#208 Why Talent Isn’t Everything: My Audition Story That Changed Everything

This week on The Salisha Show, Salisha Thomas shares the powerful and often humorous story of how she booked her first dream Broadway show without being the best singer in the room.

From arriving in New York City with nothing but a suitcase and ambition, Salisha takes listeners through the unexpected turns, the callbacks, and the moments that ultimately led her to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

In this episode, she opens up about:
• Why talent is not the deciding factor in many auditions
• The timing, alignment, and surprising moments that shaped her Broadway break
• The role authenticity plays in being remembered in a room
• How nerves, humor, and honesty all became part of her journey
• The deeper truth behind what casting directors often respond to

For anyone who has ever doubted their abilities or questioned their place, this episode offers perspective, encouragement, and insight into how doors open when you remain true to yourself.

CHAPTERS

00:39 – The Big Move to New York
01:36 – Landing the Beautiful Audition
03:52 – The Unexpected Callback Moment
05:34 – Getting the Job
07:00 – Final Takeaways

Episode Recorded at: Gotham Production Studios

@salishathomas @thesalishashow, www.thesalishashow.com

Many thanks to Gotham Network in NYC, TyNia Brandon for writing and laying vocals down for the updated theme song and Big Red Studios for the intro video wherever you watch the latest season of The Salisha Show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

