Mailbag for November 22, 2024

Who 'Wicked' is for, covering Taylor Swift in Tuh-RON-oh, too much TV to watch, which stars would we hang with, and a great suggestion for a Squawk chat

(Matt Baron/BEI/ Andrew H. Walker/ Chelsea Lauren/ Anthony Harvey/ Arrush Chopra/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

Dear Squawkers,

I know someone who has seen the stage production of Wicked ten times. They’re under 30, really good at their job, well-read and well-rounded, cute and likeable, and obsessed with the theatre. So every time I hear someone complaining about how long and how extra the Wicked movie promotion has been, asking who is this for, I think of them. It’s for people like them. They have loved the over-the-top press tour, the way the actors have been jazz-hands-ing and near-crying through every interview. They’ve taken it very personally, in a good way, that the approach has been designed for them and other like-minded theatre kids because they feels seen.

This is why I always wanted to see Wicked with Duana and we’re supposed to go this weekend. As much as I’m sure I’ll be entertained by the film, I’m sure I’ll be equally as entertained by her, and the other people in the audience like her – the gaspers and the ultra-expressives. The ones who can’t tell you they’re going to the bathroom without adding five exclamation points and a hair toss. Which is why I am so amused by all this anxiety and stress over how people are behaving at Wicked screenings right now, to the point where theatres have to put up signs and warnings asking people NOT to sing during the movie.

According to USA Today, “AMC Theatres is running down the rules in an advisory featuring scenes from the upcoming movie. ‘At AMC Theatres, silence is golden,’ the 30-second advisory says. ‘No talking. No texting. No singing. No wailing. No Flirting. And absolutely no name-calling. Enjoy the magic of movies.’”

It's the word “wailing” that sent me…

Ordinarily I don’t want to hear from anyone while I’m at the theatre. I think I mentioned earlier this year how fucking annoying it was when I went to see Challengers that there was a girl beside me making TikToks the whole time. To me, a superfan singing along to the movie is not the same as someone creating social media content or scrolling through their algorithm the whole time.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande attend the UK 'Wicked' film premiere at Royal Festival Hall in London on November 18, 2024 (Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock)

That said, I get it that Wicked wants people who don’t know Wicked to come to the movies, too, and those people should be able to experience every note and every lyric without having it drowned out by a Lea Michele wannabe two rows ahead. I’m just saying that, for me, this is how I, personally, want MY FIRST Wicked experience to be. Like, Duana was shocked that I want to see it in a regular theatre and not a VIP because I’m such a theatre snob. For this movie, though? I want to be with the crooners, the Broadway know-it-alls, the kids trying to one-up each other in the queue over how many times they’ve seen it and how much they can’t wait to hear Elphaba take it from a C-sharp to an F-flat (I’m not a music student, I don’t even know if that’s a thing) even though, let’s be real, they won’t hear it at all because they’ll be attempting to do it themselves in real time during the scene. And to be clear, I say this with love, only love. Because I love when someone loves something that much. I love it in Duana, my wonderful theatre kid friend, whose baseline will be a 10 before the opening credits and by the second minute of the movie, she’ll be at 16.

But also? I think I love it in myself. Broadway musicals are not generally my kink, but I’ve turned into a theatre kid for shit I’m into. Like… Avengers: Endgame. When a beaten-down but never out Captain America grits his teeth, tightens the strap on his battered shield, and looks Thanos straight in the eye, promising to fight to the end and then pauses when he hears Sam in his ear, just before the rest of our heroes come through the portals; when everyone has returned and is ready, and Cap says, FINALLY, those words we’ve been waiting for…

AVENGERS, ASSEMBLE…

And not even really with an exclamation point…

I ROARED in the theatre the first time I saw it. Literally came out of my seat, tears in my eyes, all of Celine Dion’s feelings in my throat, and somehow my fist was in the air too.

This, to me, is no more and no less nerdy than “wailing” during Wicked.

Just a quick personal note before we get to the mailbag. Thanks for all your kind words in the chat yesterday about me taking a day off. Last Saturday while hosting an event, I was rushing to find someone when I tripped and fell, hitting my head and shoulder, and in the process sustained a mild concussion. My main symptoms are extreme fatigue and there was some light sensitivity that seems to have almost subsided. The fatigue, however, comes and goes. I felt pretty good on Tuesday and Wednesday but then had a slight setback. Overall, though, I am confident there’s been improvement. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to sit through a movie that’s in technicolour with people breaking into song every few minutes, LOL, which is why our Wicked plans are tentative at the moment.  

But speaking of theatre kids…

When I was in ambulance, the medics were telling Jacek what kinds of behaviours to be mindful of when a brain injury occurs. They said something to effect of, “If she’s overly dramatic and has mood swings, sudden outbursts, and or gets angry easily”. His response, “Well that’s not a very good gauge for us.” First of all, fuck him, and second…

Do I have the soul of a theatre kid without the theatre kid knowledge or the high heart rate and blood pressure? Can someone with sinus bradycardia (me) be a theatre kid?

Mailbag, let’s go.

