Yesterday, the powerhouse actor and musician Cynthia Erivo joined Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce and Shayna Marie, where she pulled back the curtain on the intense and surprisingly "easy-listening" preparation behind her acclaimed one-woman show, Dracula.
During the interview, Erivo detailed a marathon-like daily schedule—quite literally. “I’m training for the London Marathon,” she revealed. “And during my runs in the morning, I run a lot of the sections of the show.” Once at the theatre around 4:00pm for a 7:30pm curtain, the preparation shifts into a meticulous mental and vocal routine. “I run small sections of the show just to get my mind agile enough,” she explained.
However, it was her specific method for battling pre-show jitters that caught the presenters by surprise. “I do a mini meditation, because I get quite nervous before I go on, and it helps me sort of like calm my nerves,” Erivo said. “And this is going to sound very strange, but I listen to yacht rock.”
As Robert and Shayna questioned the genre, Erivo clarified: “It's like rock music for yachts, but it's not really for yachts… It's kind of like easy-listening rock music.” She specifically pointed toward the smooth 70s and 80s sounds of artists like Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald. “There's a song called ‘Sailing,’” she noted, explaining that the track is a staple of her pre-show meditation.
The scientific results of the playlist are apparently undeniable for the star. “I’ve tested it, it helps my heart rate drop, so it actually makes me calmer before I go,” Erivo revealed. It seems the high-stakes drama of Dracula requires a little "Sailing" to keep the performer grounded before she takes the stage.
Tune into Capital XTRA Breakfast with Robert Bruce & Shayna Marie weekdays from 6:30am-10:00am, also available on the Global Player app.
