This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:14] Robert Bannon: Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Roundtable. You're listening to us on the Broadway Podcast Network, or you're watching us right here on YouTube. My name is Robert Bannon. I'm proud to be on the Broadway Podcast Network. Listen, you know who's on the Broadway Podcast Network? People like Tim Rice. People like Tony Winners, like Donna McKechnie, like people that are fancy. And then the other day I was at the Loratel Awards. And then next to me was this most stunningly beautiful person with eyelashes for days and makeup that looked like it was like a Mac counter makeover, but she did it herself. You know what I'm saying? I know what you all do when you have to go to a wedding. You go get the free trial at the Macy's Mac counter and they put the makeup on and then you buy nothing.

I see you all out here. Well, so it's true. Well, because she is a Disneyland princess, she's Miss California. She's a Broadway star and she's a podcast host that you need to be listening to every single day. Salisha Thomas Weiss is here. And she was married to a very handsome man. They make a beautiful couple, and I want all the wedding advice in the world. Cause I get married next year, and it's sh oh my lord. Sally just saved me.

[1:22] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my god! Robert, you are freaking hilarious. Oh my goodness. And thank you for having me. I'm so you are such a light. Like you just are such a bright presence. Like when you are standing there, you just are the sun.

[1:44] Robert Bannon: It takes one to know one. So thank you. And right back at you. Right back at you, baby.

[1:48] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah, we're trouble. I feel it in my spirit. It was so much fun hosting right next to you. That was so fun. Like it really does like feel good to be next to like.

[2:02] Robert Bannon: I haven't done a lot of red carpets, but it felt so good to be next to you.

[2:06] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was shook because you said that your first red carpet was The Outsiders, so you're there with Angelina Jolie, just okay.

[2:14] Robert Bannon: Well, yeah, but I told you what my first question to her was. Tell the people.

[2:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Go ahead.

[2:21] Robert Bannon: I said, "What's your name?"

[2:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: She was like, "Hi, I'm Angelina Jolie."

[2:34] Robert Bannon: Since you are a podcaster and you're on the red carpets now, there are like trips. I'm not trying to like shout us out and make us look bad, but you know, sometimes these events the people come fast and furious. You don't have time to look at a face sheet and see who's there.

[2:44] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Truly.

[2:49] Robert Bannon: No, truly. And I of course I knew who Angelina Jolie was. I think I just froze for a second. But it's true. It's like you have all these people coming down the line, and it is fast. And I'm like, okay, wait, are these people being honored? Are these people in this show? Are these people just affiliates? Is this person just important and is on the carpet? Like, unless if their press person whispers in my ear, "Hey, do you want to talk to so and so? They're from such and such." I'm like, oh, that is so helpful. I love that.

[3:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I've also learned like the publicists, like, like the first time I was on a red carpet, the man tapped me on my shoulder, and I was like, what the hell is that? And then I realized that that was his cue to wrap it up.

[3:34] Robert Bannon: See, who tells us these things?

[3:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: That was his cue. Wrap it up, wrap it up.

[3:44] Robert Bannon: I just looked like what the hell why are you touching out for me so well I knew your uh show because your show has the nanny graphics and everyone if you're if you're listening to us or watching us firstly you gotta go follow on Instagram it's the it's your name it's uh here below in the links below so make sure you check it out and be there and and be a part of it but you you uh did you really ask the people who can you tell us how the logo came to be?

[3:44] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah, so I was um brainstorming with one of my best friends Nick, um Nick Gardner. We're both from Fresno anyway, and he was like Sleach I feel like it would be so cool if you had like okay like the nanny did you like that logo? I was like I loved that logo in fact every time I was little I would watch that show and the beginning of The Nanny with Fran Drescher started as a cartoon and every day I would hope that the whole episode would be a cartoon and then real people would come and then I was like oh dang it I like as if I had no idea every day I just wished it was I don't know I hear you the first time and then as an adult I'm like oh I really did love that and so I just did some research and I reached out to her and I just fangirled all over her and her contact person was like she does not do this anymore but she loved your letter so she's gonna do it for you.

[5:13] Robert Bannon: And look it's iconic it's so iconic.

[5:16] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It's like literally a piece of it's so good because it's so like you could tell like the fan, like you wouldn't just wake up, like it's something that you saw, you grew up with, you noticed, like you wanted this.

[5:27] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[5:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yes. It was very intentional. And yeah, it is really cool. I'm about to change my graphics a little bit, but I definitely want to keep that lettering and anything that she put her hands on, I want to keep that.

[5:38] Robert Bannon: Well, I'm obsessed with it. I do the nanny theme, I do a gay TV theme song medley in my Pride Show.

[5:44] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Okay.

[5:46] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[5:47] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Do you do a Pride Show every year?

[5:48] Robert Bannon: June 14th, 54 Below the Robert Battle's Pride playlist, and it's all diva songs. But I have this gay TV theme song medley because you know it's like The Facts of Life and The Golden Girls and The Nanny, because as a little gay boy in New Jersey, I mean, what else do you watch?

[6:05] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Wait, June 14th. That's like right before the Tony Awards.

[6:08] Robert Bannon: Oh fun!

[6:11] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yes. Was this annual or do you or is it just this year?

