At holiday time, it seems especially appropriate to check in with one of Broadway's Queens: SIX: The Musical star Krystal Hernandez.

Puerto Rican actor, singer, and dancer Hernandez, who hails from Waltham, Massachusetts, is making her Broadway debut as Anne of Cleves in Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow's Tony-nominated musical about the six Renaissance women who married King Henry VIII. Hernandez played the same role in the Canadian company of Six in 2024. The international hit production, which has played over 1,700 performances for New York audiences, celebrated the fourth anniversary of its official Broadway opening this past fall.

Hernandez has also been seen on stage in a regional tour of Octavio Solis’ Quixote Nuevo, as Olivia in American Repertory Theater and Company One’s co-production of Miss You Like Hell, as the Lion in Wheelock Family Theatre’s Wizard of Oz, and as the Nurse in Trinity Repertory’s co-production of Romeo and Juliet. 

In the interview below for the Playbill series How Did I Get Here—spotlighting not only actors, but directors, designers, musicians, and others who work on and off the stage to create the magic that is live theatre—Hernandez shares how a high school teacher has influenced her entire career and how the pandemic taught her an important lesson.

Where did you train/study?
Krystal Hernandez: I graduated from Salem State University with a BFA in Acting and a double minor in Music and Dramatic Literature. A lot of my dance and singing training came from show choir in high school! Shout out, Music Unlimited!

Was there a teacher who was particularly impactful/helpful? What made this instructor stand out?
Christopher Landis was my music and show choir teacher all through high school. He truly wants the best for his students. He created a wonderful environment to challenge yourself but also be yourself, and that was the best classroom to be in at Waltham High. Still to this day, he will go above and beyond for his students. He instilled discipline and compassion, which are practices I carry throughout my career.

Do you have a favorite moment in the show for Anna of Cleves? What makes that part stand out?
Top of show when we are walking down the steps in silhouette with all the fog. Every night I can’t help but feel the pop star power in that moment. How slow and controlled we are knowing the audience doesn’t even know what is going to hit them next!

Why do you believe Six has been such a hit all around the world?
The music is infectious. I have been with the company for two years, and I’m still not sick of the songs. Very few shows can capture your obsession through the album alone. Then you see the show and are even more hooked. Even though the show is about British history, the message of women reclaiming their stories and rewriting herstory is universal.

What has been the most special part of performing in Six with its all-female cast and band?
The bond you make with the cast, for sure! I love hanging out with the girls in between shows. We all gather in Kelsie [Watts]' dressing room and watch movies and giggle for hours. We uplift one another on and off the stage.

How will you celebrate the holidays while keeping up the Broadway schedule?
I am fortunate to have my family in Boston. So the plan is to drive up and spend the day with them. When I was in Toronto last year with Six, I couldn’t visit my family, and two of my wonderful castmates took me in, and I celebrated with their families. It was beautiful, but I am super excited that my family is only a drive away.

Do you have a dream stage role and/or artists you would like to share the stage with?
So many, but I think top three are Hamilton sisters; Hadestown, literally anyone; and Wicked's Elphaba. Also, I’m waiting patiently for the day they bring back an In the Heights revival… I hope it’s soon, this Puerto Rican was too young when it came out the first time!

Tell me about a time you almost gave up but didn’t.
My initial Six audition. I almost didn’t go. It was an open call in Boston, and everyone sent me this audition notice. I was working full time at a bridal salon and had just come back to work after taking time off to do a show in Ohio. So I knew it was risky to ask my job to take more time off to prepare and attend this audition on a weekend, since weekends are the busiest time for bridal businesses. The audition was on a Saturday, and I decided I wasn’t going to audition the Monday before after a voice lesson with a new coach that didn’t go as well as I wanted. It was the dead of winter, I was coming on with a cold, and I didn’t feel 100 percent, so I said (in the voice of the Grinch), “That’s it, I’m not going!” Mr. Landis caught wind of this and begged me to come see him and work on the material, eventually convincing me to go. In college a professor used to always say, “Just show up.” It was so late notice at work I couldn’t risk them saying no, so I called out sick. Imagine if I hadn’t gone!

What do you consider your big break?
I consider my big break to be when I played Olivia in Miss You Like Hell in the joint production with Company One Theatre and American Repertory Theatre in 2018. That role really catapulted me as a leading lady in the Boston theatre community. I was named Boston’s Rising Star in 2019, booked the Huntington that same year and then…the pandemic hit. I learned a lot about what it felt like to be at the top of my career and then being forced to stop. I proved to myself that setbacks are always a possibility. If I keep showing up and trying, it can still happen and even bigger than what I imagined!

Tell me about a job/opportunity you really wanted but didn’t get. How did you get over that disappointment?
When I graduated from high school, I really wanted to study musical theatre. I had auditioned for a few programs and didn’t get into any of the ones I wanted. I was heartbroken, and my teacher Mr. Landis encouraged me to pick a program with an acting degree. He said, “You can sing and you can dance, why don’t you study something you know nothing about to help enhance everything you have?” It was the best advice I could’ve gotten.

I remember just randomly picking Salem State because it was one of the few state schools that offered a BFA program and wasn’t insanely expensive. I learned a lot of the same teachings that people who go to bigger schools received, and I got a lot of opportunities while I was there. Now my school didn’t have a ton of connections, so when I graduated, I had to put myself out there and try harder to get seen. It instilled a lot of discipline and humility to the way I approach every project. Nothing is ever guaranteed, and if you work hard and are a good person, people will see that and want to work with you!

What advice would you give your younger self or anyone starting out?
There is no one path to becoming a Broadway performer. Don’t worry about what people are doing around you, worry about honing in on your craft and celebrating all the little wins as much as you would the big wins!

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Photos: New Queens of Six on Broadway

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