, Great American Bitch has always been stuck in my head, um, sincerely.

[11:36] Hannah Cruz: And Suffs was not on my radar T B, like to be very honest. It was like, okay, like I'm not really into politics and not really this and not really this.

[11:46] Heather Bedor: And then um, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go see it.

[11:49] Hannah Cruz: And I was like, Amber, I'm gonna go see it, even if it's like the female version of Hamilton, like let's just do it.

[11:56] Heather Bedor: I'm gonna tell you, I went in, I fell in love with Inez.

[12:00] Hannah Cruz: I'm just like mind-blown.

[12:04] Heather Bedor: You and Shay and this incredible cast created this like beautiful story that was just like so emotionally driven, but memorable and easily palatable.

[12:16] Hannah Cruz: Sure.

[12:16] Heather Bedor: Yeah.

[12:17] Hannah Cruz: That was really that was it was impressive.

[12:19] Heather Bedor: Well, because you were with that show since inception.

[12:22] Hannah Cruz: Oh yeah, yeah.

[12:24] Heather Bedor: It changed a lot.

[12:25] Hannah Cruz: I mean, I know a lot of people who saw it both at the public and on Broadway have remarked that it's like one of the most changed shows they've ever seen.

[12:33] Heather Bedor: And even like I don't a lot of times when I leave a show, it like leaves my brain and I don't retain a lot of it.

[12:39] Hannah Cruz: But I've seen some clips from the public, and it's shocking how different the show was.

[12:45] Heather Bedor: Like not really thematically, but like even like in sound, Sha at first had a lot of these vaudevillian numbers in there.

[12:55] Hannah Cruz: Okay.

[12:55] Heather Bedor: Because at the time there was a lot of political cartoons making fun of the suffragist.

[13:00] Hannah Cruz: And so she like she put all that in there with some real quotes from men at the time and cartoons at the time.

[13:06] Heather Bedor: And it was like a through line throughout the show.

[13:09] Hannah Cruz: Um, and then she completely threw that away and re-called.

[13:13] Heather Bedor: Well, there was like such a political evolution quickly at that time too.

[13:19] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, it was really wild to be doing that show on Broadway in that year in that election year was something never ever forget.

[13:27] Heather Bedor: And I was grateful for the community at that time, um, because it was nice to have a place to all come together and process everything that was happening.

[13:36] Hannah Cruz: It was also a very intense place to be when all of that was happening.

[13:39] Heather Bedor: You could I don't know if you know, but we not only run the Chess fan group, but we also run the Suffs fan group.

[13:47] Hannah Cruz: Um so we very much are aware of the intensity of things that were happening from the fan community, and it is still one of our most active groups.

[13:57] Heather Bedor: It really is.

[13:58] Hannah Cruz: We have over 7,000 members in it right now.

[14:01] Heather Bedor: Wow.

[14:01] Hannah Cruz: Oh, it's oh yeah, it's incredible, and there is constantly going and going, and they're going to the tours and they're going to and like they're like, We're wearing white to the tour for the suffragists.

[14:13] Heather Bedor: Like they're all talking about, like, you know, what do I wear?

[14:17] Hannah Cruz: Like, what do I dress on theme?

[14:19] Heather Bedor: It's it's amazing.

[14:20] Hannah Cruz: Like it really, really built a huge community.

[14:25] Heather Bedor: That's great to hear.

[14:26] Hannah Cruz: I mean, I'm I hope it even reaches more people with the Pro Shot coming out on the 8th of uh I'm so excited for it to reach more people.

[14:36] Hannah Cruz: I know I have a lot of like young nieces and nephews and and cousins and stuff who didn't get to see it, and I'm really excited for them to experience it.

[14:44] Hannah Cruz: Um so yeah, I'm I'm grateful it's gonna get that reach.

[14:47] Hannah Cruz: And I think it's a show that can grow, it can continuously grow and like, but it it applies so much.

[14:54] Hannah Cruz: But you you have this incredible historical figure to portray.

[14:59] Hannah Cruz: What was your process like to get prepared for that, even from the initial iteration and then to go through the changes?