[6:14] Robert Bannon: It's the second year. Last year we did it, and this year.

[6:17] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Robert, you have to do this every year. That's such a great idea.

[6:21] Robert Bannon: I think we're gonna do it every year.

[6:22] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I love it. It's such an honor to be there and to do it, and it's a mess. Just like your story is so fascinating to me.

[6:33] Robert Bannon: And your website, which everyone needs to go to because it's a very entertaining read.

[6:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: No, it's so much fun because this is what I got from your website.

[6:41] Robert Bannon: And tell me if this is your bio.

[6:42] Salisha Thomas Weiss: My website looks so ghetto. I'm redoing it literally this weekend.

[6:45] Robert Bannon: No, but your copy, your bio, the about you part.

[6:49] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Okay, all right. Because it says things like this you were born in Fresno, and then you were singing in Disneyland, and then you decided I'm done singing in Disneyland. So maybe I'll try being on a Broadway show. And then I booked a Broadway show in three days, and then I toured the world, and then I was done touring the world, so I became Miss California. And then I came back to New York, and then I said, let's do another Broadway show. And then I said, hey, I'm bored. Let's put on a podcast and do a Broadway show. And that dot dot. That's my life.

[7:14] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my gosh.

[7:18] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I um okay. Well, there's a lot of highs and lows, but you know, it takes somebody to like tell you what your life looks like for you to realize what it looks like because you know, obviously that pandemic felt real long.

[7:36] Robert Bannon: It felt like, where is the light at the end of the tunnel?

[7:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: After I after Beautiful on Broadway closed, I thought, will I ever work again? And it was a long three months. Didn't know I was gonna have a long year and a half during 2020. Like you know, so but yeah, um, I don't I Robert, I truly don't know what to say.

[7:59] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um life does feel like a dream sometimes, and sometimes it does feel long and hard.

[8:04] Robert Bannon: Absolutely, it could be all of the above. Can we go over some of these moments? Can we talk about just so in you worked in you're from Fresno, so the Bay Area up north, is that yeah, it's like Central California. We call it NorCal, but yeah, it's like central.

[8:18] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I like it. California is really, really big. Fresno is the armpit, however, Audra McDonald is from there, and we have Audra McDonald Way downtown.

[8:28] Robert Bannon: Hold on, I'm here for it.

[8:29] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And then you was your first like professional job at Disneyland.

[8:35] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um no, I got my yes, yes, it was.

[8:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I would say yes, I got my like EMC in 2012, and I started working at Disney in 2013, and then I got my equity card in 2014. So yeah, I worked as a character host first at it's actually really stupid and funny. Um, I wanted to be a face character so bad. I don't work there anymore, so I can talk about this. Um I wanted to be a face character so bad, and I the audition the day before was for a character host.

[9:11] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I was like, I'm gonna just see what it's like to audition for Disney. So I'm gonna get a warm-up audition in to be a character host, and then the next day I'll go in to be a face character for that audition. So I went in for a character host. There's hundreds of people there, and by the end of the day, there was 12 of us left, and I got the freaking job.

[9:29] Robert Bannon: So then I was a character host, the person who says, "Line on up to see Mickey Mouse. Get your cameras out." I'm like, dang it.

[9:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was not supposed to book that.

[9:44] Robert Bannon: You booked it.

[9:45] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I did. And so then I wasn't allowed to go back for the face character audition the next day. So I would I was Mickey's bodyguard at first.

[9:54] Robert Bannon: I was gonna say, did you work what character did you work with?

[9:58] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I worked with all of them. And then I kept auditioning, auditioning, auditioning to be a face character forever. Got cut.

[10:05] Robert Bannon: Oh, sorry, I'm so sorry.

[10:06] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, spam of all things. Um I got cut every single time from the first round. I'm like, dang it. I was hosting the princesses so much. I'm like, I know I can do that. I know I can do that. And I'm I'm in this role.

[10:23] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And on the seventh time I auditioned for them, I almost didn't go. It was to be a vocalist in a new show called Mickey and the Magical Map. It was in LA. I had a two hour drive in traffic. I had to go to class that morning in college, and I could not miss my morning class. So I was late. They almost didn't let me sign up. Robert, I was the last person seen at the end of an eight-hour day.

[10:42] Robert Bannon: They started asking for a short song.

[10:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Then they said 32 bars. Then they said 16 bars. Towards the end of the day, they asked for eight bars. By the time they got to me, they asked for four bars to sing.

[11:00] Robert Bannon: Four bars? Is that even a phrase?

[11:02] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It's well, I chose a song where I couldn't make it a phrase.

[11:08] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Uh from Little Shop Before us. I said, "Hello!" And I held on that stupid note for years. I was like, this is gonna be my four bars. And then I did the goals after seven side of ten. I did the whole thing. And then when I got to "and you go downtown where the folks are broke, you go downtown."

[11:31] Robert Bannon: They didn't cut me off.

[11:33] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I didn't actually know the words to the whole song.

[11:38] Robert Bannon: So been there.

[11:41] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like, you're supposed to cut me off after four bars, I thought. And so they didn't. I made up the words to Skid Row and got a freaking call back and booked that job.

[11:55] Robert Bannon: And you you were Tiana?