Question from Chris:

I’m curious about Lainey’s Taylor Toronto experience. Was it as painful as you expected? What was covering it like? Did you see the show, and if so, thoughts? And to follow on the other question here, what have some of the logistics been like? What do you know about how she’s coming and going etc?

Lainey’s Answer:

I think I addressed most of my big picture thoughts on the Taylor Swift concert in this week’s feature newsletter that was posted on Wednesday. But here are some additional details that didn’t make it into that piece.

It was not painful at all. Like I said last week, I love it so much that she started ten minutes early. And it was actually cute to see all the kids there, boys and girls. Especially adorable when the girl sitting in front of me started falling asleep at the 90-minute mark, by the end of the show she was lying down across three chairs. She was with her parents, mom and dad, and I feel like this will be a really sweet memory for her, being able to say one day that The Eras Tour was a whole family situation.

A newly installed street signboard of 'Taylor Swift Way' near Rogers Centre in Toronto on November 4, 2024 (Arrush Chopra/NurPhoto/Shutterstock)

There were a number of dads there, several of them wearing custom tees that said “Dad Swiftie” or “I’m the Dad” or whatever messages, corny but not cringe, although I will say, just from my own point of view, that when I was a teen, I would never, ever, ever have gone to a concert with my dad, are you fucking kidding me? And if my dad had insisted on coming, I would have pretended I didn’t know him. This isn’t  unique to me either. Most of my friends would have felt the same. Are teens different now? Are they less mortified by their parents? That drive-thru dad would disagree.

Anyway, I enjoyed probably 80-85% of the show, sang along to my favourite bangers, like “Cruel Summer”, “August”, and “Style”; the ten-minute version of “All Too Well” live definitely lives up to the hype; and “Delicate” was also a highlight.

But I can’t say I was all that into the “secret songs”, at least not the ones that we got for the show I was at. Also, sorry, but the folklore/evermore section was boring (other than “August”). And since I don’t fuck with Poets, that era felt so long and flat for me.

Of course, this is coming from someone who is not a hardcore Swiftie. I imagine for the hardcores out there, every minute of every track is a euphoric experience.

One last thing, and it’s a big compliment. Taylor Swift, at least not yet, has disappointingly not shamed Toronto for our traffic. But as we know, she studies everything, and pays attention to the details, so she did Toronto a solid in a different way: she pronounced it right, the way we pronounce it.

I taught this to Nicholas Braun on The Social a couple of years ago. He was doing Toronto too formally, like “TOR-ON-TOH”, hard “T” on the second “T”. This is the giveaway that you’re not from Toronto, if you do the hard “T”. Here we practically eliminate the second “T” and we kinda run the first “T” and the “R” together so it sounds more like “Tuh-RON-oh”.

Every time Taylor Swift said “Toronto”, it was “Tuh-RON-oh”. If you’re going this weekend, pay attention to it!

Question from HSG:

How do you manage and prioritize the sheer volume of shows and entertainment? Sometimes I watch an hour of trailers before I just call it a night without watching a full program of anything. And I can think of more than a few shows where I loved the first season but haven't returned for the second. It's so easy to get distracted by new releases... is there an app, a feature on smart TVs, a google doc, something that can help?

Sarah’s answer:

People would be surprised about how much I DON’T watch. TV, particularly, I don’t watch nearly as much TV as people assume. Screeners for Interior Chinatown is the only TV I’ve watched recently. But I keep a list on my notes app of stuff I want to watch. The week after Christmas is the next time I’ll have a chance to just watch stuff for fun, and I fully intend to start with English Teacher.

For movies, I have an editorial calendar I keep of every screening I have lined up, when movies are coming out and embargo dates, and when I intend to publish the review. That I have on a spreadsheet, because it’s about keeping track of embargos and publication dates, and if I intend to review a TV show, I’ll insert it on that calendar. That’s basically my system—a spreadsheet for “official” stuff, notes app for “just for me” stuff.

Question from Charlotte:

It is Soup Season! May we have hearty, warming soup recipes please?

Sarah’s answer:

Here’s my chili recipe, which I like because it’s super easy to customize to your taste. Make it hotter or less hot, use beef, use turkey, use a plant-based substitute, leave the meat out entirely and have three-bean soup. It’s hard to fuck up, so it’s easy on kitchen-shy cooks. I tend to make vats of this chili in the winter and freeze portions to pull out whenever the weather gets particularly shitty.

·         1 tbsp olive oil

·         1 cup chopped yellow onion

·         1 lb ground meat/substitute of choice

·         4 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tbsp brown sugar

·         2 tbsp chili powder – more or less to taste

·         1 tbsp ground cumin

·         1 tsp dried oregano

·         ½ tsp salt

·         ¼ tsp black pepper

·         3 tbsp tomato paste

·         1 ¾ cups chicken broth

·         28 oz crushed fire roasted tomatoes (1 can whole, 2 can diced)

·         15 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

·         15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

·         15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

• Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook 2 minutes, until onion starts to soften. Add the meat/substitute and cook, stirring to crumble until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

• Add the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Add the broth and stir, scraping the pot.