[15:06] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, so I originally played Rouja off Broadway, and Rouja doesn't have a lot of material to look through about her. There's not a ton written on her. I did manage to find some things and excerpts in essays and such that talked about her. I also read the plays that she performed in on Broadway when she eventually became an actress, which I just think is so cool. Um, and so I already had that knowledge with her. I read Jails for Freedom, and then when Inez came around for the Broadway run, and for I think I played her in the workshop in the reading and then Broadway, so I had some time to cultivate, get to know her. And um, she has a lot more written about her, still not like quite enough for as much of an impact as she made, I think, but um there are quite a few biographies on her that I read.

I also had the privilege of meeting some of her family, which was really incredible. I remember when they wrote me, uh it was John Melholland, who I believe is was like her grandson. Um, and he remembers her, which was like, and when they came and saw the show, they had no idea she was such a big part of it. And so when the end of Act One happened, and then they put that giant picture of her, it was actually her. They were like, I mean, that's gotta be so can you imagine? Like I know. I can't imagine, especially if you don't know what to expect when you're going into that. Right. It's remarkable. So that was like a very special thing to experience.

[16:11] Hannah Cruz: Um, yeah, that's brilliant. Yeah, she was such a complex and interesting and very deeply complicated woman. So it was a pleasure to get to try and delve into her depths. It was like a very great challenge.

[16:55] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, that's awesome. Preparation for Chess must have been a little bit different.

[16:59] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, very, very different. I, you know, I like to see source material. So I went to the Lincoln Center Library and I watched the 1988 Broadway production.

[17:10] Hannah Cruz: Yes. And Chess is a very controversial show production-wise. I mean, I think it does all the controversial shows because it works.

[17:19] Hannah Cruz: It's true. People either love or hate or understand or don't understand or want it more complicated or simplified. Like there is just like no pleasing everyone when it comes to the world of Chess.

[17:35] Hannah Cruz: No, and that's, you know, that's art, right? You're not gonna...

[17:37] Amber Brzezinski: Right, of course.

[17:39] Hannah Cruz: Right. It's different things are gonna hate. I personally thought that this adaptation was brilliant. I thought it was told in a way that was so bit of a fangirl and we love it. Like one like just so well, the story was just carried so well through, and it was just so easy to, like I said, understand and take it all in and just process and it made sense from beginning to end. It was fantastic.

[18:07] Hannah Cruz: And congratulations to send her congratulations to Ramon. Uh who made his debut, I think what the other day, Tuesday.

[18:18] Amber Brzezinski: Was it Tuesday?

[18:19] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, Tuesday.

[18:20] Amber Brzezinski: On Tuesday, yeah. Is he still on?

[18:22] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, he's doing it again tonight.

[18:24] Amber Brzezinski: Amazing.

[18:25] Hannah Cruz: He's amazing.

[18:27] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[18:28] Hannah Cruz: I was thinking...

[18:28] Amber Brzezinski: No, sorry, what were you gonna say?

[18:32] Hannah Cruz: Oh no, your case. So you're saying that you watched the original.

[18:33] Hannah Cruz: Oh yes, I watched the original at Lincoln Center, and I was at that time I don't think we were in rehearsals yet, but from what I had seen about the scenes that I had read, and I think they had sent me a script at that point and I had read through it. Um it was a completely different show. And so I was like, this really give me a ton, because the Svetlana that I was seeing was like portrayed in a very different way than what I was taking off the page.

[18:59] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, and what I knew Michael Mayer wanted. Um but I also read, I have I think I have the original libretto in my room. I read the libretto of the original book, and um there's a great documentary um called Waiting in the Wings, I believe, that's on YouTube about uh bringing it from London to Broadway and the Trevor Nunn musical and all that. It's really really fascinating.

[19:21] Hannah Cruz: Um But I was excited about this because I even though it's a revival and I love revivals, I knew it was gonna be basically like making a new musical, and I knew that my song was new, and so it was gonna be all the things that I love to do, which is like creating something brand new and birthing something, and while all under this incredible existing score that, like legitimately I never ever get sick of listening to, and that's not true for me for almost anything else. I love this score so it's beautiful and so well sung, like everyone's voice is just like so.

[20:02] Hannah Cruz: We literally have our group members have said that they will riot if Nicholas Christopher doesn't get the Tony nod.

[20:10] Amber Brzezinski: I mean, I'll riot right along with you.

[20:12] Hannah Cruz: I agree.

[20:13] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, yeah.

[20:13] Hannah Cruz: It's insane. I really think he's insane.

[20:20] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, someone I know was at the show like last week or something, and said like he like held out a note for like at bare minimum like 25 seconds. I was like, I can't even handle him.