[11:57] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah.

[11:58] Robert Bannon: Look at Tiana!

[12:00] Salisha Thomas Weiss: How dare you have this photo ready to go?

[12:03] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Tiana, if you're listening, if you're listening to us, go watch the YouTube for the audio, the visual component. Did you why don't can I ask you a stupid question?

[12:13] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Absolutely with Disneyland because I'm not like a Disney Nista, but a lot of people in my life are, and they like have timeshares and tattoos, and I don't I don't I'm it's fascinating to me.

[12:24] Robert Bannon: That's fascinating.

[12:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah, but it's fun to go with kids and it's cute, and I love the and Disneyland is cute and Disney World is fun and the whole What question?

[12:32] Robert Bannon: Did you have to sing?

[12:34] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like I thought they just lip sync.

[12:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh no, no, no.

[12:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was hired as a vocalist.

[12:40] Robert Bannon: So you had to like almost there.

[12:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like you were.

[12:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yes.

[12:44] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And they did not give me princess training because it was a show.

[12:47] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was not like a character in the parade.

[12:49] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was not a character in like signing autographs.

[12:52] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was just in the show.

[12:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: They said, we don't want to give you princess training.

[12:55] Salisha Thomas Weiss: We want you to be yourself.

[12:57] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like, are you sure?

[13:01] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Are you sure?

[13:02] Salisha Thomas Weiss: They were like, just do you, and if we need to pull you back, we will.

[13:05] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So it was the day that I did the robot on stage where they were like, okay, well, maybe like not.

[13:12] Robert Bannon: Maybe not that.

[13:14] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my god.

[13:15] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I had a I have a good friend of mine who was a Disney in the show in Disneyland.

[13:20] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And the stories are fun.

[13:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: One day, Dominique Patana, I'm listening to you.

[13:23] Salisha Thomas Weiss: If you are, if if you are, if you it if you ever want to have a drink, I'm ready for the Disney scoop off the air.

[13:32] Robert Bannon: Dominique?

[13:33] Salisha Thomas Weiss: No, you yours.

[13:34] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like, oh.

[13:36] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, right.

[13:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, yes.

[13:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, we have sorry.

[13:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like, I know Dominique, keep going.

[13:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm like, go.

[13:41] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I want your scoop.

[13:41] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I want your story.

[13:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I want all of your secret Disney life.

[13:45] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Wait, and then wait, because you're fascinating, and I can't even keep tame my excitement because I feel like I know you and I want to be your best friend.

[13:52] Robert Bannon: So when you when you then decide to be in pageants, when does that come into your mind?

[13:59] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Look. That's that started with California.

[14:03] Salisha Thomas Weiss: With a crown.

[14:05] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And her hair is laid and her sash is on.

[14:09] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And you better have a podcast called Black Hair in the Big Leagues that have this picture as Miss California.

[14:16] Robert Bannon: Oh my you are I I'm in love with you.

[14:22] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I am in love with you.

[14:24] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh okay, okay, okay, okay.

[14:26] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So in high well, first of all, I always, always, always wanted to run in a pageant.

[14:30] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Ever since I was very little, I wanted to be a princess and I wanted a crown.

[14:33] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And you know what?

[14:34] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Eventually I got those things.

[14:36] Salisha Thomas Weiss: But I asked, I begged my mom to put me in pageants, and she always said no, probably because I was fat and she knew I was gonna lose.

[14:42] Salisha Thomas Weiss: But I still, I really wanted to do it.

[14:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And finally she let me.

[14:48] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And um it was my junior my senior year in high school.

[14:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I ran for Miss Fresno County and I got first runner up.

[14:57] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It was the best thing ever.

[14:58] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I didn't even realize I lost until my friend who is running for all the she's amazing, she's gonna win Miss Universe this year.

[15:04] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm so convinced, Chantea McIntyre.

[15:06] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um, she was one of the directors and was helping me.

[15:09] Salisha Thomas Weiss: She was like, I should have switched your talent dress and your evening gown.

[15:13] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I didn't even realize I'd lost.

[15:14] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like first runner up.

[15:15] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I just got scholarship money.

[15:17] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I got as close to the crown as possible without having to do the job for the year.

[15:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I made all these new friends, like it was so fun.

[15:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I loved it.

[15:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And then when I went down to Southern California for college, I ran for so many pageants.

[15:31] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I would lose all the time, but I always got scholarship money.

[15:35] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I made friends.

[15:36] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I was like, this is great.

[15:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I would always win Miss Congeniality.

[15:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I won Miss Congeniality over seven times.

[15:42] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And to me, that just basically said everybody who was out who all the other contestants who were running, they like me.

[15:49] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I like them.

[15:50] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like that's what that means.

[15:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It means you were not the mean girl.

[15:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So, and there weren't many mean girls that I can even remember at all, actually.

[15:57] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah, I lost all the time.

[16:00] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And then one day I won.

[16:03] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And it was when I was on tour.

[16:05] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I literally, okay.

[16:06] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So when I learned beautiful, it was like a crazy time because I was learning.

[16:11] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I went from a theme park, basically.

[16:13] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my gosh, to this first national tour of beautiful, like launching the tour.

[16:20] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And so I was learning the show next to people who had done it on Broadway.

