Cynthia Erivo is a powerhouse actor, vocalist, and talent. Her latest feat has been training for, and completing, the London Marathon, and Erivo being the force she is was doing so while simultaneously playing 23 roles in the one-woman play “Dracula” on London’s West End seven times a week. Recently, she spoke about her process of literally running around the world while offering some of her go-to travel tips.
Cynthia Erivo is an out of this world talent. Her most recent venture had her take on playing 23 roles in the nearly two-hour one-woman play “Dracula” on London’s West End. The show has been running seven times a week for an almost 16-week run. Simultaneously, Erivo was also training for the London Marathon, which she recently completed.
In a recent interview with Travel + Leisure, Erivo explained that while it was a “challenge,” her marathon training was actually beneficial when it came to taking on 23 roles.
“It has been a challenge, but it’s also been helpful. Running gets me ready for the stage but is also where I can actually let things go since the show is a bit of a marathon.”
Erivo started running around 10 years ago while she was starring as lead character Celie in “The Color Purple” on Broadway. That year, 2016, just a few months after she took home the Tony for best leading actress in a musical, she also earned her very first marathon medal from completing the New York City Marathon in 3:57:07. In 2022, she competed in the London Marathon and beat her time with 3:35:36.
While training in 2022, Erivo explained how running helped her see not only the world, but her hometown in a different way.
“When you get to run it and see it uninterrupted with nothing in the way, except for the people and the sights, you have an appreciation for how beautiful the place can be,” she said.
“Sometimes when you’re moving around really quickly, you don’t get to actually see it. When you get to run through a city, you really take it in.”
Erivo has taken her love of running around the world with her work. A few years ago when she was in Morocco, she was able to “get to know the country” even better by running through it, and did the same thing in Greece. “I got to know the hills, how the houses were built, what the streets looked like. It’s just a really great way of exploring the place you’re in.”
For her second London marathon this year, she teamed up with Brooks Running and pro marathoner Erika Kemp as her coach.
“I think I made my training a little harder for myself than if I were running on the streets, which is probably a good thing. You just have to keep going because there’s nothing. You can’t—and you don’t—stop.”
As a part of her partnership with Brooks, she wrote A Love Letter to the Run as a campaign for the company in which she further discussed her secret to success in not just running, but every aspect of her life. One of the main releases she highlighted was her connection to journaling.
“It’s the best way for me to offload my thoughts and what I’m thinking and feeling,” she said.
“Sometimes I’ll journal sporadically; there are times when I’m journaling every day, even if it’s just to get a thought out.” During her runs, she wrote down her reactions and visualized future training sessions. “If I can’t quite picture what the next task is, writing it down makes it really easy to see.”
Erivo discussed how she’s filled so many “pages that [her] sweet journal is tattered because [she’s] coming to the last pages of it.” However, starting a new journal is always such a “wonderful thing,” allowing her to continuously jot down her thoughts at the end of a long day.
“There are points in the day where I put something down, and I’ll actually write, ‘More later,’” she stated.
“I realize your journaling session doesn’t have to happen and then end. It can begin, you can leave it where it is, go away, and come back to it—that’s why it’s so good.”
The superstar also discussed how journaling helps keep her grounded when she’s constantly switching gears in her work, specifically moving from performing on Broadway in New York to the West End in London. “In the past, theater audiences in London have been very respectful, and they wait their turn to make noise.”
“But now the audiences are starting to combine, and they’re really interactive like Broadway. There’s a beauty in it because it means they’re giving the energy back to the people on stage, and that’s more helpful than people realize.”
“Even though London is a smaller place, we’re very spread out. But on Broadway, the streets are back-to-back, and the theaters are opposite each other, so you get to be really close to people on Broadway. You don’t get as much time to be in the same space in London.”
One of the parts of performing that Erivo loves the most is going to the stage doors after the show to greet the audience: “Everyone’s always vibrant. There’s a lovely patience to being at the stage door, and people are really polite and kind, but excited.”
“I want people to be safe at stage doors. When people get excited, sometimes they push a little, and you have no idea what other people are dealing with, so I don’t want anyone to get injured. I will try to get to absolutely everyone, but you just have to wait.”
Regardless of where she is, she loves being able to connect to new cities, and reconnecting with one’s shes lived in before, through running.
“You find yourself in a place, and in order to orient yourself, you run it, and you learn it – that’s what it is about traveling and running. You get lost, but then you get found again.”
Erivo revealed to T+L that favorite destination that she’s been able to travel to so far has been Japan. “There’s something about that place – maybe it’s the people, the food – but I just love being in Japan. They love theater there, and they’re so effusive and emotional.”
Erivo then gave the publication some of her best traveling tips as someone who is constantly going to new places and working in new environments. For example, when it comes to her personal tricks for getting over jetlag, she explained that “strangely,” it’s exercise.
“When I land—either the night of, or the morning after—I go on a run. It just shakes the cobwebs off. And lots of hydration. I keep drinking water all the way through a journey. On a flight, you can’t necessarily take your liquids with you, but you can take a bottle of ice. I’ll also take my teacup, put my tea bags in it, and when I get on the flight, I ask for hot water. Also, always take electrolytes with you.”
Her go to in-flight snack is potato chips, as she doesn’t need anything fancy, “just really salty. That and I always take fruit with me – I like grapes.”
Her most “unusual thing” that she packs is an infrared light mask, which has become increasingly popular in recent years especially for helping your skin after traveling.
When thinking about her marathon career she thinks of all the characters she’s played in the past, Belle from “Widows” would be the one most likely to run a marathon. When thinking about a character she’s played that she believes would be the best travel companion, she thinks Aretha Franklin would be fun.
“She traveled lots, but she hated flying in real life. A road trip to Nashville would be fab. She would probably love that, and she’d be really fun!”
When looking at the future, Erivo definitely wants to run more marathons, and right now her dream is to do the Paris Marathon. She’s been able to run on her own around the French capital before and would love to participate among others throughout the beautifully iconic city.
“It’s the loveliest place in the world, and you get very distracted by everything. I really want to do [the marathon] because afterwards, I’ll just stay and eat croissants, go to boulangeries, and shop!”
For now, Erivo is grateful and looking forward to continuing to discover new cities and places on foot through her love of running.
“You find yourself in place, and in order to orient yourself, you run it, and you learn it – that’s what it is about with traveling and running, you get lost, but then you find it again.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
