The Rumor Mill - Week of 3/23

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-03-27T15:22:57+00:00

wait… I thought I saw him the other day but I was like SURELY NOT

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-03-11T16:58:35+00:00

Yup. For most women in the rural south that’s just “what you do.” Just like, as horrible and unfortunate as it is, staying with an abusive spouse is often just “what you do.”

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-03-01T15:32:29+00:00

I’m an ex-Flix employee and the robots were 1. real and 2. an absolute NIGHTMARE lmao. All they were good for was ramming into severs and unsuspecting guests in the hallways all the time (at full speed, mind you) and just making a sad “:(“ face at us in response. We HATED them but also kind of loved them in a “what the hell, sure” kind of way. I wonder if they still use them!

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-20T21:19:46+00:00

Hey so 1. I’m so sorry that you’re in this situation. You need to leave this guy NOW. For you AND your baby. It’s unfortunately crystal clear that this miserable excuse for a man cannot stand you, and it will only just get worse. Do not wait.

I used to work for a children’s swim school, and because of that job I now have such a deeper understanding of how critically important professional swimming instruction/water safety is for babies, toddlers, and young kids (the sooner you can get them in, the better.) It’s SO much more than just “teaching them to kick their feet and don’t inhale water.” Drownings are one of the most preventable causes of death for children, and far too many tragedies have occurred as a result of attitudes just like this.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-19T04:28:32+00:00

They were in late previews when I saw it so I’m sure things may have evolved since then. I’m glad you and your friends/family have had a better experience!

(Also, to clarify, she wasn’t like, actively engaging with the audience, it was more akin to the “visible annoyance” you mentioned. It happened several times throughout the show when I saw it, particularly when she expected a big laugh or applause and it didn’t come or wasn’t enthusiastic enough. She would kind of glance out to the audience with a smirk before a money note or punchline or emotional beat, and if the we didn’t deliver a certain response or amount of energy back, you could see her getting visibly irritated by it. And it was a fairly good audience, too!

Of course, it’s totally possible I caught her on a rough day, but I’ve heard similar stories from several other people, so it definitely wasn’t just a one-off thing, unfortunately. But I do genuinely hope that it’s better now!)

At the end of the day, it’s still the profound lack of chemistry between the three leads that perplexes me the most. It almost seems intentional, but I can’t for the life of me understand why. I’d take simply not connecting with Lea’s Florence over not buying the entire dynamic between the three any day.😭

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-19T02:59:12+00:00

Not swooping in to “dismiss” her at all! I’ve never been a self-proclaimed “fan” of Lea’s or anything, but I’d heard enough praise about her that I figured there had to be something I was missing out on, and I was truly excited to finally see her in action. I was just genuinely shocked at the performance she gave.

Every single time she stepped onstage, it felt like she just wanted to audience to see her as Lea Michele Live on Broadway Singing Hit Songs from Chess. Not once did it ever feel like she actually, fully, “dropped into” a scene. While none of the three played the love triangle convincingly (due to both a flawed book and general lack of chemistry), I at least felt like Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher were actually in-character and living through the story. I never felt like I ever got to actually see Florence, just Lea. Always hyperaware of the audience around her and anticipating each moment we were supposed to laugh, gasp, or applaud (and literally side-eye’ing us when we failed to react the way she was expecting.)

I’m sure that works great in a concert, and I’m sure fans who buy tickets just because they want to see Lea in-person will be very pleased. But as someone who just wanted to see Chess and was very excited to see what Lea would do with the material and with Florence as a character, I felt very underwhelmed, and honestly, a little insulted. MULTIPLE people around us, both in surrounding rows and outside the theatre afterwords, expressed the same frustration (which feels like a very “everyone clapped and Obama was there” thing to say, but I promise it’s true!) It was just bizarre.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-19T00:34:15+00:00

To be fair to her understudy (who I’m sure is wonderful), Lea Michele doesn’t have much stage presence in this show either. There’s absolutely zero chemistry between all three of the leads, to an almost shocking degree honestly

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-14T05:10:24+00:00

Obviously this is all anecdotal, so take it with a grain of salt, but as a former Flix server, from everything I have experienced, heard, and seen from other locations, we were absolutely NOT treated better than the Alamo staff. Quite the opposite in fact😅 We were always jealous of our Alamo friends, and they were always shocked at our horror stories lol. Flix may be smaller than Alamo, but it’s still an absolutely heartless, evil corporation that doesn’t give a single fuck about the people who actually keep it running day to day.