[16:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So I kind of felt like uh I need to like get myself together because these people already know it, and I just need to like really so it was it was stressful at first, but so fun.

[16:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I it was all it was always a so fun, and then one day on the road, I had it in my body, and I was able to do it without having to think, okay, where do I go?

[16:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Uh what's next?

[16:52] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like once I got into my body, I was able to like multitask in my mind, and so finally I took um a week off for vacation, the first time I ever had vacation, and I took that week to go run in a pageant, and then I came back, Miss California.

[17:09] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Ridiculous.

[17:10] Salisha Thomas Weiss: The most ridiculous story.

[17:12] Robert Bannon: You took a week off of beautiful to run in the Miss California pageant, and then you won.

[17:17] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So you go back to the national tour as Miss California.

[17:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah, you know, you're the I don't know.

[17:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm 32 years old.

[17:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Look, look at me outing myself, and this is the first time that anybody has ever reflected back to me what actually happened.

[17:36] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I think it's so fascinating and amazing.

[17:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm here for it.

[17:39] Robert Bannon: It's so great.

[17:41] Robert Bannon: What do you do as Miss California?

[17:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Do you have jobs?

[17:44] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like you're on the road singing.

[17:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Right.

[17:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So every every um every pageant world is different.

[17:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um, there's different, oh my gosh, why am I blanking?

[17:54] Salisha Thomas Weiss: There's different um organizations.

[17:55] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So there's Miss America, there's Miss USA, there's Miss World, and there's Miss Earth.

[18:01] Salisha Thomas Weiss: There's so many different organizations.

[18:04] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And so when I was first running, I ran only in the Miss America organization.

[18:08] Salisha Thomas Weiss: This was which is more of a scholarship competition.

[18:12] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Miss USA beauty pageant.

[18:14] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Miss World is a pageant that is more famous throughout the world, and it was less famous here in America because it was never televised.

[18:23] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It was the second year that America had ever held the pageant.

[18:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Usually they just choose a model and send her on behalf of America.

[18:31] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So this was the first time they'd actually held the pageant in the US.

[18:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And so I actually went as a national delegate of America.

[18:42] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And then so there was multiple people from each state.

[18:45] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And then whoever had the highest score from the state that you hailed from, that is who went home with the title.

[18:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I did not win Miss World America.

[18:54] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I won Miss California.

[18:56] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I told they knew I was on tour, and they said that is absolutely fine.

[19:00] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And so while I was on the road, I had like appearances set up in the different states that I went to.

[19:07] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I sang at a Giants Dodgers game for opening weekend.

[19:12] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I met up with my sister Queens, like when I was in Oregon or Chicago.

[19:16] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And um anytime I did volunteering work, I would just throw my crown and sash on.

[19:22] Robert Bannon: That's amazing.

[19:24] Robert Bannon: That is the most I love the story because you're so multifaceted.

[19:27] Robert Bannon: Like, yes, people, we talk to people all the time.

[19:30] Robert Bannon: You you host Sue Podcasts.

[19:31] Robert Bannon: We get to talk to people, but it's always fun to talk about your journey in musical theater, Broadway, blah, blah, blah.

[19:36] Robert Bannon: But when I saw your lineup, I was like, oh, not Disney and Padges and Broadway and Podcasts.

[19:42] Robert Bannon: And this is it.

[19:45] Robert Bannon: This is fascinating.

[19:47] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yeah.

[19:48] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Because you do everything.

[19:50] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um thank you for okay, Robert.

[19:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: You're like gassing me all the way up.

[19:56] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like all.

[19:58] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I will say though, like, you know, when I was little, I had this very clear intention that I didn't feel like I was allowed to say out loud that I just want, I just want to be a princess and I want a crown.

[19:58] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I want a crown and I want to be a princess.

[20:10] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I've gotten to do that.

[20:12] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And the the last show I was in, I was a swing, which that's a whole other conversation, but I swung on for like every princess.

[20:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Okay, so white moments here on Once Upon a One More Time.

[20:31] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my gosh.

[20:33] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And so I read your blog because I have nothing better to do.

[20:36] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I love it.

[20:37] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And how can you say firstly, once upon a one more time was so much fun, and I have to tell you my story.

[20:43] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I worked carpet.

[20:45] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I worked that red carpet, which was a wild wacky carpet I've ever worked in my entire life.

[20:50] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And because it was the oddest like housewives and reality stars and Broadway collide.

[20:57] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And you look so gorgeous, and the show was so fun.

[21:01] Salisha Thomas Weiss: So I go see the show, and I'm sitting there and we're watching the show.

[21:05] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I bring my cousin Adrian and we're singing, and I'm bored.

[21:07] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm 40, so like you know, the 2000s, I will graduated high school, and then I think every year, and we're dancing and I love Justin and Justin's been on our show and we're woo-woo rooting and I used to you you were on for Aisha and Aisha's a friend and woo woo we're here once upon and I get up in an intermission and I hear a voice next to me like two seats down that was so familiar and it was a drunk Gloria Estefan drunk and that blessed no way I had a full fangirl moment because I literally like you know like it's one thing to know you're gonna interview someone but like to just turn around and like Gloria Estefan is just smashed right in front of your face I love I would have been like hi what's your name we had the best time and I love that show and that show you all worked your faces off but you talked about learning all of these parts and the Little Mermaid which you would think only really doesn't speak for nine two hours of the show was a tough day when you had to be but you it's very hard to live that life how many parts did you know 12 oh good night get out of here give her back a crown that's that was um it was the craziest summer 2023 never forget like it was the craziest time of my whole like it was so crazy equity called they're like hey um we see social media are you guys okay are you okay do you need anything I was like no I'm not okay.

