A Walk on the Moon Stars Talia Suskauer and Max Chernin on Friendship, Family and the Power of Jewish Joy

After nine months starring as Lucille and Leo Frank in the North American tour of Parade, Talia Suskauer and Max Chernin are—in Suskauer's words—"forged for life." An important but immensely emotional undertaking to perform night after night, Parade tells the true, tragic story of a Jewish couple enduring antisemitism and facing a wrongful murder conviction in 1913 Marietta, Georgia. Over the course of the run, the actors formed a strong working relationship and a lasting friendship. What Chernin refers to as "baked-in chemistry" ultimately led to the pair's current gig playing Jewish spouses Pearl and Marty Kantrowitz. Couple that with a decidedly more feel-good narrative, and teaming back up for A Walk on the Moon feels like a walk in the park.

That’s not to imply that bringing an original musical to New York City is an easy feat. But the location makes sense; A Walk on the Moon is set in a Catskills bungalow colony during the pivotal summer of 1969, against the backdrop of a changing country. As the world watches the Apollo 11 space mission and Woodstock music festival gears up in nearby Bethel, New York, Pearl is on the cusp of her own journey of self-discovery. "It is so meaningful to [audiences] to see their culture reflected back at them in a way that is joyous and nostalgic and special," says Suskauer, who made her Broadway debut in Be More Chill and went on to star as Elphaba in Wicked.

An adaptation of the semi-autobiographical 1999 film of the same name starring Diane Lane, Liev Schreiber and Viggo Mortensen, screenwriter Pamela Gray partnered with Tony-nominated arranger and orchestrator AnnMarie Milazzo (Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, Once on This Island) for the music and lyrics. Now in performances through August 22, Suskauer and Chernin sat down with Broadway.com at the Laura Pels Theatre to discuss the joys and challenges of telling authentic Jewish stories and share what makes A Walk on the Moon so extraordinary.

How did each of you first get involved with the production?

Talia Suskauer: I'll take us back to Chicago in the summer of 2025. We were doing Parade out there, and my friend Max Beer works for the Hendels [Ruth and Stephen], who are our lead producers on this show. For years he's been talking to me about the show. I think in his brain it was always like, "Talia would be really great in this role when she ages into it," because they've been working on this for quite some time. He told me he was coming to visit me and see Parade in Chicago, and little did I know, he brought his bosses with him. I think from there they were like, "Yeah, she'd be great for Pearl. And also, wait, hold on. It's a two-for-one. Max would be a great Marty." We did the first reading of it back in September, right after we got off tour.

What was it like working with Pamela Gray?

Max Chernin: It was super collaborative and such a joy to work with Pam. She's been here almost every night. This seems like such a gift for her to see it.

Talia: This is her story. She spent her summers in the Catskills with her family in bungalow colonies, so it's really a gift and tribute to her and to our Jewish family members who all went to the Catskills.

What is it about the story that drew you in?

Talia: Normally, when I as a Jewish performer am asked to go do a reading or a show, it's always some Holocaust story. It is an honor to pay tribute to that part of my family history, but also it's always about Jewish suffering and trauma. To display this very important part of Jewish life so prominently on a New York stage—that existed and was happy and was a safe escape for people in the Catskills, and the trauma is not related to Judaism—I think it's a really cool thing. It's not about us being Jewish and how hardship comes from that. It's about how the culture is baked into these people and it's really beautiful.

Max: I totally agree. We've done Fiddler on the Roof and the two of us have done Parade. I was really drawn to the characters in this piece. I saw so much of my family in some of these characters. My grandfather and my father and the humor that's baked into this feels so similar to the way that my family makes fun of each other and pokes at each other in the most loving way. It felt like a really, really authentic representation of this community.

There is so much Jewish joy in the show, from the Yiddish phrases to the Borscht Belt setting. Have you felt this resonating with audiences?