• Stir in the crushed tomatoes and beans.

• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Cover the chili, and then uncover for the last 30 minutes to thicken.

Notes:

• For less spicy chili, start with 1 tbsp chili powder and increase to taste

• I include chipotle powder to taste, my brother prefers paprika, cayenne adds extra kick

• Fire roasted tomatoes add spice, if you prefer less spicy food, use plain diced tomatoes

• Crush the tomatoes before cooking

• Speaking of tomatoes, put the whole can with juice into the pot. Drain the beans, not the tomatoes

• Heart disease is the #1 killer of women, so I opt for low sodium chicken broth

• To make this vegan, substitute 1 cp water for broth, add water to reach desired consistency

Question from Caitlin L:

Ok, Cameron Diaz has come up this week. If I could hang out with one celebrity she would be my pick! I think she would be fun and she definitely has seen some shit, and also free wine! Jacek, Lainey, and Sarah who would be your celeb hang picks? (No golf players)

Jacek’s Answer:

There’s that saying about being careful about what you wish for when it comes to meeting your idols, and I’m almost certain that there’d be this huge disconnect between how I think my favourite celeb picks would be and how they would actually be if I met them. For instance, I’m immediately drawn to comedians assuming that they’d be a lot of fun to hang out with, but to Sarah’s point in an article recently, and I can’t find the link on our site now, they’re often the LEAST fun to be around in public because they’re so fucking done with being ‘on’ when the spotlight is on them. So I would likely just take a pass on this one given the opportunity and hang out with a famous dog, cause they never disappoint!

Will Ferrell attends the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on February 25, 2024 (Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock)

All that said, I still think the person I’d most want to hang out with is Will Ferrell. Loved him on SNL, loved him in his early post-SNL movies (my buddy and I constantly quote stuff from Old School and Wedding Crashers – “Ma! Meatloaf! Fuuuuck!!!!”), and I’ve loved the fact that he’s shown some range in recent years with dramatic roles. The man can act, IMO. And recently, the topper for me was how big his heart was shown to be in Will & Harper. Here’s a dude at the top of his game, whose fan base I assume consists of a bunch of simpleton Gen-X males like me, and he shows the way by not just accepting his friend’s transition but learning to love the person she really is. It was such a touching story that, sadly, we have to still call “courage” because of what it means financially in the business. Just look at the reaction of those fine people in the Texas bar they visit along the way. The man went from legend to pariah in those people’s eyes in a span of 30 mins just because he opened his heart to a friend who found herself later in life. That’s leadership, self-confidence, and a little bit of not giving a shit, and I admire him for it greatly.

Lainey’s Answer:

I’m assuming you want an answer other than Beyoncé…

Adele, because I’ve heard she’s super gossipy and we already know she’s unfiltered so imagine a marathon Friday night dinner with her just talking shit the whole time?

Gabrielle Union – Kathleen and I spent a few minutes with her at TIFF recently and she’s our people. She doesn’t censor her speech, f-bombs all over the place, and can get real about menopause and Korean beauty all in one sentence.

Gabrielle Union attends the 2024 The Albies Hosted by the Clooney Foundation for Justice in New York September 26, 2024 (Andrew H. Walker/ Shutterstock)

Also, OBVIOUSLY, every single member of BTS. They love food, they are pure chaos, no toxic masculinity, they are super kind, and they don’t need to be seen on the scene. A night of takeout and face masks is just as fun for them, if not more, than a fancy celebrity party. 

Sarah’s answer:

First of all, I so appreciate Caitlin for specifying “no golf players”. Golf is so BORING. I don’t believe any golfers are interesting, not even the one who was famous for smoking cigars and whatnot on the course.

Anyway, my answer is 1) Timothy Olyphant, bonus points for hanging with Conan at the same time, but I believe TO is fun on his own. He seems like a gossip, and we know he’s not opposed to adopting our lingo.

Timothy Olyphant attends the Los Angeles Philharmonic Gala: Dudamel & Lang Lang in Los Angeles on October 1, 2024 (Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)

Also, Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry, two icons, two Oscar winners, came up in the same era…I would just love to pick their brains about their differing experiences in Hollywood. This is what I wish people talked about in those “actors on actors” series, but they never get into the real shit. I understand why, I just wish we could hear these two discuss their respective careers and what forces shaped them, similar and different. Also, again, both seem like they’d be good gossips. I just want to listen to A-listers talk shit.

Question from Vera:

Would you ever consider doing an AMA? I know we can ask things here and in the chats, but a live one would be very interesting to develop the thoughts and conversation :)

Lainey’s Answer:

OMG YES! Didn’t even think of this until you mentioned it but YES! We haven’t had a live chat in a while so framing it as an AMA (Ask Me Anything) would be fun. Maybe in December, when things start slowing down and neither of us feels like writing a thousand words on something?

Please let us know in the comments how you’d all feel about an AMA.

Thanks again for all your support of this community. From megastars to mammograms to shopping lists and of course gossip, the chats continue to surprise and delight us.

Keep squawking and keep gossiping,

Lainey, Sarah, and Jacek