DeMarius Copes may be making his Broadway debut in the stage musical adaptation of Mean Girls, but when he steps into the shoes of Damian, he plays the guide.

Copes regularly appears as part of the North Shore student body in the ensemble of the Tony-nominated Best Musical, but he also understudies Damian Hubbard. No matter which track he steps into, part of Copes' pre-show routine to get into the Mean Girls mood is listening to music.

“My pre-show playlist starts when I get on the train to the theatre,” he says. “Of course, there’s a ton of Beyoncé and John Legend involved in my personal headphones before I arrive to the dressing room (shared by the entire male ensemble) because once half hour hits, the speakers come on and we start an amazing pump up session. Since our show is extremely energetic and high energy, it’s best that we get our bodies and minds in the mindset of a high school football on homecoming night.”

This week’s Playbill Mixtape features the songs that regularly help Copes and his dressing room mates gear up for an evening of Casey Nicholaw's demanding choreography—everything from tap to stylized hip-hop. “I like to think of our show as a pep-rally, of sorts, that we perform for our university every day,” he says. “The show is our warning performance to the freshman to be good people or bizarre things can happen to you, like getting hit with a bus.”

Check out his pre-show soundtrack below and be sure to follow Playbill on Spotify for all of your ear candy needs and glimpses into the playlists of more of your favorite Broadway stars.

Mean Girls plays Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre (245 W 52nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenues) in an open-ended run.