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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:14] Robert Bannon: Well, this season there's amazing new work on Broadway and Hannah Cruz, listen, our next guest, when you research her, you've seen her. If you've seen Hamilton around the country, if you've been out in LA and maybe seen an Ice Princess, if you've been down to the public theater where all the cool kids are hanging out making great art, or coming to Broadway right now, in previews, in tech, working all day and making time, probably on her dinner break to talk to us. Hannah Cruz is here to talk about stuff, so welcome to The Roundtable.

[0:44] Hannah Cruz: Thank you so much for having me, Robert. And happy Broadway debut!

[0:53] Robert Bannon: Yes! Yes, it's finally happened. But I have a complaint, Hannah.

[0:56] Hannah Cruz: Tell me.

[1:01] Robert Bannon: I did some research about you, and I looked up your hard paying your dues. You booked like a tour like directly from high school, didn't you?

[1:09] Hannah Cruz: Yeah. Tell us about it. How did it happen?

[1:21] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, I was in high school and we had done Gypsy as our senior year show. And it was like the time where YouTube was like kind of just becoming popular. And like, I remember all the University of Michigan kids were putting all of their videos up. And it was like what you did. And I wanted to be just like them. So I put up like all the videos from I played Mama Rose in Gypsy. And I put up My Rose's Turn, and it ended up going like kind of viral for the time. And because of that, I got invited to audition for the Legally Blonde non-union second national tour. And I went and did it. And I think I went to like one callback, and I ended up booking it. And I was supposed to go to college, I had auditioned at like 10 musical theater schools, I got into one, and I was like, all set to go. And then I convinced my parents to let me go on tour instead. And they said yes. And then I moved to New York directly after and I've been here ever since.

[2:19] Robert Bannon: And what a ride. Where did you grow up? Where was home?

[2:23] Hannah Cruz: Connecticut.

[2:24] Robert Bannon: In Connecticut.

[2:25] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, so not far.

[2:26] Robert Bannon: No, you're like a tri-stater. Like, you know, you're in the neighborhood. Well, that story is amazing. Because talent is talent is talent. And that's, that's it. They caught they scooped you up and put you out on the road. And you did a bunch of tours and really fun, interesting. You want to take a little walk down memory lane with us?

[2:42] Robert Bannon: We pulled some moments of your career. Like, like this here. Come on, Frozen.

[2:53] Hannah Cruz: That was a great job. That was a great job. It was great. We did like, I never did more than two shows a day. The show was like, barely 90 minutes and Elsa's only on stage for maybe 15. The hardest thing to do is let it go. And it was great to hear the kids like I love children. So like, getting to see them in the front row and like singing along and they're so excited to see you. And that job was really, really great. I really enjoyed working with Disney.

[3:27] Robert Bannon: Well, when you talk about the LA singer singers, everybody rolls through Disneyland and comes to see that show. And there's some amazing talented people that are in that show and come from that show like you. So and of course, we would be remiss. We couldn't find the stage. But there's there's the ham. There's the ham pick you backstage reading a book and touring the country. What was it like when you booked and joined that juggernaut of a musical?

[3:52] Hannah Cruz: That was crazy. I really like was not I got the audition when I was living in California doing Frozen. And I remember getting the audition and being like, okay, well, then maybe I'll book this in like five years because I've been used to going in for a couple other big juggernaut shows and being put through the ringer for years and years and years and years and years. And so I never thought I would book it. So when it happened very quickly. And when I did book it, I think I was like in disbelief until my put in. And then it was like, very surreal and very like that's the most until like now I think as I age I actually start to get more nervous going on stage. But that at that point, that was like the most nerves I had ever felt doing that show.

And like stepping out and singing Eliza's first line in the opening is like, it's very scary. But you know, I met my fiancé doing that show. And I think I really grew Oh, there he is. My sweet baby. Yeah, it was I mean, it changed my life. So I I'm so grateful for it.

[5:02] Robert Bannon: I mean, we know you're engaged because your ring is gorgeously blinding. It's a lot. He did a really good job.

[5:09] Hannah Cruz: You deserve it. I we me and me and my Darius got engaged on New Year's. And I and I said to him, you know, it's stressful to pick out a ring and and it's a it's a and it's a lot. It's a lot. So good job. Good job to your mans. He did a good job.

[5:28] Robert Bannon: And the Da Vinci code was another job. Look at this with our friends who are showing my and you up there making musical theater. Hannah, you've had quite the ride.

