Places, please for ELLE’s theater column Showstoppers, where theater’s biggest stars reflect upon the moment in their career where the famous phrase “the show must go on” became a little too real. When things don’t go according to plan onstage, here’s how the pros react—and what they take away from it.
This month, Eva Noblezada, who stars as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, a new Broadway musical based upon the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name, discusses how the classic theater cliché trickles into her own life. Here, in her own words, she shares her warmup routine, her growth as a performer, and how actors must trust themselves.
Eight shows a week is crazy. I think after COVID, “the show must go on” means something different to me. There’s a difference between perseverance and overwhelming your body because of lack of boundaries, and sometimes you have to have boundaries, even though it’s your job, even though you love it so much. If I wake up in the morning, and I’m like, “I’m sick,” any normal person would call out, but we, as theater artists, go, Oh, I can’t because of the pressure from the producers. You don’t want to miss a show, you don’t want to put that pressure on your cover. Maybe you have friends watching that day, people come from thousands of miles around the world to see you perform live. There’s always a constant pressure to be on.
As I get older, I’ve realized that I’m going to need a lot more time in the day to slowly warm up my voice. When I was younger, I used to show up to work and sing Beyoncé’s “Love On Top,” and that would be my warm-up. I’d just scream it out. Now, it’s different. It’s day-to-day. If I feel like, Ah, I need a long, stretched, vibrating exercise that brings my cords together, then that feels really nice. Sometimes I go, Ah, I’ve actually been pretty quiet for the last 18 hours. I talked a little bit. My voice sounds pretty fine. Let’s just take it easy. It really is about knowing your body, knowing your voice. That’s a very good first step to make a decision of what to do next. The more I know how I feel in the moment, the more I know what I need to do next to get ready for the show. Because it’s essentially like our whole day is dedicated to [thinking], okay, have you rested enough? Are you able to do the show in the way that you’d like to tonight?
Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada in The Great Gatsby
So, in that way, I actually now feel like the show must go on in my own life rather than work, because if there’s one thing that Broadway performers are going to do is show up and fucking slay. I think that what we have to be able to do, and at the ease that it looks like we’re all doing it, it’s a very niche group of people who can do that.
We should just trust ourselves. We’re so hard on ourselves. To achieve such a high standard of perfection and high standard of like, I haven’t missed a show in X amount of months, I can’t do that. Sometimes I really need to pick a day off and reset. Our schedules are so crazy. We can’t see other people when they’re in town or go for brunch or birthday dinners, just because we want to make sure we’re absolutely ready to do the show, our job. So, that to me, is “the show must go on.” Keep living your life and keep doing your best to maintain those healthy boundaries with yourself.
Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada in The Great Gatsby
Talkback
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Eva Noblezada currently stars as Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here.