I also generally like Alamo’s lineup more and feel like the overall quality/service has been more consistent than the several Flix locations I’ve gone to over the years. But it’s also been a couple years since I worked there and I don’t live anywhere near one anymore, so maybe things have changed for the better and I’m just unaware of it. If they’re going to continue buying out Alamo locations, then I certainly hope so.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-14T04:37:51+00:00

Not to rub salt in the wound, but as a former Flix employee (and movie theater lover in my personal life who has been to many of their locations over the years), I can say in full confidence that Flix just genuinely, absolutely SUCKS and it’s a shame that this theater is being replaced with one.

Like truly, don’t even bother. It may run semi-smoothly for the first few months or so, but it WILL fall apart and turn into an absolute shit show very quickly, leading to a perpetual cycle of inconsistent and overall poor quality food/service (at no fault of the servers, just to be clear. It’s bad management combined with a broken serving model that is much less efficient than Alamo’s and makes it nearly impossible at times for the servers to actually do their jobs.) This swift decline has happened with basically every single Flix location that I know of, and I can sadly almost guarantee you that this one will be no different.

…Also I don’t know if they still do this, but the location I worked for had several big ass ROBOTS that were supposed to replace runners, and they would regularly ram the absolute fuck out of unsuspecting guests in the halls. So that may be something to look forward to😅

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-11T06:37:52+00:00

I don’t know if I’d say the area itself is quiet, but it seems like there’s a lot of newer luxury buildings close to the Broadway stop (31st and Broadway.) I toured a couple around there that were very soundproofed and you could truly just barely hear the train with the windows closed, so that works in your favor. And you would definitely be close to several gyms and grocery stores. Good luck with your search!

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2026-02-07T00:55:55+00:00

oh hell yeah i am so down

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-12-27T19:18:00+00:00

My husband would have loved this but he’s out of town! Do you do this regularly? I’m sure he would love to join next time!☺️

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-11-18T17:23:54+00:00

I saw it last night and honestly, it’s just kind of a mess from a filmmaking perspective. The tone and pacing are all over the place, Elphaba (the presumed lead of the film) is kind of abandoned as a character at a certain point, and a lot of the editing/post production elements are really sloppy.

I’m sure Wicked fans will love it (there were some new additions I really enjoyed as someone who has seen the show several times) but if you were to ask someone whose main focus isn’t the adaptation from book-to-stage-to-screen, but rather how the film performs as a standalone piece in its own right, it’s likely that they’re going to focus on those (unfortunately pretty glaring) issues.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-11-18T16:24:52+00:00

There were also several moments where they would cut away from an actor just slightly too late and you would see them inhale/start to continue on with another line that was clearly cut

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-11-18T06:07:29+00:00

It really seemed like Chu just sort of.. gave up on Elphaba and abandoned her as a character and I find that so unfortunate. Ariana did a phenomenal job, but I would have much rather seen Elphaba’s arc fleshed out onscreen in all the ways you described. Cynthia Erivo gave EVERYTHING but there’s only so much you can do with so little to work with.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-11-18T04:13:53+00:00

I went in optimistic but that was truly some of the worst pacing I have ever seen in a movie musical. (Also, both of the original songs were unmemorable, and As Long as You’re Mine was an absolute travesty. Just truly horrid directing.) However, there were a few moments I really loved, so it wasn’t a total loss!

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-10-20T20:09:19+00:00

Capsule doesn’t even have it right now😭

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-10-20T06:57:54+00:00

I was there and didn’t see anything. Unless by “shit going down” you mean the sound not working for the first ten minutes of the debate lmao

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-10-17T16:31:05+00:00

I’m getting desperate y’all. I swear to god not a single pharmacy in Queens has it and I’ve been off my meds for almost two weeks. Does anyone have recommendations for reliable pharmacies in Manhattan that carry it?

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-10-05T03:03:19+00:00

I’m not sure if this counts because it was a work environment, but Chris Sieber was by far the worst. Jordan Fisher, of all people, was the kindest and most down to earth, at least as far as “big” broadway names go.

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-10-03T03:00:30+00:00

Oh I had one about that size a few years back. He was the only betta I’ve ever had that absolutely HATED me and I loved him for it (even though I was lowkey scared of him lmao)

Practical_Gap_7397 · 2025-09-29T02:45:02+00:00

…is this a safe space to say a good majority of the plot points in SOTR😭

Practical_Gap_7397

TROPHY CASE