[20:34] Hannah Cruz: He's like belting like his heart out night after night, yeah. And it's truly like it's all coming. Nick is such a good... because I think you know people can sing notes really long and really high and do all those things. I think what's making makes Nick so special is that like he's such a good actor, and everything is so supported and yes and like uh real and raw and honest, and he really he just he's so committed, and I really I love... I mean you all are you guys all like there's there's you you have this really interesting set design, and yeah, there's crazy choreo with some stuff, but so simplistic where it really is just that raw emotion but the chemistry that you all present on stage is really beautifully done um I can't imagine like I I'm not a performer I can emcee sure but I'm more of like a tech girl on the back side I can't imagine going through like any of the roles that you performed with such this raw emotion having these moments like and we're not gonna give away Chess plot you know whatever but going through these raw emotions and then coming off the stage and just being totally fine like do you have a decompression tool like what what do you do to like leave it on the stage?

[20:47] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I mean full disclosure I'm not always totally fine I have lots of breakdowns but yeah it's I've definitely gotten way better at it when I was younger and like I remember being on the Hamilton tour and having a really hard time ending that show and going home and being a normal person I was like I really didn't know how to... Tommy Kail puts it as like you gotta close the book like he got you to close the book and walk away and be Hannah again and I didn't really learn that for quite a few years I was pretty young when I was doing Ham but um since then I think it really helps one I really do think it helps going home with my husband in the car we both get to like debrief and like we don't have to wait until we get home to like tell ever tell the other about our day we're not holding all of that we get to let it out immediately and then by the time we're home we're cuddling with our cat, we take a shower and we're like back to ourselves again.

[22:49] Amber Brzezinski: Yep.

[22:49] Hannah Cruz: And we can like walk right for the next completely wash that show away. But I find that like doing a little bit of a like a dump at the end of the night, like being like, this is what happened in our show today, and this frustrated me. This moment was great. And that and then you can just let it go.

[23:06] Amber Brzezinski: Yep.

[23:07] Hannah Cruz: So that's helpful. I think it's important to have a support system. Like that's always like Amber and I are each other's like brain dump stations. Like, okay, how is this? Blah blah blah. And when you have that supportive like system in your life, it's great.

[23:21] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, that's essential for sure.

[23:23] Hannah Cruz: It's essential. And I didn't have that on Hamilton because Edward and I weren't together yet. So some nights we would like talk to each other, but not every night. And I and it was all so bottled up and it had nowhere to go. It was it was saving its space for now.

[23:36] Amber Brzezinski: So now you can all of it.

[23:38] Hannah Cruz: Yeah.

[23:40] Hannah Cruz: But yeah, no, I absolutely love it. And then you just wrapped something even a little bit more unique with Netflix. You want to talk about Marilee?

[23:46] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I mean, wrapped wrapped is a we wrapped a section.

[23:54] Hannah Cruz: Yeah.

[23:55] Hannah Cruz: Yes.

[23:56] Hannah Cruz: But we are filming... go on.

[23:58] Hannah Cruz: You can it's hard to describe. Um I think you're gonna be the most perfect person to describe this. It's um so it's a Marilee We Roll Along movie directed by Richard Linklater that we are shooting for the next 15 years.

[24:10] Hannah Cruz: I think we're gonna wrap like two decades.

[24:12] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, right.

[24:14] Hannah Cruz: It's a commitment.

[24:16] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I mean it is and it is job security.

[24:19] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, right.

[24:20] Hannah Cruz: Every two years I got a week of work. But it's you know, we filmed we've they filmed three sections. I filmed one out of the three. We'll film another section this coming December, which I'm very excited about. Um, it's an incredible thing to get to be a part of. It's hard to even like conceptualize and really understand it now when I've only I think the big three kind of understand more because they've been through three sections already, but I've only been through one.

[24:44] Hannah Cruz: So it's like this short film I made last two December.

[24:49] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[24:49] Hannah Cruz: So for those that don't know, they're spending 15 years or so following the characters and chronologically, and it's as you guys naturally age. Um and it's following this. So I know that there was one movie I think it was something about the boys.

[25:05] Amber Brzezinski: They did that.

[25:05] Hannah Cruz: Boy, thank you. Um they did it for several years, but this is I think even a bigger undertaking.

