Seeing Elphaba Fly Shook Her Spirit as a Kid; Now, Hannah Corneau Plays Wicked's Green Girl Nightly

For 16 years, the Broadway juggernaut Wicked has wowed audiences with its fantastical staging, soaring score and inspiring heroine Elphaba. Coincidentally, the year Wicked hit Broadway, Hannah Corneau, the latest talent to join the show's dynasty of big-voiced green girls, was 13 and witnessed the magic of Wicked for the first time. “I remember crying so hard at ‘Defying Gravity’ that my friends were like, ‘You good?’ It shook my spirit to the core,” Corneau recalls. “Sometimes you see theater, and you identify with specific parts. I certainly identified with Elphaba."

Though Wicked marks her Broadway debut, this isn’t Corneau’s first trip to the Emerald City. “Funnily enough, I was in a production of The Wizard of Oz when I was five,” she says. “I played the Wicked Witch of the West." Theater has always been a part of her life with family members involved in local shows. “I remember going to rehearsals with my dad and my sister when they were in a production of Annie when I was four and just being enamored with it,” she says.

Originally from Clifton Park in upstate New York, Corneau played classic musical theater roles during her time at Shenendehowa High School: Guinivere in Camelot, Kate in Kiss Me, Kate and Maria in West Side Story—a role she nabbed her freshman year. Despite her ability to play leading-lady types, she identifies with quirkier parts. "I was unique. I definitely didn’t follow the crowd," she said of her high school self. "I think I’ve always had a good grasp of who I am, and Elphaba certainly has a grasp of who she is.”

After getting her musical theater degree at Syracuse University in 2011, Corneau left for Chicago—the city, not the musical—and garnered ensemble roles in regional productions of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Fiddler on the Roof. Her time in Chicago led to the opportunity to play the role of Ruth Stern in Harmony, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s musical about the Comedian Harmonists, at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and then the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Though the long-gestating project did not arrive on the Great White Way as expected, Corneau still moved to New York. “I lived with my cousin in Brooklyn. She was so kind to have me stay with her. It was a really cool Brooklyn apartment in Park Slope, so it wasn’t a horror story—luckily!”

Though she had to babysit and work at a restaurant in Brooklyn, the experience with Harmony opened Corneau up to new opportunities, resulting in her taking over for Tony winner Lena Hall as Yitzhak on the national tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. “I was touring the country with a rock band at 27. It was the perfect thing,” she says. “It helped me grow as an actor.” Upon returning to New York City, she landed another opportunity to showcase her vocals: the critically acclaimed Renascence, about the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. “Renascence off-Broadway really helped me harness my power as a leading lady,” Corneau says of playing Millay. “I was portraying such a strong woman, and she was a trailblazer much like Elphaba.”

A few months after Renascence ended, Corneau auditioned for Wicked. “I went in and kind of forgot about it, “ she says. Those in the room certainly didn’t. One week later, Corneau got the call saying she would be playing Elphaba on Broadway in May 2019. “I didn’t have a callback or anything,” she says. “It was unbelievable.”

It's rare to make a Broadway debut, but it's remarkable to debut in one of the most coveted roles on Broadway. “When I got the call to say that I got the role, I immediately called my mom and said, ‘We did it!’ There are all the anxieties that we have [as performers] and of course, our parents, have as well,” Corneau says. “I have certainly experienced the climb within this industry. I’ve understudied. I’ve stood by. I’ve paid dues, as people would say. But I have tried to curate what the steps were for me along the way. I knew that I wanted to be on Broadway, but I knew I wanted to be specific about how I was going to be on Broadway."

Sixteen years after being an audience member at the Gershwin Theatre, Corneau found herself center stage playing her dream role. “Playing Elphaba has taught me that I truly can be the strongest woman I can be day to day. I could not think of a better welcome to Broadway than playing Elphaba in Wicked," she says. "It’s the biggest honor and the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face as a performer, and I think that’s a really beautiful thing.”

Photo Credits: Photographs by Caitlin McNaney | Styling: Sarah Slutsky | Hair & Makeup: Rachel Estabrook
Video Credits: Videographer: Kyle Gaskell | Video Editor: Mark Hayes | Executive Producer: Paul Wontorek | Produced by Lindsey Sullivan | Shot at Alley Cat at The Beekman

Bonus Video: Go behind the scenes at our photo shoot with Hannah Corneau!