Jasmine Cephas Jones made her mark as part of the original company of Lin-Manuel Miranda鈥檚 Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Hamilton, and she needed to sing a pop song to get cast. In fact, the actor explains that most (if not all) her recent auditions have asked for tunes not from musical theatre. Here, she reveals the pop songs that fit her style, and explains what happened when she forgot the words at her audition for the biggest musical of the decade.
What did you sing at your initial audition for Hamilton? Did you have to sing from the show?
Jasmine Cephas Jones: What a lot of musical theatre is doing now is they ask you to sing a pop/rock song, and some of them actually say, 鈥淒on鈥檛 bring in a musical theatre song. Just sing a pop song that shows off your range,鈥� so I sang a Prince song called 鈥淗ow Come U Don鈥檛 Call Me [Anymore]?鈥� It鈥檚 a beautiful song. It鈥檚 got an R&B vibe to it, but I love playing around with it. It鈥檚 got a great belty feel. When I first auditioned, I sang 鈥淪atisfied鈥� and 鈥淗elpless,鈥� and they gave me 鈥淪ay No To This.鈥� They didn鈥檛 have 鈥淭he Schuyler Sisters鈥� sheet music, but they tricked me. [Music director Alex] Lacaimore wrote out the Peggy part on a napkin and taught it to me, so I learned the beginning of 鈥淪chuyler Sisters鈥� in an audition room, actually.
What other songs are in your book?
Another great one, actually, is a Katy Perry song called 鈥淲ide Awake.鈥� That one is also amazing because it can show off your range, you can also play with it, and that鈥檚 a huge belt song as well. Another one that I do is Christina Aguilera鈥檚 鈥淵ou Lost Me.鈥�
When you鈥檙e searching for pop songs, do you look for songs that tell a story or songs that show range? Where do you start?
The first song will show off my range, and then the second is a good song that tells a story that has a character involved. You want to show what you鈥檝e got. That鈥檚 why my number one is 鈥淗ow Come U Don鈥檛 Call Me?鈥� because Prince is one of the artists who influenced me the most and I relate to so much.
You said you鈥檝e mostly auditioned with pop songs, but do you have musical theatre songs in your rep?
Two: Funny Girl鈥檚 鈥淢y Man,鈥� the Barbra Streisand version, which is great because it鈥檚 a two-minute song that gets straight to the point. Also, one that is completely different is 鈥淧oor Wandering One鈥� from Pirates of Penzance. It鈥檚 something that is more in the classical group. I鈥檒l throw that in there to show off this classical side that I have a lot of people probably don鈥檛 know I can do.
Where do you look for inspiration in finding songs?
I guess it depends on what the character [is] that I鈥檓 going in for and what the vibe is of the musical. I get inspiration a lot from the actual music, like the backtrack鈥攚hether it鈥檚 the piano, the chords, or even if it鈥檚 something so little as a flute in the background鈥攕omething that catches my [ear], that sounds different, that speaks to me鈥� I try to find the 鈥淏-track鈥� songs that aren鈥檛 used so much, that people haven鈥檛 really heard before.
Do you have a terrible audition story or song that you鈥檇 never use again?
Oh my God, when I auditioned for Hamilton, I kept messing up the words to 鈥淪ay No To This.鈥� I did it twice, but thankfully, I was right for the part, and [the casting team] was like, 鈥淐ome back, and make sure you鈥檝e got all the words down.鈥� I guess it was just a nerve-wracking [moment], where my brain just wasn鈥檛 working that morning. Sometimes, you go into an audition, and sometimes you鈥檙e just not on it completely 100 percent. Even if you prepared it so many times, there鈥檚 just something that鈥檚 not clicking with you, but it was completely embarrassing, and I felt like crap. Thankfully, if you recover with singing the sh*t out of it鈥攐r everything else is okay鈥攜ou get a second chance. But I left, and I was like, 鈥淚鈥檓 definitely not getting this. I totally messed up on the words twice. This is not happening.鈥� It goes to show you that 1) you have no control over these things, and 2) sometimes what you think they think is something completely opposite. As an actor, you just got to let go.
