Interview: Hannah Cruz Is Playing the Game in Chess on Broadway

You’d be surprised to learn that Hannah Cruz is not the biggest fan of singing. I certainly was, having seen her in musical after musical—Suffs (playing Inez Milholland on Broadway and Ruza Wenclawska at the Public), The Connector (where she got some of the best Jason Robert Brown songs in the score), and even Hamilton, where she took control of the narrative on tour as Eliza. You’d never know it, but apparently, singing is a source of stress for this rising Broadway star.

And yet, when it comes to Chess, the maligned rock opera by Tim Rice, Benny Anderson, and Björn Ulvaeus being revived on Broadway this month, Cruz finds a great deal of pleasure in the role of Svetlana and soaring numbers like “I Know Him So Well.” “It’s not just belting high for belting high’s sake,” Cruz says. “That, to me, is not interesting. This has bite to it and has stakes.”

We caught up with Cruz to discuss the moves she’s making, on stage and off.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Is Chess one of those shows that you’ve known forever or is this really your first introduction to it?
I grew up listening to the concept album, but I never knew what it was about. The audition was “The Deal” and “Endgame,” and I didn’t know those songs, really, so I listened to the Royal Albert Hall concert over and over to try to learn it.

How does it feel to sing it for real now?
Pretty great, I’m not going to lie. I have a love-hate relationship with singing. It’s not my favorite thing in the world.

Well, you’d never know.
Yeah, I keep doing it for a living, so I guess you’d be surprised. But it’s a cause of stress for me. The real love, for me, has always been acting. This score is great because there’s so much emotionality behind the music that it makes sense. It’s not just belting high for belting high’s sake. That, to me, is not interesting. This has bite to it and has stakes.

I’m just looking forward to seeing what “One Night in Bangkok” is like in the actual context of the show.
It’s sick. It’s so sick. I can’t wait for people to see what Lorin Latarro and those dancers are doing. I’m not being facetious and I’m not saying this because I’m in it: It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s without lights, orchestra, costumes.

Tell me about working with this whole team.
It’s been great. Michael Mayer directed one of my best friends, Michael Urie, in a movie called Single All the Way, so when I booked this, I went to Michael.

You two did The Da Vinci Code together at Ogunquit.
And he was the best man at my wedding. My man of honor, I guess. I asked him what he thought, and he was like “Oh, Michael Mayer’s the best.” Everyone’s been super collaborative and kind and hardworking, which is a good thing. It was just a little jarring to be working with men again, honestly, after Suffs.

Oh, that didn’t even occur to me. Can you talk about that?
Having scene partners that are men, a director who’s a man, a book writer who’s a man, and a music director who’s a man, it’s just different coming from Suffs. I felt it more when I was playing Ruza off-Broadway, but there was something nice about not caring about my appearance when it came to going to work.

A lot of characters I’ve played have their appearances very locked into their identity, and that can be stressful as a woman, to feel like your work depends on your looks. It could just be anxiety, especially when you’re doing eight shows a week. You’re not going to feel pretty every single day. It’s not the way that women’s brains work. But it could also be empowering and confidence boosting, and I try to see it that way. Sometimes, when you are working with men, you have to think about those things. But it hasn’t happened in a way, in this process, that’s made me feel self-conscious.

Obviously, people in this cast like Lea have been around the block for a while. What is that like for you?
Lea has been great; she was the first person who texted me to welcome me into the cast, which was sweet. We live around the same area, so she would drive me home and we get to connect that way. These are people that I grew up listening to and watching, so it can be kind of heady. At this point, I’ve worked with a lot of people like that, so I am a little more used to it and there’s a little less fangirl in my head.

That comes a little bit with age, too.
Yes, I agree. If I was 27, I’d be freaking out every day. But I’m not. I feel happy and honored to get to work with people who I admire and look up to.

Going back to singing, is a rock score like this difficult to sustain?
I’m not sure yet. It’s high. But like I said, because there’s a story behind it all, I don’t find it as daunting as, like…Sorry to say, but I look at Wicked, and singing that score would put me in my grave. I think it would stress me out.

I totally get that.
Way too much.

Can you actually play chess?
I love playing chess. I’m going to have a chessboard in my dressing room. I want everyone to play with me.

My brain doesn’t work like that.
My husband taught me when I booked this. I thought I felt the same way.

I’m not a math person, so I can’t really—
You don’t need math. It’s really just figuring out how the knight moves. Once you get that, it’s easy.