Hannah Cruz is headed back to Broadway…
The part-Latina actress/singer gas joined the Broadway production of Suffs, a stage musical based on suffragists and their American women’s suffrage movement with a book, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub,
Suffs originally premiered Off Broadway at The Public Theater in April 2022.
Most of the Broadway cast is making the move from Off Broadway, though Cruz, who played Ruza Wenclawska at The Public Theater, takes over from Phillipa Soo as Inez Milholland.
Taub will lead the Broadway cast of her musical Suffs, reprising the role she played in the original, sold-out production.
The casting makes Taub only the second woman in Broadway history to write the book, music, lyrics and star in her own musical, following the late Micki Grant, who made Broadway history in 1972 with Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope.
Taub will play Alice Paul, the young suffragist at the forefront in the battle for women’s rights in the early 20th Century.
Joining Taub and Cruz in the Broadway production – which begins previews at the Music Box Theatre on March 26 ahead of an April 18 opening night – will be Nikki M. James as Ida B. Wells; Jenn Colella as Carrie Chapman Catt; Grace McLean as President Woodrow Wilson; Kim Blanck as Ruza Wenclawska; Anastacia McCleskey as Mary Church Terrell; Ally Bonino as Lucy Burns; Tsilala Brock as Dudley Malone; Nadia Dandashi as Doris Stevens; and Emily Skinner, who is taking over for Aisha de Haas in the Alva Belmont/Phoebe Burn roles.
Rounding out the company are Hawley Gould as the alternate for Alice Paul, Jaygee Macapugay as Mollie Hay and Laila Drew making her Broadway debut as Phyllis Terrell/Robin.
The cast and ensemble will also include Dana Costello, Jenna Bainbridge, Monica Tulia Ramirez, Ada Westfall, Christine Heesun Hwang, Kirsten Scott, Housso Semon and D’Kaylah Unique Whitley.
Suffs, directed by Leigh Silverman, features choreography by Mayte Natalio, music supervision and music direction by Andrea Grody, scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Lap Chi Chu, sound design by Jason Crystal and orchestrations by Michael Starobin.
Jill Furman and Rachel Sussman will serve as lead producers, with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Malala Yousafzai serving as co-producers.
The official synopsis: It’s 1913 and the women’s movement is heating up in America, anchored by the suffragists — “Suffs,” as they call themselves — and their relentless pursuit of the right to vote. Reaching across and against generational, racial, and class divides, these brilliant, flawed women entertain and inspire us with the story of their hard-won victory in an ongoing fight. So much has changed since the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment over a century ago, and yet we’re reminded sometimes we need to look back, in order to march fearlessly into the future.
Cruz’s previous credits include the Off Broadway productions of The Connector and Only Gold and the national tour of Hamilton.