[22:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And yes, I do need.

[22:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I I don't know what else to say.

[22:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like it was, I call I don't know.

[22:55] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I don't think I've called my agents so many times in my whole career saying, Dustin, you gotta get me out of here before I get fired.

[23:04] Robert Bannon: Is it crazy here?

[23:06] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It is crazy.

[23:07] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I don't know.

[23:08] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I don't know.

[23:09] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like the out-of-town tryout at Shakespeare Theater Co in DC was one show, and then our show on Broadway was a completely different show.

[23:19] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I'm like, it was so substantially more difficult.

[23:24] Salisha Thomas Weiss: The dancing.

[23:26] Salisha Thomas Weiss: It I'm like, I physically, I don't know, like if you if they throw me on for this, I don't know what's gonna happen.

[23:36] Robert Bannon: You did it.

[23:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: But you did it.

[23:40] Salisha Thomas Weiss: But like, have you ever like loved a job so much and then walked into the office or whatever the equivalent of that is for you, like ready to walk away or quit when you tell them the truth.

[23:56] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like it is this vulnerable, like, I mean, you gotta draw the line somewhere kind of feeling.

[24:03] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like, I don't want to lose this job, but also I have to be completely transparent.

[24:09] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Like, this is what I am capable of, this is what I'm not, this is what I'm willing to do, this is what I'm not.

[24:15] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And those dancers in that show, literal backup dancers for JLo, one of them was uh on Beachella, still like on Netflix.

[24:24] Salisha Thomas Weiss: You can find see him dancing behind Beyoncé, like on So You Think You Can Dance. Like these are serious, real life, like actual pop commercial dancers. I am a singer who moves. If you catch me in that backbend, I'm probably gonna fall on my back and have to roll off the stage. Like well, you did it. And coincidentally, like I was on for almost half of the performances. That's not what I was expecting. I'd never swung before, Robert. And it went from I wonder if I'll ever go on to sometimes doing a full eight-show week in three different roles. Well, look, check done. Check done. Next. Not doing again. It's like I ran a marathon when I was on tour. I ran a marathon once without training before a two-show day. And that's one of those check done, never doing that again.

[25:40] Robert Bannon: Do you love? Do you still go out for theater? Do you still love like are you ready to be on Broadway tomorrow if someone calls?

[25:47] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yes and no. And that is the real answer is yes and no. Mostly no. I will say when I see the right fit come through my inbox, I am intrigued. And if it's something that I will have fun preparing for, because a Broadway audition, the stuff that my agents send me in for is like a 26-page on average like ordeal of multiple songs, multiple scenes, and you can't just like look over it right before you go in. You have to do your research, and you have to like really you have to do the work. And so now I don't like to go in unless if it's something that I really am like, yes, because I have a whole husband. I'm not trying to go on tour right now. And if I do go on tour, it needs to be the right tour. I'm not trying to just get in a show, and it's not something that really speaks to my heart because we do want to have a baby, and who knows? You might have just witnessed the first butt of that, Robert, earlier in this episode.

[26:59] Robert Bannon: Oh my god. Oh, I hope maybe, maybe we're gonna find out that you're a mama bear, and then this, you know, will change your life upside down.

[27:11] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I really firstly, y'all, this has been the best interview ever. Secondly, we may have broken world new breaking news. Secondly, I really appreciate your answer to that question because it took me a lifetime, like not a lifetime, but like I was 30 or right before the pandemic, I did an equity production of a show called My Way, a Sinatra Review. And I remember calling my brother uh out on the road over the summer, and I said to him, I hate, I don't like this. I don't, I'm not having fun. I have not had fun, I don't want to do it anymore. And then from that came things like this, or the red carpet or other opportunities, singing concerts. There's different outlets, there's different outlets, but it's hard to kind of let go of that when it's been a thing for so long.

Your identity, even like, and I think the pandemic was the first like step in that whole question of identity. I was always in the building that I live in, the actress, the Broadway actress, and then when everything was taken away in 2020, it's like, oh shoot, well, now who am I? Who am I without being the actress? And so that really I had a lot of self-reflection in that time.

[28:22] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And um, here's the thing Broadway's a beautiful thing, and it's something that like will always light me up, and I will never take it for granted. And I will say, like, eat when the right thing comes through, it is just like the most special thing. But I there is a difference though between when I first got into this industry and and me today, especially me post-pandemic today. I'm a different human. At with at the beginning, it's like you just want to take everything as as much as possible. You want to get in front of as many casting directors as possible. You want to just make sure that you are present, that you get your face out there, and then once once you have done a few things, it's kind of like, okay, well, now I don't want to just take everything.