That you want to know what's the new covering you and your favorite rose.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hello, what's up? It's me, Salish. I'm your host of the Silicia Show. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm at the beautiful Gotham Production Studios here in Midtown Manhattan. And shout out to the Gotham Network. Happy to be here. Love you guys. Um, I want to talk to you today about how I booked my dream show without being the best singer in the room. In fact, this has happened quite a few times. I don't mean to like poo-poo on my talent. Like, thank you, Jesus, for the gifts and the talents that you have given me. But the reality of the business is you don't have to be the best person in the room to get the job that you want. And I think that's a universal concept for a lot of different industries. The people who are the ones at the top, they're not always the most qualified, but somehow they found themselves there. So, what is the difference between them and you or them and us? Like, why, how? And here's what I think. I think it's a combination of things: right place, right time, what God has for you will not pass you by. There's no way you can mess up what God has for you except by counting your own self out and not showing up. That's one big thing. And then the second thing is finish what you start. Like, how many times have you turned on a Netflix show and it sucks? How on earth did they get that on Netflix? Well, they wrote it, they pitched it, they finished it, they saw it through the end, they knew somebody, and they did it. Like, we have to rig the system. But okay, we'll circ we'll circle back to that. So, how did there's been a few shows that I've gotten in that I'm like, there's no way I'm gonna get this show. So-and-so is auditioning, and I know she is way better than me. Like, the comparison game is the thief of joy. Don't do it, don't do it, just don't do it. But there have been times where my only job, like this is me in hindsight, my only job was to show up, and the rest was history. So I said in the last episode um a little bit about how I got to New York City. I was out here visiting, a homeless man told me to move here. I quit my job at Disney. Two weeks later, I was back in the city, and I heard about the show called Beautiful the Carol King musical, got an audition, and I didn't even know what the show was. I was like, who is Carol King? Are there black people in that? What is this? So I bought a ticket the next day to see the show. My audition was two days after I'd even heard about what the show was. It was two days later. So I had the next day to see the show, put everything in context of the audition sides that they gave me, and then practice it, and then go in 48 hours later. I saw the show. It was uh at the Stephen Sondheim Theater on 43rd Street in New York City. Was Jesse? Did I see Jesse Mueller? I think I saw Jesse Mueller. Oh my gosh, I saw Jesse Mueller as Carol King. She's the girl who got the Tony Award for it. Oh my gosh, she was so incredible. I saw the show many times after that, before being in it. Um, but it was always like Shalina Kennedy, who's incredible as well. Um, she's the Carol that I saw the most. Okay. I saw Jesse Mueller play Carol King, and I was sitting in the back row of the balcony all the way house right on the wall. And it was the cheapest ticket that I could get my hands on, and it was still$99. Like that was a lot of money. It still is. Like, I like to see shows for like 40 bucks, okay? I'm a little cheapskate, but like I tried to. But if I were to see every show on Broadway and it was all$100 and up, I would be so broke. Uh. But I spent the money on this. I sat in the back row, I took notes in the dark, and there was this moment of wow. Even if I don't make it in this show, even if I don't get cast in this show, this is officially my favorite show on Broadway. I loved it. I was laughing, I was crying, I forgot it was a musical until they started singing. Douglas McGrath, God rest his soul, like wrote such a beautiful script. There's so many, um, there's so many jukebox musicals today. But the way beautiful the Carol King musical was written, I think it's one of, I might be biased, but I think it's one of the best jukebox musicals. The way it weaves the story, it's like the story is first. And then the actors on stage open their mouths and you're like, oh, I know this song. Oh my gosh, I know that song. So I prepared my materials. They gave me all of the songs and the scenes that they wanted me to do from the show. And one of them was the locomotion, the other one was Will You Love Me Tomorrow. And then for my last day, they threw in One Fine Day for me to sing. I loved Will You Love Me Tomorrow? Like singing that song, I was like, This is my dream role. I remember watching Carly Hughes perform this at the Tony Awards, and my friend was like, Salicia, you can do that. And I just looked at her like she's so dreamy. She's perfect. She sounds so amazing, she's so sexy. I think I can sing that song, but I'm nothing like her. But now here I was with the music in my hands, and I'm learning it, and I can sing it, and I love to sing it, and I'm having a good time. But then I had to learn locomotion, and this one was like at the top of my range. I'm like, I don't know if I can sing this. I figured out a way to sing it, but I knew if this song, if they heard me sing this song first, they're not gonna want to hear Will You Love Me Tomorrow. So when I got to the audition, the audition floor was f it was a f it was a call, like I didn't know that they'd been casting this show for months. And this was the final week of casting. No idea. And also, I had just been here the month prior. I recognized the girls in the room. I had just seen them in Motown or in, oh gosh, what else was playing at that time? That's the one at the top of mine. It was over 10 years, you guys. Over 10 years ago. But I recognize like people had signed my playbills days prior in who were who I was auditioning up against, really. I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I doing here? And everyone in the room was starting with the locomotion. I'm like, you know what, Salish? Just go in there and have fun. You don't have anything to lose. This is your first New York City audition. You have nothing to lose. How did you even get in this room? So I um so I did. A man named Steven Copel walks out and he's like, Salisha, you ready? I think he's the monitor. Okay. That's hilarious because he's the casting director. He's a huge casting director. But he was so young and cute. I'm like, there's no way this guy is like the casting. I didn't even think that. I was like, oh, he's the monitor. I was like, thank you so much. I'm ready. And I walked in the room, and someone behind the table, I think it was the director, he goes, Didn't you just get here? Like, did you just move here this week? And I said, Yes, I came here with a suitcase and a dream. And everybody in the room laughs. And I remember the faces in the room, but I didn't know who they were at the time. It was Jason Howland, the music supervisor, Mark Bruni, the director, Josh Prince, the choreographer, and who was on keys? It could have been Rick Hip Flores, maybe? Like, I know these guys, but at that point, it was just like, it's a room full of men. I don't know anybody. I'm brand new here. And I said, I got I got here, I just came here with a suitcase in a dream. They all laugh. And I think it was Mark who said, start with whatever you want. And I said out loud, thank you, Jesus. I said, Will you love me tomorrow? Hit it. And I started singing, I had the papers in my hand. Oh my God, I was so skinny. Oh, can I just reminisce for a second? I was so skinny and so pretty. I'm so fat now. Okay, I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant, but still I feel that, you know. And I and I sang the song. And something happened when I got to the bridge. I felt, I felt confident. I remember Jason Howland sitting a little bit differently. I finished the song. I felt so good about it. And immediately he's like, okay, now go back over here and do this, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Can you do that? And I'm like, yeah, I can do that. And I did that and it felt good. And then after that, I he was like, let's hear locomotion. I'm like, uh. And I was just honest. And I said, you know, I'm really in alto. He said, it's fine. It's don't worry about it. Just we just want to hear it. And I sang it and I sang all of the notes, you guys. Like I sang all of the high notes. I was so surprised. Like I and I looked surprised. Like I looked like a green girl who was so surprised. And um after I sang it, Jason said, You're a Mezzo. I'm like, okay, whatever that is. Um, I did the sides and then I left. I went straight to Hillstone restaurant where I was the hostess and the new girl. It was my first couple of days working there, like bussing tables, wiping down tables, trying to seat people, but I was really bad at that. Long story long, like I went from working at Disney, where we had five shows a day at Mickey and the Magical Map. And each show was like 19 minutes, and I was on stage for only two and a half of those minutes. The rest of the day was one big party backstage. We're watching the game, we're watching movies, we're playing games, I'm doing homework for college. Like most of my day was one big break, and I go on stage and be a princess for two minutes. Really, that was it. Now I'm in a restaurant grinding. I have they gave us no breaks. Like literally, the only break you took was when you had to go to the restroom. That was it. I thought they were kidding. I was there for I'm like, is this legal? I was there for hours. And so I never got a chance to look at my phone for like six hours until like after midnight. And when I did, I my phone was flooded with messages. And so I'm like, oh, what did I miss? And so my agents were trying to get a hold of me. Casting was trying to get a hold of me, which by the way, when I left that initial call, Stephen Koppel said, Great job. Thank you for being here. And I looked up at him and I said, Thank you for being here. Girl, bye. He is the casting director. He's not here for free. Anyway, so I got a final callback. But the way it worked was I got a callback for the next day, and then a final callback for the next day. So the next day I had to dance. I was like, well, what if they don't like how I dance? They said, don't worry about it. Just go in there, give them what you got, and you still have to go back the next day and sing for the full team. I'm like, oh my gosh. Okay. So I did that. I was giving, giving, giving. I'm not really a dancer, but it was like movement stuff. Like, I'm like, okay, I can do that. I did it, went in for the final callback. Um, they added one fine day to the mix. And again, the number of girls in the hallway had decreased significantly. But still, everyone who was there sounded and looked incredible. And I'd never like been in a final callback like this before. I remember going into the room and like scaling the wall. Like I was like all the way on the back of the wall. And it was Jason, I think, who said, You can step closer to us. We like you. I was like, oh my gosh. Okay. So I stepped like a little bit, like I took two or three steps towards them. But I was still like in the back of the room. I was so nervous. And I sang it. I did the best I could. And it went really well. I did the sides. They they laughed. And then right when I was about to leave, Paul Blake, one of the lead producers, said, wait, wait, wait, Salisha, what is this on your resume? It says, World's worst dialect. And I didn't explain it. I just said, hello, my name is Salaisha Thomas. I'm from British Columbia. And I've just realized that the secret to a really great oxygen is that you just you got to be subtle. You gotta be really subtle with it.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

