Erica Schroeder quotes:

I definitely appreciated '60s music. My uncle and I used to take long road trips to visit my grandmother when I was going to NYU. We'd listen to Petula Clark and other 60's music and sing at the top of our lungs the whole time.

I initially told people I wanted to be a dancer and ultimately a "Rockette." I didn't really know what a musical theatre performer was other than the Shirley Temple type.

I think any good singer needs to be a good actor. You have to be able to tell the story.

My advice to aspiring performers is trust your instincts, 9 times out of 10 they are perfect.

I hardly ever belted; I was a soprano and a comedienne and intended on doing mostly soprano legit roles but my first equity show, to my surprise, was Blues in The Night at The Cleveland Playhouse.

Think of every audition as a chance to perform and you will have fun doing it.

As far as the fashion of mod 60's goes...I've always loved it. I bought a mod dress while still in college for an audition I had for Marsha Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie. It may have been a little too mod for the American 60's, but I think it worked just fine. I ended up wearing it a lot and it became one of my favorite pieces.

I was use to wearing things that accentuated and flattered my bust and waist (just shakin' what my mama gave me) and definitely not my thighs.

Try not be resentful or jealous of other people's success. Know that your path as a performer is going to be very different than others. Try your best not to compare.

I have mentored two young aspiring actors and I wish that I had known I could look for a mentor because it would have been a lot easier to be able to ask those questions to someone who had gone through it already.

When you don't get a role, it wasn't meant to be.

My favorite thing to do is transform. The further the character is away from me the more I enjoy it.

I love performing in a good straight play as well and I'm a crossover actor, I crossover from plays to musicals, musicals to plays. This is very difficult for performers.

I can't say what my greatest strength between acting and singing is...I'll leave that to the critics. Maybe my best strength is performance itself, being with the audience and feeling what they feel, bouncing off of them.

I'm an actor/singer who moves well... sometimes. I'm actually a great mover but not every style fits my body and a dance call back is my worst nightmare.

There are definite vocal trends for every generation as well as accents and I'm not talking about regionalisms.

Every decade has a completely different sound not just musically but vocally.

What better motivation is there to get in better shape than imagining your thighs exposed, watusyin' and a shimmyin' all over the stage.

My dream roles haven't been written yet. My favorite thing to do is to dive into the uncharted territories of a new script that's untainted by someone else's idea of the character.