[25:12] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, um just incredible.

[25:14] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, it's gonna be um a very emotional thing to watch, I think, because Marilee is seen backwards, and so we'll see each other. We'll start the movie and see ourselves very recently, and then by the end of the movie, we'll see ourselves at our youngest. And I just think that's gonna be a very emotional thing to experience.

[25:31] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, absolutely for sure.

[25:33] Hannah Cruz: All the life that's gonna happen for all of us between now and then is something we can't even understand.

[25:39] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[25:40] Hannah Cruz: And so it's super heady. Uh I'm very excited about it. I'm playing Gussie, and I think she's a really badass role.

[25:50] Hannah Cruz: Really complex lady.

[25:51] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[25:52] Hannah Cruz: I really like I I'm having trouble like cracking that. Uh she's she's fascinating. And I find it interesting that like as I live my life, I'm I'm a little bit like in her coattails. Like when we film next, she'll be on her fifth Broadway show, and I'm on my second. And so I'm like kind of understanding what this all feels like, and it's it's just very interesting. Um, I'm I'm excited to keep learning. We're gonna get to know her very intimately though.

[26:18] Amber Brzezinski: So yeah, very awesome.

[26:21] Hannah Cruz: Oh I can't wait for that big number from you.

[26:25] Amber Brzezinski: Same.

[26:27] Hannah Cruz: Um, and I know that we're I don't want to push time because uh you you do have to actually get on stage.

[26:33] Amber Brzezinski: Um, but you are doing something really cool talking about you know really getting to know somebody.

[26:39] Hannah Cruz: Um Amplified 2026 is coming up on Monday for those that don't know, it's Maestra Music's annual benefit concert.

[26:46] Amber Brzezinski: Um you might be uh co-hosting this thing, huh?

[26:50] Hannah Cruz: I am, I've never co-hosted.

[26:51] Amber Brzezinski: And you're one night off, right?

[26:53] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I mean, I I don't think I have a day off until like mid-May, but that's fine.

[26:59] Hannah Cruz: Um I texted my friend Michael Urie, who is really good at hosting, and so he's been giving me some tips because I've never done this before, but I'm grateful that I'm doing it with Betsy Wolfe.

[27:09] Amber Brzezinski: I love her.

[27:10] Hannah Cruz: Love Betsy.

[27:11] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, she is just as delightful as you are.

[27:14] Hannah Cruz: Oh, she's the best.

[27:15] Hannah Cruz: It's so funny. Another Instagram reel queen.

[27:19] Amber Brzezinski: She is a queen.

[27:20] Hannah Cruz: She is.

[27:21] Hannah Cruz: I played her part in Bullets Over Broadway on the non-Equity tour.

[27:27] Hannah Cruz: Um I like wore all her costumes and I was like a big I love Betsy. I'm so excited to get to like actually work together and like riff and have fun.

[27:36] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah.

[27:36] Hannah Cruz: And we're honoring Shana, which I think is like pretty amazing.

[27:40] Amber Brzezinski: Amazing better, yeah.

[27:42] Hannah Cruz: So yeah, it's gonna be I'm looking at the performances. Alex Newell will be there, our friends the Rescues are gonna be there.

[27:48] Amber Brzezinski: Um my god, what an incredible night.

[27:51] Hannah Cruz: Um I can't wait to see more. It's at City Winery, New York City, off of 11th Ave.

[27:57] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I believe they're still availability for tickets.

[28:00] Hannah Cruz: I will do some more research. We'll put that up on the website as well.

[28:03] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, and Jill Lynn Hansen says, Love you, Hannah. Chess, amazing for you.

[28:06] Hannah Cruz: Hi from Indiana.

[28:09] Hannah Cruz: Um, and we've got waiting for comments as our fans are coming through.

[28:14] Hannah Cruz: Um I actually have a question since you know you do spend so much time in this lovely begonia pink palace are you a one of the door open dressing room folks or are you a door closed dressing room?

[28:14] Amber Brzezinski: We love that and William says hello from Indiana.

[28:14] Hannah Cruz: You know I have a weird thing where I hate when people knock and then don't hear me when I say come in because I don't... yeah if I say it more than twice I'm already annoyed so yeah and and I know these doors are thick so usually I'll keep my door open a crack because and also I'm on we're the best floor we all say it's me Bryce Pinkham and Nick Christopher.