I do want to take things that are aligned with where I am and with who I am today, and kind of start to craft like what do I really want to put out there in the world? It's not just about like getting the yes. What if you get a yes that actually makes you sad? Then that is not that's not it. That is not it. And I have so many stories about that of being like, I feel like I'm supposed to really want this. And if I got the yes, I would be a fool to say no. And so I found myself throwing the audition multiple times, going in, trying to be likable, trying to be good, but writing a line of not booking it. That is insane. What that to me says, what are you doing? I get it. I so understand this. I so understand this.

[30:02] Robert Bannon: Now look, we do podcasts now, or we do interviews, or we sing you could do a concert. I could my cabaret. We're not retiring off of the money that we're making doing this. Not yet. But but I understand that. I remember getting um meeting people or people giving me cards or people saying when I was growing up and throwing them in the garbage. Because I was like, I don't really want that. I don't think I really want that. There's something inside of you that kind of directs you. And I've I it took me a long time to figure that out. So I I'm here for that. But now you're go ahead, please.

[30:35] Salisha Thomas Weiss: No, no, I was just gonna add, like, following the breadcrumbs of your life. Like when you think of Maya Angelo, what do you think? What comes to mind?

[30:44] Robert Bannon: Why did the cage birds sing?

[30:47] Salisha Thomas Weiss: She's America's poet.

[30:49] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[30:50] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Did you know that she was on Broadway?

[30:52] Robert Bannon: I I think like with Patty LaBelle in like 1970, something there's a there's some history there that I know a little something.

[31:00] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Well, the thing is is that most people don't. Most people don't think Maya Angelo, my favorite Broadway star. No. She's a poet, she's an author, she's brilliant. So my point is it's okay to have one dream and for it to morph into something else. You gotta follow the breadcrumbs of where life is leading you and not put yourself in a box of this is what my dream was when I was three, and this is how where I'm gonna die. Maybe that is the journey, but maybe it is just this the launch pad to get you to where you're really supposed to end up.

[31:36] Robert Bannon: Oh, amen.

[31:38] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And I'm now just thinking of Maya Angelou shuffling off to Buffalo somewhere, and that gives me joy. Because but that is just that is the that is what what that is such an important lesson. I and a mantra that I think we all need to take in that maybe it's this for a moment and then it's supposed to be that and we don't have to be something forever. Yeah, there's no shame in that game. And I do think that sometimes we put these like unrealistic expectations on ourselves, like, oh, this is what this is supposed to be. When really no, the fun of it is doing what sparks joy. And if something doesn't spark joy anymore, listen to that. Don't be mad at yourself.

[32:21] Robert Bannon: Yes. Does the podcast give you joy? Have you had fun with with your shows?

[32:25] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Robert, I love it. I love it. And I'm trying to figure out like a more concise workflow. I just had a whole meeting about it today and getting to do like more red carpets. I'm like, oh, oh, oh, this is where I can show up and be myself. Like that is the difference between like when I'm auditioning and hoping that somebody gives me the yes, versus this is my brand. The my only job is to show up and be me. That's that's how I I love it. That's my I can be me better than anybody else.

[33:00] Robert Bannon: That's what I love.

[33:01] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And it's so funny because for me, I relate to this in a lot of ways because I felt so long I was trying to be what I thought people wanted me to be, but it never worked right. And then when I finally just brought my own bag of crazy, people were like, Oh, this is fun. And I was people respond to Oh, that's why I love you.

[33:20] Robert Bannon: No, that's why I love you.

[33:22] Salisha Thomas Weiss: No, truly, like you just being you, I'm like, oh my god. To be honest, when I met you, I was like, You're beautiful, you're gorgeous. I I didn't think Broadway. I didn't think I thought this energy, this fun, the spirit, this questions, the laugh, the joy, like that's what is infectious, and that's what it is. I'm like, if we can just figure out where our zone of genius and is, and maybe it just changes over time. Like, to me, that's the meaning of life. Where can I be the most useful? When I first did Beautiful on Broadway, I think that was where I could be the most useful. Even in Once Upon a One More Time, and who knows? Maybe there will be another Broadway show down the line. But if there's not, you know what? I think it's gonna be okay. Maybe it's time for me to be a mom.

[34:16] Robert Bannon: Uh well, firstly, you're a married spun here. And it's not the best picture because I stole it off the internet. If you're last holding my teeth, how long have you been married?

[34:27] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Um, about a year and a half, a little over a year and a half, and it is my favorite freaking thing. I love it. His name is Andrew. We met on Zoom in the pandemic, and we have a rule, we cannot be apart more than two weeks. Um, that's two weeks is our max, and right now he's away. He's I'm in New York City, he's in Oregon, and I I miss him. So I'm flying to him. I'm going to him next week. But um, he's a he's a I mean, to say he's a good guy is an understatement, but you know, Robert, then artists.

[35:02] Robert Bannon: No, he wants to be, he wants to be he wants to be, which is why whenever I have a self tape, I never book it.

[35:13] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Why?

[35:13] Robert Bannon: Because he thinks it's his audition.

[35:17] Salisha Thomas Weiss: He is so loud. I'm like, baby, just can you like just like a little quieter? And I'll be like, also you don't need the accent. He's like, but I feel like the accent really those odd to it. I'm like, I will never, it's hard for me. I'm like, he really wants, he's like, do you want me to like go into the tape and kiss you? I'm like, okay.

