# Talia Suskauer

Talia Suskauer (born August 2, 1996) is an American musical theatre actress, who is best known for playing Elphaba in the Broadway company of the smash-hit musical Wicked.

## Early life

Suskauer was born in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Her mother, Michelle Suskauer was a criminal defense lawyer who would later become president of the Florida Bar Association; her father Scott Suskauer was also an attorney who would later become a judge on Florida's 15th Judicial Circuit. By age 4, she had begun acting in local roles at her community temple. As a child, her parents would take her to attend Broadway shows in New York and played cast albums for her; as a result Suskauer claims that theater "was the only thing I ever really wanted to do". She attended Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos School of the Arts, majoring in theatre, and performed on stage locally at StarStruck Theatre in Stuart. She attended Penn State University as part of the musical theater BFA program, graduating in 2018. During her freshman year, she was selected to be a 2015 YoungArts winner in Theatre Arts.

## Broadway performances: Be More Chill and Wicked

In 2018, a year after graduating college, Suskauer made her off-Broadway debut at the Signature Theatre in New York City as the female standby and assistant dance captain in Be More Chill. The performance was then transferred to the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway in February 2019. Suskauer stayed with the production until its closing in August 2019.
Suskauer auditioned for the role of Elphaba in Wicked in August 2019, shortly after completing her tenure on Be More Chill. She was selected after receiving a final callback just one week after her first audition and began touring a week later. A TikTok of Suskauer's longtime vocal coach Craig Wich's reaction to the news that Suskauer would be joining the cast went viral. Suskauer opened in Las Vegas in September 2019, and toured until March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shutdown of live stage performances. She reopened the show in Dallas at the Music Hall at Fair Park in August 2021, in the first Broadway touring performance to open since the COVID shutdown began. Suskauer performed over 100 shows as Elphaba. According to Suskauer, being painted into the makeup for Elphaba was a 15-minute process each night, and her standard warmup consisted of 20-minutes of vocal exercises.
Suskauer's performances as Elphaba have been received favorably by critics. KDHX's Tina Farmer said "Talia Suskauer shines as Elphaba, with beautiful diction and a rich voice that resonates with relatable insecurity and determination." Broadway World's Daniel Collins said of Suskauer "Elphaba may have a magical broom but she's also got a powerful set of pipes, nearly shaking the rafters as Suskauer belts out songs like "Defying Gravity" and "No Good Deed," each ending with a powerful, how-long-can-she-sustain-that-note vocal crescendo."

## Other performances

Suskauer has performed regionally at the New London Barn Playhouse in New London, New Hampshire, repeatedly earning New Hampshire Theatre Award nominations for roles such as Princess Fiona in Shrek the Musical, Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Lily Craven in The Secret Garden, and Jo March in Little Women. She has also performed at the Penn State Centre Stage with roles as Ms. Asp in Love In Hate Nation, and Daphna in Bad Jews.
Suskauer is represented by the Harden Curtis Kirsten Riley talent agency and Moxie Artists management.