[5:44] Hannah Cruz: It has been a ride. Yeah, it's that was a play actually, which was like a big dream of mine. And still it like I want to do plays on plays on plays, please. So I loved doing Da Vinci code. I loved doing it with Michael. He knows how much I love him. Um, that was the best.

[6:00] Robert Bannon: Well, now we talk about the public and you were in the show. We're talking about Suffs everybody, which is now previews about to open and you can go get your tickets while we're talking about it. Please make sure you go to Suffs musical.com grab your seats. The first preview was the other night. And there's it's gonna be quite the moment. I mean, you have the President of the United States coming you have Hillary Clinton for being a producer. I mean, this is quite the moment in time and in history. And and it's as important of a piece as ever. How was your journey to the show? How did you become a part of this?

[6:38] Hannah Cruz: It's it's a funny story. And Edward, my fiancé will truly never let me forget it because I almost did not go to the audition. Because I'm a little bit of a baby and a little bit of a brat. And sometimes when things are like too difficult. I'm like, No, I won't do it. And I was doing I was actually doing young Frankenstein playhouse at the time. And I got they wanted me to come to New York to audition for to have my final callback for Suffs because I had self paid for it. And getting anywhere for from Algonquin is like almost impossible unless you like want to drive the the nine hours. And I don't drive. So I can't get an Uber for nine hours. And so Edward was like, he was on tour at the time.

And he was like, I will get you a plane ticket, and we will get you to New York. And so he helped me buy my plane ticket. And I got done with a matinee I got I like hired a town car to take me to the Portland airport. I flew to DC. And then my flight was canceled to New York. So Edward, I was like crying in the airport. And Edward was like, I'll get you a hotel room. And we'll get you on a 4am flight to New York. And so I spent the night in DC got on a 4am plane. And then I think that was delayed. And I ended up having to go directly to the public to audition, which like, I don't like being unprepared like that for an audition. And I went in and they were so warm. My agents had told them everything that had happened to me.

So they were like, very warm, very kind. And I told Lee, our director a million times, like, I've never been in a room like that. I didn't know you could be treated like that in a room. Just like, just like treating each other like people. And I knew from that moment that it was a really special job. And then on the way back to Algonquin, I found out I got it. And

[8:27] Hannah Cruz: It's every actor's dream to work in the public, truly. It's just like such an institution. And I was so, so thrilled and I couldn't believe I was gonna be working alongside people like Jen Colella and Mickey and James, who I've idolized my entire career and life. Like you have no idea how many times I've listened to "Me in the Sky." Nobody understands. I've listened to that more than anyone. And Jen, I mean, Jen does know that, but it was really remarkable. And that job at the public specifically, like made me grow as an actor, like exponentially, so. Well, it was a run that was extended and extended and got amazing reviews and really touched a lot of people. And like I said, it's as timely as ever. How do you describe the show? How do you, what's your elevator pitch? How do you describe what we see when we go see it?

[9:18] Hannah Cruz: Oh God, I'm still like, I feel like I'm still working on the elevator pitch because like I'm now understanding what the show is more now that we're like running it in succession more. And now, you know, you learn a lot from every audience that you have. And I'm so excited to do it again tonight and learn even more. But it's like, I think, especially like from the public, you're gonna learn a lot about American history that you did not know. Like it's actually shocking about what happened to these women that we do not know about. And these women's names who we've never heard, who are like so integral to the rights that we have today that we probably don't even think, well, we probably think about them now because they're like scarily in jeopardy sometimes.

But it's like history, you're gonna learn about our history all the while, like understanding that like these people in these relationships and these like interpersonal relationships repeat themselves just like century after century after century. And it's like, it's remarkable to watch like old guard versus new guard, like a person, a revolutionary idea to maybe go along with the previous regime or to rebel against it in a more, like it's just these things never stop happening. And to see these women as people is really remarkable. And it's really an honor to get to portray them.

[10:43] Robert Bannon: Yeah, and I'm excited. I teach fifth grade history and we just finished our women's history month where we in New Jersey. And when I'm not talking to amazing people like you and we spend every single day and to see the young girls in my class be so moved and taken aback about how short of a time it was where women didn't have the right to vote and what women went through. And we are currently reliving fighting battles that have already been won against. It's really important to go see this show but it's also entertaining. It's not like a big old history book. It's not gonna be a lecture. You're gonna be singing and snapping and clapping along.