And it was the room was dead silent. It was, I was like, oh my god, I'm bombing. I'm bombing so bad right now.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

And then suddenly the room erupts in laughter. And while they're all still laughing, I say, thank you, and I run out the door. Long story long, after the weekend, I get the call. They were like, they were going between you and another girl. They chose you. I got it. I went on tour with that show. But my takeaway here is not that I was the best singer in the room. Those other girls had multiple Broadway credits that I read in the playbills that I saw them performing in. Like, I saw their credits. I was a nobody. I just came from a theme park and here they were New York people. I'm like, what on earth? Who am I? Why would I why would I but the takeaway is not you have to be the best. Sometimes you just have to vibe with the people in the room. And I honestly think that is like the biggest underrated secret to success, not just on Broadway but everywhere. That the thing that you think that you're going in for, you the task that you think you have to accomplish or achieve is actually not what is at stake. Perfection is not at stake unless if you're performing surgery. A lot of times well, I can use auditions as an example because that's the industry that I'm in. They're not looking for somebody to sing it perfectly. They're not looking for somebody to say everything perfectly with perfect diction or whatever. They're looking for someone who makes them feel something. Someone who they like, someone who they want to spend more time with in the room. Can you work with this person? Like it's like a vibe check. That's how I got my agents. It wasn't, oh, look at my amazing resume. They had me over for a meeting, and we just hung out for 30, 45 minutes. And in that time, you can see like a person's mental state, how confident they are, if they believe they belong to be there, um, or if they have major imposter syndrome. You can sense a lot about a person through a conversation, even a short conversation. And I think it's really an audition of energies. That's what I think. Just like dating, really. It's not who checks all the boxes. For some people it is, but it's who do you connect with? And so that is how I booked my dream show without being the best singer in the room. It was just showing up, leaving fear at the door, and having fun, being like, well, I don't have anything to lose, so I might as well just go in there being 1000% authentically myself. So that's all I got. What is this for you? Leave me a message on Speakpipe. Come by my website, theselicia show.com, leave me a comment, a message, and uh let me know what you think or if you've had a similar situation like this. Where it wasn't about perfection, but it went to you. So thanks for tuning in. I'm your host, Selicia Thomas. That's a wrap. See you next week.