Talia: It's been an incredibly emotional thing to get to put this Jewish joy on stage in front of these audiences who were all there. This is not so far away. No one from the time period of Fiddler is still alive. But these people were all there, whether they were teenagers or little kids or even Pearl's age, growing up there. Jewish women at this time, it was a very unique thing. Women in general, they were homemakers. And this is the first time that, with the introduction of The Feminine Mystique and The Women's Liberation Movement, we're kind of questioning, "Is that all?" A lot of women have come up to me after the show and said, "You were my mother." To get to see and understand my mother from a different perspective is so beautiful.

Max: I echo everything she says. I think AnnMarie has also created a kind of pastiche sonic landscape, where she's written a lot of songs that feel like a nod to the pop music of the time. It's my hope that the audience is sitting there being like, "Wow, these sound like the songs I heard on the radio." There's this song in the second act that's a direct nod to Joni Mitchell. I think it's tugging at people's heartstrings in a way that's really special.

Are Jewish stories something you seek out as actors?

Max: They find us. But seeing something that, as Talia mentioned, is as joyful as this definitely brings it to the top of the list.

Can you share what you enjoy or identify with the most about playing your respective characters?

Max: There's so much in Marty, that kind of hiding his true emotions behind his humor, that I see in my grandfather and my dad. My grandfather was an engineer for General Electric, but his humor and his mannerisms would come out during family events. When I'm wearing some of my costumes and I look at myself in the mirror, I'm like, "Wow, I look like Grandpa Mike." There's this kind of nerdy bit to Marty that is so familiar to me in a way. I just see so much of myself in this. [Laughs] It's fun to take the ride with Pearl and with my family and see how these characters change over the course of the show.

Talia: I've seen the pictures, I've heard the stories of my family going up to the bungalow colonies. We lost one of my grandmothers in January while we were doing our second reading of this, and I couldn't help but think about her, because she was this age at this time raising kids. They would go up to the Catskills and there's this incredible picture I have of her from this time looking so beautiful in a little floral dress and with her two young kids in tow. It feels like a way to honor her and all the women of this time. I don't know what my grandmother could have been. I think she would have been a CEO or a broadcaster, anything, had she been given the opportunity or the voice to do so.

In what ways do playing these characters challenge you?

Talia: I think the challenge of these roles is that you can't make them a stereotype. It can be very easy to sink into what we all know these people to be, but I think it is doing a disservice to the people of the time to make any of them a stereotype. These are very, very real people. To fall into any kind of stereotype is, in my opinion, the trap of it.

Have your family members seen the show?

Max: My dad's sister (my aunt) and my cousins came to see the show and they reflected to me that they saw a lot of my dad in the piece. And then they told my dad and he'd be like, "I don't know." It's so special to share something like this with them. It just feels like such a love letter to their generation. And I grew up listening to the music that I did because of them. I grew up on The Beatles because of them. So my love and appreciation for this time period feels passed down, feels like a generational gift. I love it. It's so sweet.

Talia, what is it like working alongside your sister, Becca [Suskauer, who plays Rhoda]?

Talia: Oh my god, it's been amazing. This is my mom's Super Bowl, my parents' Super Bowl, to see both of their kids in a show like this. My other grandma is coming in August, and she has a weekly Canasta game and a weekly Mah Jongg game. I get to honor her in that way on stage. Some of her friends that she grew up with in New York are coming to the show and bringing their kids. It feels like we're doing a massive mitzvah by putting this on stage for people.

Are young people responding to the show?

Max: A lot of our friends are coming. I think the Alison [played by Sophie Pollono] and Ross [Oscar Williams] plotline is super relatable for the kids in the show. And theater fans get to come here and have a really satisfying theatrical experience. You're coming to see a musical.

Talia: What's really cool is that young people are coming to the show and hearing a lot of political things that are brought up that really resonate with us today, fortunately or unfortunately. Some of these lines, even though they may sound really prevalent, are actually what was going on back then, too. I think that young people are coming and they're going, "Oh wait, maybe times haven't changed as much as we'd like them to."

How has your working relationship developed since touring together with Parade?

Talia: When you're starting anything with someone, you have to build up trust and rapport; you have different styles of working and figuring out how you communicate with each other and listen to each other. Being thrown into a piece like Parade brought its own unique set of challenges, and showing up every day and having to tell that story was incredibly difficult. Getting through that just prepared us. Now we can do anything. Put us in anything, coach! But all this to say, it is such a gift and a joy to be able to get to work with one of your closest friends. And when you already have such a beautiful collaboration, to continue it and to explore new roads together has been really special.

