Video: For Hannah Cruz, Performing in 'Difficult and Dangerous Times' Is a Call of Duty

“I’ll never in my whole life forget what it was like to [perform in] Suffs the night before the [2024 Presidential] election,” Hannah Cruz says, looking off as if lost in memory. “And then the night after the election ... I honestly hope I never experience something that intense again. It was so palpable, the sadness.”

Cruz, who made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning Shaina Taub musical about American suffragists, admits she’s not at the point in her career where she can choose her next job. But her projects, and the political themes that run through them, feel “correct.”

Cruz is currently starring in the Broadway revival of Chess alongside Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher. The Benny Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice, and Danny Strong musical is set during the Cold War and poses the question: Can a game of chess save the world? The high-stakes, hostile atmosphere of the 1980s is disarmingly familiar to the political temperature today, something Cruz says feels like a call of duty.

“As actors and storytellers,” Cruz explains. “We represent the times that we are in and let people process what they’re going through, what we’re all going through, in a collective. I’m proud to be in shows that allow people to live through these very difficult and dangerous times.”

Here, Cruz looks down, her tongue literally poking the inside of her cheek. “Not to quote an actual Chess song,” she chuckles. “That was gross.”

To learn the quickest way to Cruz’s heart, where she's at in the multi-decade filming of Richard Linklater's adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along, and why Christina Aguilera is her forever hair inspo, watch Playbill’s episode of Getting Ready above.

Cruz has the luxury of entering Chess in its second act as Svetlana, the estranged wife of Nicholas Christopher’s Anatoly; incidentally, she was primarily in the first act of Suffs. During the first act of Chess, Cruz leisurely applies her makeup, sipping her first of two cups of tea while listening to lo-fi music. Once she’s warmed up, she turns on Russian opera to get into the dialect; she shares she’s been listening to a singer with the first name Dmitri. (While Cruz has been “shamed” out of attempting to pronounce his last name in public, my best guess is she’s referring to Dmitri Aleksandrovich Hvorostovsky who, coincidentally, found love with a ballerina named Svetlana.)

Then Cruz, a “creature of habit,” slinks down to the stage and watches the certified banger “One Night in Bangkok” on the monitors. “I love that song,” Cruz says before enthusiastically agreeing that the number is one of the hottest on Broadway (right now, or maybe ever) as well as a true physical feat. “My whole body would fall into dust if I did anything those girls were doing.”

Thankfully for her, Cruz’s Svetlana avoids pulse-pounding dances, though the feats of breath and emotion she achieves vocally have undeniable power. While Cruz admits singing is “not her favorite,” as an audience member, it is difficult to not try to tune your ear to her voice alone (or to look away from her). Cruz’s Svetlana is a pawn in a political scheme—desperate, raw, vengeful; as puppy-eyed lovesick for Anatoly as she is sharp shards of a broken-heart at his betrayal. Though Cruz finds a purpose in the political work she’s doing now, she is relieved to have found a love that, from its first moments, provided instant calm.

Cruz is married to Edred Utomi, who is currently starring in Hamilton (one block north of Chess’ home at the Imperial). Utomi and Cruz met on the Hamilton tour. She played Eliza. He was her rehearsal Hamilton. They bonded over their shared obsession with “making the show as good as it could possibly be,” and, eventually, became engaged on the Hamilton stage during the show’s stop in Puerto Rico. Now, as neighbors on Broadway, they typically commute home together (unless Utomi stays to sign Playbills). Being next door has its perks (Cruz plans to utilize the now-not-so-secret tunnel between their theatres to surprise Utomi mid-show). Cruz dreams they will share the stage in the not-too-distant future.

“I would love to do [A Streetcar Named Desire] with him,” Cruz says. “Something of Shakespeare’s with him? I read, most recently, Othello. I love Emilia. [Shakespeare] is an activity for your brain in the best way. That would be really special to tackle together.”

In the immediate, Cruz is most looking forward to the release of the Chess cast album (no, she doesn’t have a release date). Despite it being a day devoted to singing, and despite how “actually psychotic” it felt to be on a track with her teenage idol Michele, Cruz says her time in the booth was the “most free” she’s ever felt. Indeed, Cruz carries with her a sense of ease. Perhaps it’s the calm she credits Utomi with providing. Perhaps it’s because, right now, she’s where she wants to be. (Gross.)