Nasia Thomas ’15 shares her experiences as she makes her Broadway debut as Little Eva in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”
After graduation last year, Nasia Thomas ’15 joined the National Tour of “Beautiful: The Carole King” as a swing. After only six months on the tour, Thomas sent a video to the production team when a spot opened up in the Broadway show, and found out she got the part of Little Eva four days later.
Already knowing six tracks in the show meant that Thomas was well prepared for her debut, but she had to learn a whole new role in the show. “I rehearsed in a studio twice and then did a couple of on stage rehearsals,” Thomas said. “My last rehearsal was on a Tuesday afternoon, two days before I was scheduled to make my Broadway debut. The next thing I know, one of the girls in the show called out sick and boom! I was making my debut two days earlier than expected. It was scary, but so exciting.”
On transitioning from being a swing to doing eihjt shows a week, Thomas said that she had to recondition her body and vocal chords to start being used again regularly. “On tour as a swing, I waited to step in if needed and only ended up going on three times in six months. I needed to get back in shape mentally, physically and vocally to prepare myself.
“I went to the gym and sang ‘The Locomotion’ on a treadmill every day. I changed my social habits, stopped going out late, ate better and instead of having wine a few nights a week, I completely cut it out. I started a routine, tried to sleep at least seven hours, started hydrating and warming up as soon as I woke up in the morning. To this day, I’m still figuring out what works best for me, and it’s getting so much easier. Although doing eight shows a week can be taxing, I’m so honored to be performing every night again and doing what I love everyday.”
To get tickets to see Nasia and fellow Elon alumnus Rob Marnell ’06 in “Beautiful,” visit http://beautifulonbroadway.com.