Max: It's so rare to get a chance to be like, "Oh, amazing. I have this shorthand with another actor and I know that we're going to have a great rehearsal period. We're going to have a great run. We're going to be able to support each other." And for me personally on this, I get to watch my friend be a star. I got a little emotional watching her take her final bow, and I am so pleased to have offstage time and to have a little bit less of a pull on this show. It is nice to relax and not be on trial every night and in jail.

Talia: We switched places. We got to watch each other.

Max: But it's so special to see what I got to see on the road and get to see New York audiences see Talia shine in the way that she's always meant to.

Talia: Aw, kvelling!

Had you worked together at all prior to Parade?

Talia: We did one concert.

Max: But I feel like we've always orbited each other.

Talia: I heard Max sing in this concert that we were both in and I was like, "That's the best voice I've ever heard." And then I went to see Parade on Broadway when he was in his ensemble track and sent him a little message after, just like, "Great job, congratulations. What a beautiful thing to be a part of." And he was like, "Let's do this on the road together." After not even knowing me that well. And then it happened. A year later, we were cast.

What’s your dream show to pair up in next?

Max: Put us in, coach, to Little Shop of Horrors. Literally anytime. Michael Mayer, if you're listening, we're ready. We would love to do Sunday in the Park with George together. We would love to do Dot and George.

You did Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway.

Max: I did. I understudied [George]. But Talia got to do the role [of Dot].

Talia: He understudied on Broadway. I got to do it at JCC. But that's the thing with a show like that. I would do that show anywhere, it doesn't even matter. And we had a beautiful production out there, but any chance you get to work on that material is a gift. There's a list, though. We have a running list.

What has it been like helping to shape a new musical?

Talia: It's been a learning curve for me. This is my first time originating a role in a public way. Usually I'm doing it in a reading or workshop where it's very private, and this is on the New York stage. There was a lot of self-talk that I had to do. It's very vulnerable to sing something for the first time and not feel like I have mastered it yet. And then I remember, nobody has heard these songs before. Any way that I sing it is the way that it is. It's freeing in that way.

Max: It's such a gift to originate a role. And sometimes you can forget that because of the chaos around getting it up on its feet. You don't really realize it until you're in that first preview, but you're like, "Wow, I really am the first person in New York to say these words." And it is super vulnerable to do it in New York City. There's a reason why people go out of town and do a regional, because they're like, everyone will be kind to us. This is a really smart theater-going audience, so there's a pressure to deliver a certain level of performance when you're here that's exhilarating and also can become very nerve-racking at times.

Who would you say this show is for?

Talia: I could go on forever about who this show is for. I think it's for anyone in a family unit. I think it's for Jews, non-Jews. I think it's for people that have undergone familial trauma or hardship. I think it's for people who love the '60s and that time period and amazing new music that's evocative of that. I think it's for people that love to laugh and also love to be moved. I think it's for young people who are wanting to be inspired to make change.

Max: It's accessible to anyone. Of course broadly there's this community that has this lived experience, but the summer of 1969, when someone landed on the moon and Woodstock [took place], is such a monumental marker of time for a generation. I think anyone that lived through that has this really visceral experience with what's going on.

Talia: I also want to say, it's a good window into Jewish culture if you don't know about it. It's a beautiful little window into it and I think it's a great way for people to come and find out what we're all about.

Talia, both you and Becca went to French Woods. Has there been any summer camp reminiscing backstage?

Talia: Especially because we have another French Woods alum in the cast, Andrea Burns, every day. Every single day. There's so much about this show that brings us back. We went to camp in the Catskills. And I think what's cool is that Andrea and my sister and I went to camp at different times, but have this beautiful shared experience that we talk about often and ties us together.

Max: I didn't go to camp in the Catskills. I went to Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan; I'm from Ohio. It's interesting as a 30-something to be like, "I'm drawing my experience from my camp." But there is something that happens when you leave your home and you're in the woods. There's something magical about that.

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