[11:24] Hannah Cruz: Oh yeah, the music is, I've heard a lot from people who saw it yesterday. Like the music is like very infectious and like Shana is a brilliant, brilliant writer. And you're gonna be like the themes that she uses and the orchestrations by Michael Sterman, like everything is, the music will stay with you. It stays with me. And it stays with people. Like, of course it stays with me because I do it every day, but like I could hear people like humming it as we left the theater, which I don't always like, I'm not in the camp of like a musical is only good if you couldn't hum the tunes. I don't think that's always the case, but I do think like when you're in a musical that is like, is kind of a history lesson in an entertaining way, I think it's helpful to have music that you can come away from it with and like still have in your brain.

[12:10] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. So Shana is in the show.

[12:12] Hannah Cruz: Yeah.

[12:16] Robert Bannon: And then just so happens to like write music with Elton John for "Devil Wears Prada."

[12:20] Hannah Cruz: I know. Just on the side.

[12:22] Robert Bannon: Why not?

[12:24] Hannah Cruz: Why not? Can you explain a little bit of the backstory about when a show transfers, you have different roles, you have your roles, like how do these decisions happen? Is it a conversation? Is it a surprise? Like how do things like that happen? What's the behind the scenes?

[12:40] Hannah Cruz: After the public, I was doing "Only Gold" at MCC when we heard that we were gonna do a workshop right before the end of the year and Lee called me and she was like, so we've been thinking that maybe we wanna try you as Inez and we wanna see how you feel about that. And cause I had really fallen in love with Ruja and I really loved playing her. It was like a whole different side of myself as an actor that I didn't even know I had. And so it was like, it was very special to me. And she was like, this is like a try, not a try, it's not an audition, but this is to see how you feel and this is to see how we feel and let's like, let's give it a try. And at first I was unclear how I felt about it. It took me a while to find her.

[13:37] Hannah Cruz: Interestingly enough, cause I think like on her face, she can be quite simple and easy to play as a caricature, but I think that like all of these women are real people, therefore they're like very complex. And, but once I did find her, which was like toward the end of the workshop and then we did a reading and then through rehearsals for Broadway. Now it feels so second nature that like, I almost can't imagine playing Ruja anymore. Cause I feel like I have a brand new like space to inhabit in the group. So it's really funny how that happens cause you could look at them and think like they couldn't be more opposite, but actually fundamentally they're quite similar. It's really just in the physicality that they're different.

[14:23] Robert Bannon: Oh, it's exciting. What a gift as an actor to be able to play both sides and to play two different parts in this show is- I love stuff like that.

[14:30] Hannah Cruz: Yeah, it's cool. I'm sure there is going to be a whole new generation of musical theater actors and actresses and people who are going to come learn so much, your new music and you're going to inspire so many people with this work. So people need to get their tickets and come on down and see "Suffs" at this beautiful, legendary Music Box. It's such a beautiful space to see a show. What do you think, what do you hope we, when we go in, you have any words to the wise? What should we look for? What should we walk out and feel? What can we expect?

[15:02] Hannah Cruz: I mean, there's so much happening. There's so much show. My fiancé compared it to like the Odyssey last night. He's like, it's just such an epic, like the story is wild. So I would say like, see it more than once because there's a lot going on and there's a lot of story. And I think like, I think it would benefit from like a second or a third or fourth viewing. Like I, because I know if I was an audience member I would want to see it more than once. It's like a freight train, it never stops. And so I think, and I think it's fun to see because we all love each other so much. It's fun to see like the interpersonal relationships, color and make really rich all our relationships on stage.

[15:49] Hannah Cruz: That's really fun. It's nice when you really, really love your cast.

[15:52] Robert Bannon: Oh yeah, come on now. I love this already. Well, go to suffsmusical.com. Make sure we got to go because it's Hannah Cruz's Broadway debut, y'all. And go follow Hannah. This is Hannah Cruz. I'm going to be following her because I need to see what she does for opening, what she does for her wedding because I'm going to steal all her ideas. And then, that's the plan. Congratulations on a lifetime of work already. And this being the Broadway debut, when this show opens, this will be a part of Broadway history. And this is it. You're a Broadway performer forever and ever. And that's a lot of hard work. So congratulations. And I'll be there. I can't wait to see the show.

[16:29] Hannah Cruz: Yay, let me know when you come.

[16:31] Robert Bannon: Done. Thank you.

[16:37] Hannah Cruz: Congrats.

[16:39] Robert Bannon: Thank you.