[35:45] Robert Bannon: No, that's it.

[35:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: He's ready.

[35:47] Robert Bannon: Well, I get married, I'm getting married in May.

[35:50] Salisha Thomas Weiss: And this is May.

[35:52] Robert Bannon: Next May.

[35:53] Salisha Thomas Weiss: A year, a year from like we're we're 52 weeks away from my wedding.

[35:57] Robert Bannon: Oh my gosh, that's incredible.

[35:59] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Well, May, May 25th. So it's we have a little bit more time. I have a little bit of my god, that's incredible. And my Darius is not an he sings, but he is he is he manages banks. He is a regular normal human. He keeps my crazy in check. And he keeps me like simmered down and my anxiety at bay.

[36:18] Robert Bannon: That's the best, the most beautiful, like balance. Because like, I mean, somebody has to, you know, de-escalate sometimes and like balance it out. And how did you guys meet?

[36:32] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh goodness, he booked me like a shady lady for he's from Detroit. And he booked me for Motor City Pride when I put out my album. I have a song called I Think He Knew, which is an anthem about a father and a son, and the son coming out to the father, and he booked me, and all of a sudden I started getting emails like, I think your video's beautiful. I really can't wait to meet you. I'd like to take you for pizza. Can we grab dinner afterwards? And I was like, and I was like, Oh, I'm gonna be, I'm not gonna be this year's nut check on the night notch on the bedpost every year. An artist strolls into Detroit and he just finds he's thick of the litter. So I get there, and this beautiful six foot four, gorgeous chocolate Detroit man shows up.

He's black. Oh, yes. He's six four, six five. What? And he asked God for a black man. So did I. If I want to be with a white man, I'll stay home with myself. I don't know what a big, strong black man, and I got the whitest boy ever wearing khakis who's never dated a black girl in his life. Why beautiful? I love it. Oh my gosh, keep going. Yeah, the interracial gay. Oh, his parents are pastors. I'm in trouble. I'm in. So after he took me to pizza, and then he was so this is I'll this is not me telling a story out of term because he'll tell the story. He took me for pizza, and then I was like, okay, I don't care if I'm the I'm I'm I'm I'm in. Okay. And then he was like, I don't care if I'm the notch on the notch.

And he said, have a good night. Nice to meet you. And he put out his hand. And then he went into his room, and I was like, What the? What the and then we we talked and we were long distance and we tried to figure it out and we bounced and bounced. And a couple years later, here we are. And he asked me to marry him on New Year's Eve in Detroit last year.

[38:29] Robert Bannon: So come on, I'm ready to go wedding shopping with you. You're the Miss California. Help me.

[38:35] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh my god, it would be an honor. That is the most beautiful. It is my favorite thing to talk about weddings. Whether it was mine when I was planning it or my friends who are planning theirs, I can talk about it for hours. It is so it brings me so much joy. I that is incredible. And he sounds like he knew he knew right away when he first started. We took a break because I was not ready for how serious he was. And he waited. He waited. He's he's just a joy. He's like an angel, truly. Um, but so is your man. He's so handsome, he is and so in organ, and he holds you down.

[39:20] Robert Bannon: So happy she is.

[39:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I do. I love it. Tell me about your show. Tell me about the podcast. How can we listen? How often are they out? What are they about? Tell us.

[39:28] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, yes. Okay, I'm actually about to combine my RSS feeds, but so I've got Black Hair in the Big Leagues, and I've got the Silicia show. Black Hair in the Big Leagues was born out of the pandemic when we went from being out in the city in New York every day with people everywhere to isolating in 2020. And so I really felt so disconnected from the industry, from my community, from my friends, even and I personally needed an excuse to connect. And I had this whole setup because this guy said he was gonna sign me for voiceover, which I did get signed, but not by him. And I was like, Well, what do I do with that's all other story? Um, what do I do with this whole setup? And I was like, I guess I can just start a podcast.

And I reached out to all every black woman on Broadway that I knew, and it was so fun, and also like it gave my day purpose to like you said you were doing some research on me. Like that brought me so much joy to get out of my own head and to stalk my guests to figure out what they've done and also like switch that potential like sense of competition with these are all the girls who were going for the same parts to no no no I'm celebrating my sis and like bringing them on and to like just celebrate them. It was it just felt good and it gave me an excuse to not think about my own anxieties during the pandemic. That's how black hair in the big leagues was born, and we talked about hair, which was a gateway to a lot of other things, and I didn't even realize that that was not my purpose, and it wasn't until like I realized some white people were writing in.

They were like, Thank you for talking about this, for asking these questions, or talk like these are the questions I'm afraid to ask. I'm like, what? Why people are listening to this? Like I didn't even so it just it blew my mind. And the Silicia show was born out of I have so many friends who are not black. Black hair podcast, Black Hair in the Big Leagues is so niche. There was other people who I wanted to talk to that I couldn't bring them on that show. And so I started the Silicia show. So now I've got my show for the blacks and now I have my show for the whites. I'm just kidding. Just kidding. No, no. But uh, but yeah, kind of though. So it is more general, and but I can talk to anybody on the Silicia show.