[28:14] Amber Brzezinski: Oh you're in trouble.

[28:14] Hannah Cruz: Yeah have the best time and we're always laughing but we also know when to give each other space so it's like it's a great great dynamic yeah we also are like in love with our dresser Marissa so it's just like good vibes over here which I really like so I usually keep my door open or crack because I like when people say hi to me.

[29:23] Amber Brzezinski: Love that and um I remember with Water for Elephants because the dressing rooms everybody's windows essentially right over the stage door yeah yeah so um I remember during like no we're not stage dooring things but do you ever get a chance to like peek down and see how crazy of a stage door is is that like you're like yeah because I don't my person personally I don't stage door but my husband does because he loves it and it gives him energy and so I'm like I love that for him and so sometimes like when we have a three o'clock show and he has a one o'clock show it works out so right before I go on stage he's signing autographs so I pick my head out and I say hi and also on two show days I our show is a little bit later than theirs so I can and I'll poke my head out and he'll tell everybody to say hi to me and it's cute.

[30:10] Amber Brzezinski: And the relationship you guys have is just disgustingly sweet, and I know it's gross. It's like I'm sorry. It's aspirational, and you know Amber and I always talk about stage door too because you have some people, and we make sure our members, like we really drill it into them, like stage door is a privilege, not a right. People are not required to come out; they're not required to take pictures or sign autographs. If you do it, remember they are leaving to go home for the night. Just remember how that is. Yeah, so um, but no, I mean, I think it's a good honesty thing. I know when Nick comes out, like people just lose their minds. And I yeah, I commend him for do I just think like yeah, it's gotten to be so many more people.

I remember when I was stage-dooring back when I was a kid, it was like kind of a secret. Like it was like only like maybe 15 to 20 people at a stage door, and it was just less populated. And now it's become such a thing, um, all the flippers and the autograph hounds. So it's just it's just become kind of a different monster that I don't really feel like I have a handle on yet. And I'm just like a shy person, kind of, so I it's like a little overwhelming. So I I think it's a lot overwhelming, and like I always joke like a lot of people get their business done on the golf course. I get my business done at the stage door. I'm never stage-doored; I kind of care less about autographs and photos. Like that's great, but like I go to say hi to friends that were performing, or just like kind of see like the fans and like get our members together. But I think that it's important for people to remember that you know this is a privilege, not a right.

[31:52] Hannah Cruz: Yeah.

[31:52] Amber Brzezinski: But um, I know we're running short on time, um, because we want to get you ready, and you've been so gracious with your time already. Amber and I have some signature questions. So Amber, wanna go first?

[32:04] Heather Bedor: Um, yeah, absolutely. So if you were in a room with tiny itty bitty little Hannah and you could see her now, what do you think she would be most surprised by?

[32:18] Hannah Cruz: Oh my god. The blonde, no. Um, she actually I was blonde when I was a kid, so she wouldn't be surprised. I think the fact that I'm on my second original Broadway cast would make her sore. Um, I mean, I I really like I can't overstate how much Broadway meant to me as a kid. And I legitimately like I would go see shows. I had I we grew up in Connecticut, so I we saw a ton of shows.

[32:50] Amber Brzezinski: My Connecticut girly.

[32:52] Hannah Cruz: And I would every playbill, I would take the understudy slips, also RIP understudy slips.

[32:58] Heather Bedor: RIP on oh, you're like we held Hall Memorial for them.

[33:02] Hannah Cruz: We did. We did. We make like um, every time a show closes, we post about it, and we made a post when the understudy slips went away for the understudy slips with our template for closing shows. I used to I used to put them on my door to my bedroom. I had the whole door was covered in understudy slips, my whole room was covered in show posters signed, and then it was crazy because my mom, we were going through them recently, and now they're signed by like people I'm friends with, which is so crazy for my brain to comprehend. And I would also go home and I would go through the playbill and I would friend every person in the cast on Facebook. Everyone. And so when I started coming up in the business, I'd be like, how do I know this person? Oh, I don't. I don't know them. Or just that random friend request. I was just such a fan, like such a fan. So I think knowing that I'm like a part of the community now would uh blow my little girl brain.

[34:03] Amber Brzezinski: I love that. I love that for little Hannah.

[34:06] Heather Bedor: Me too. I mean, I think it still blows Amber and our brains when we're like hanging out with somebody. We're like, I literally saw you on stage like 15 years ago and I listened to you sing, but like we're friends now, so I don't know how to feel about that.

[34:17] Hannah Cruz: I mean Michelle, are you kidding me? My Hannah would Hannah would lose her mind.

[34:23] Amber Brzezinski: Right?

[34:25] Hannah Cruz: Oh my god, was I a gleek? Oh my god. I was I auditioned for Glee. We like really tried to make that happen. I we made like a my first professional job was the second national tour of Legally Blonde, and we made like a web series, and we all played ourselves.

[34:43] Amber Brzezinski: I love it.

[34:43] Hannah Cruz: It was like a murder mystery. And my character was Hannah, and the whole like through line of my character was that no one wanted to watch Glee with me. Oh, teen-year-old on tour with all these adults, and no one wanted to watch Glee with me. And that was the whole my whole plot.

[35:00] Amber Brzezinski: I'm now gonna go diving to go try to find this web series.

[35:04] Hannah Cruz: I think it's still out. It's called Skrelt. Um, and it is quite a watch.

[35:10] Amber Brzezinski: We're gonna find it and post it.

[35:12] Hannah Cruz: All right, I'm gonna hit you with the one two punch. Um, is there a question you've always wanted to be asked but have not had the opportunity to answer it?

[35:23] Heather Bedor: What is the answer?

[35:24] Hannah Cruz: Oh my gosh, wait, I have to think about this. It can be anything.

[35:31] Hannah Cruz: I think I like I I don't know if it's like a specific question, but I always really like being asked about like process and craft. I think that's like really interesting stuff to delve into, and I like talking about because I when I listen to podcasts, I like listening to people talk about their process. That and like also I've been personally like dealing with this like very negative voice in my head on stage. And Nick was actually helping me through this one of my many mental breakdowns as we all have doing eight shows a week when you're starting to go like a little cuckoo when you've done it so many times. And he sent me this great podcast with uh Mark Rylance.

[36:19] Amber Brzezinski: Okay.

[36:19] Hannah Cruz: Him talking about the voice, the negative voice in his head on stage and having like a real talk with it and saying, You can talk to me in the dressing room, you can talk to me at home, you cannot talk to me on stage. Like that I won't have, and like and putting in its place. So so questions about like dealing with uh self-confidence and and honestly the strain of doing eight shows a week and trying to make it as alive and honest and and actually nuanced as possible.

[36:48] Amber Brzezinski: I'm gonna shout out on this subject. Um, I don't know if you've like seen, but Mickey Abraham, who is currently Lulu on the Shucch Tour and was the Shecked understudy, and Jade McLeod, who was um Jagged Little Pill, both have just made posts about having panic attacks on stage during their main songs and their experiences, and they're very beautiful posts just about how they got through it and just like being very open about what there's a cat being very open about their mental health struggles, um you know, and how the cat has great creative covering talk about it and don't get to you know be open about it and experience that.

[37:38] Hannah Cruz: So I'll make sure we'll send you over the links so you can watch it.

[37:41] Amber Brzezinski: Yeah, just I think like what you're talking about. I think you would really appreciate like what they had to say.

[37:48] Hannah Cruz: For sure. It's a very vulnerable thing what we do, and like it is, yeah. Also, like what you bring to the theater every day is gonna be different. Your body chemistry, the what's going on in your brain that day, what's going on with your life. So it's you know, I I feel very grateful that I get to do what I do because I get I get paid to have a space to process because I I use theater as my processing tool for most feelings I have, and I'm grateful that I get to play roles that allow me to process very intense feelings. Um, because I know when I'm not working, I have a really hard time processing this stuff because I this this is my outlet.

[38:37] Amber Brzezinski: Right.

[38:38] Hannah Cruz: So I'm grateful that I have I'm very grateful that I have it.

[38:41] Heather Bedor: We love that for sure.

[38:42] Amber Brzezinski: We love that. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for letting us run over a little bit over time.

[38:46] Hannah Cruz: Oh, of course. You have to get you know ready to perform in like 20 minutes.

[38:50] Amber Brzezinski: So um we can't wait to hear our members post every night about the performances, everything. So um just know that you have lots of our members and fans in that audience waiting to shout your name from the rooftops. Give Ramon an extra squeeze for us tonight.

[39:08] Hannah Cruz: I will, I will. And the cat too.