And my first guest was Karen Olivo when she announced she was not going back to Moulin Rouge during the pandemic. Well, talk about a big get. That was a big get. I was yeah, it was yeah. I was happy and nervous to talk to her.

[40:58] Robert Bannon: No, the I feel so kindred to a lot of your story and I'm not on Broadway and I've never been Miss California but in my head I have been and I've never been a Disney princess but I will sing the song so but I don't know exactly but my show I've never intended to do that. This was never a dream or goal of mine. I never thought this was I don't even know what the hell I'm doing.

[42:34] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh I don't believe you at all. I feel like this definitely found you like this is exactly what one of the many things and I'm still getting to know you but from what I know about you you are so meant for this you're so meant for this.

[42:36] Robert Bannon: Oh I I don't it's very bizarre to me. I we I had an album coming out it was on a small little jazz label and the guy who ran the label during the pandemic was like hey you seem fun why don't we talk to our friends and I was in the basement of my house in Jersey oh be careful we is it a bug I thought it was it was just this bug too I saw it you saw it yes I saw it like drop down and I thought it was a butt maybe it's not a bug. Oh my earphone is falling apart. Okay. Oh no okay that scared me oh my god please keep going no and I literally did it and we did it for a year it turned into something called the Broadway reunion series where we reunited Broadway cast for 32 theaters around the country and it became like a business and I literally was like I don't know what I'm doing and then he retired he was kind of a jerk.

He was very much about like enough about me what do you think of me? And like every week we had to listen to one of his songs on his records. And then when it was my turn to talk about me he was like we have no time and thank you for you like it was so I just sucked it up and learned as much as I could. And when it ended, I just was like, no one will ever come talk to me. Ever. And I but I'm gonna try. And then, you know, Broadway Podcast Network and Broadway World and the Red Carpet and blah blah blah blah blah. You and me, and here we are, part two. Here's our new life.

[44:03] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Wow. Yes, us, pandemic talk show host babies. I mean, like, I just think about what are all of the uncovered hidden gems in us that we don't even know are there? Like, what if you bought like somebody else used this analogy that like blows my mind? If you bought a plot of land that looked like nothing, but underneath there was a literal diamond mind, but you don't know it's there until you start digging. And if you find it, you realize the whole time you've been a multi-bajillionaire.

[44:45] Robert Bannon: Right. Yes.

[44:46] Salisha Thomas Weiss: You own the land. That is such a good analogy. That's gonna make me think for a long time. I gotta think about that. Robert, like it's there. That is us. We are the land. What if if we keep digging and looking for the diamonds, they are there. All this uncovered potential. I didn't wear my natural hair for years. And now my adult identity is shaped around this thing that I was ashamed of for decades. That is like and I have a lot of it's in the little ponytail right now, but I have so much hair that I just hid and I pretended like it wasn't there. I have a gold mine on my head. What else is in there? What else is in you? Like life is crazy like that. I I it's like I'm always trying to fit into these boxes that people are ha asking me to audition for.

Like I'm trying my best to squeeze and to like fit into this and to that. And guess what? There's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong with me. Like that's what I learned. That was my biggest takeaway from Disney. Getting cut on the first round for Tiana all those times. The whole time, every time I got cut, Robert, I'd be like, oh, I'm too short. Oh no, I'm too light skinned. Oh, I'm too chubby. Oh, it's because I have facial hair. Oh, it's because I sweat too much when I dance. Oh, it's because of all this. No, I finally got I finally got the freaking job. It was the highest paid Tiana in the park at the time. There was nothing wrong with me. There was not it just needed to be the right thing at the right time. Like we beat ourselves up, and it's just crazy how we like put ourselves through all this stuff. When who we are is more than enough.

[46:50] Robert Bannon: Oh, that's the that's the line of the night. Who you are is more than enough.

[46:54] Salisha Thomas Weiss: I I I so who you are is more and that's how done. You're enough. You are enough. You are enough.

[47:02] Robert Bannon: How often are your shows? When can we walk listen to it?

[47:04] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Oh, yeah, I forgot we were talking about my podcast. They're weekly.com is you can listen and however you how do we find you? What do we do?

[47:12] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Yes. Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Thank you for bringing me back at the Silicia Show on Instagram, or you can follow at Blackhair Podcast. Um, Salisha Thomas.com. Um, it's on the Broadway Podcast Network. Uh yeah, Instagram is the best way to follow along. Um, or it's on Apple and Spotify and all the things, the Salisha Show and Black Hair in the Big Leagues. You're such a joy.

[47:36] Robert Bannon: It's such a joy. I I can't wait for the next chapter, be it motherhood, be it wife, be it talk show host, be it red carpet correspondent, be it this universe, I don't know what next for you, but I'm excited to be along for the ride.

[47:51] Salisha Thomas Weiss: Thank you. Thank you for having me. You were so much fun. Thank you so much.

[47:56] Robert Bannon: Yeah you're just awesome Robert. You go to the website you'll have all my notes that's all of them right here. In old school handwritten look oh my gosh Imagine Queen Disneyland beautiful tour will you still love me tomorrow? Oh my gosh a thousand years old thank you thank you and good night.

[48:21] Salisha Thomas Weiss: You inspired me you inspired me so much thank you for being here thank you for having me.