[39:11] Amber Brzezinski: All right. The star of the real star of the pod. Well, thank you so much, guys. If you want to follow anything that Hannah is doing, um, her socials are really easy. Instagram, this is Hannah Cruz. That is literally her Insta. Um, has some great content that goes up there. Follow her. Make sure if you are trying to um support anything that she does. Go see Chess. There's no reason not to go see Chess.

[39:40] Heather Bedor: It's true. Go see Chess. Abba, come on.

[39:45] Amber Brzezinski: Hannah, though. Like, let's be real here. Nick Christopher, like, let's just the whole cast is incredible. We're so but we're so honored to have you on our show.

[39:54] Hannah Cruz: And happy to be here.

[39:56] Amber Brzezinski: Thank you. And you're welcome back anytime you'd like to be here. Um, and go enjoy act two and sing the hell out of Svetlana. So yes, and have fun on Monday.

[40:06] Hannah Cruz: Thank you so much, Hannah. We hope you have a good night.

[40:09] Hannah Cruz: Thank you. Bye.

[40:14] Amber Brzezinski: Oh, she's I was like, oh, she's coming. She's coming right across.

[40:18] Heather Bedor: Right across the thing.

[40:20] Amber Brzezinski: She is. She is getting ready to slay. Well, thank you guys for joining us in a very special episode on our Thursday night. Um, Zoe, thank you for the invite to have Hannah on the show. We're so honored to be able to get her on here right before um she goes on stage. It's always fun. We can talk to somebody backstage. If you would like to join the fan group for Chess or for Suffs and follow anything that we can promote, uh, go to www.thebroadwayfanclub.com. Follow us on socials at the Broadway Fan Club. We appreciate you guys. Thank you for everything. Um and have a good weekend, right? Have a great weekend. See you next Monday, everybody. Bye bye.

[41:01] Amber Brzezinski: All right. Well, that was the reprise of the Hannah Cruz episode, which I had so much fun talking with Hannah. She is such a delight. And I'm so excited. I really cannot wait for the Tony Awards this season.

[41:21] Heather Bedor: And it's gonna be such an amazing tight, tight race. We have some incredible, incredible um shows up for awards. We have some incredible performers up for awards. Um, we have Cats with so many nominations, Shmigadoon, The Lost Boys. I just really can't wait to see how things are gonna turn out this year because it's going to be Chess, of course.

[41:57] Amber Brzezinski: So Ragtime. Um, and then I have tickets to The Lost Boys on July 5th, which I just realized today. I'm like, oh my god, that's gonna be a crazy show after the Tonies. So can't wait for that. So, guys, get your tickets now to go see Chess before Nick and Hannah win their Tonies because it's gonna be crazy after that.

[42:25] Amber Brzezinski: So again, we are just gonna have a short episode tonight, but we'll be back tomorrow, an hour early. And by we, I mean me because Heather is sick and moving. Um, I'm gonna just be here to hang out. I'm gonna do a live stream of the um MCC Miscast 2026 performance while they stream it just so we can hang out and chat with you guys, all of our friends because we love hanging out with you guys.

[42:55] Heather Bedor: Um, Heather already pitched all of our websites, our stuff, our links, our good info. But just in case you wanted to see it again, um, I don't know if I remember how to do this because Heather always does it. Let me see if I got the goods.

[43:10] Amber Brzezinski: Um, I got nothing. Sorry guys. Uh, you can go to our Etsy shop. You can um oh no, I found it. You can go to thebroadwayfanclub.com. Etsy.com. Um, and check out any of our wonderful bracelets. Do I have any here? I do.

[43:37] Amber Brzezinski: Uh, we are have Race that's here. I actually am gonna hang up and go fulfill some orders. Um, we also have our hotel code for the W Times Square and the Weston Times Square. If you wanted to use them to get a discount off your stay. Use cluster code E7103.

[44:00] Amber Brzezinski: Um, if you wanted to check us out on Patreon, you can go subscribe to patreon.com, the Broadway Fan Club, and check out our website at www.onebroadwayfans.com, where you'll find all of our uh links and uh pages and everything like that. And if you have any questions, you can send us a message on the Broadway Fan Club page, and we would be happy to answer all your questions that way. Thanks so much, and we hope to see you tomorrow. Have a good night, guys. And as always, when uh the theater is dark, we keep that ghost light burning. See you guys next week. Love ya.