Ashley Lee
@cashleelee
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@latimes entertainment and arts reporter. she/her is messy, but she's kind. ashley.lee @latimes .com
Los Angeles, CA
Joined August 2009
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Hugh Jackman tested positive for COVID today ... after performing at the Tony Awards yesterday 😬
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“I scorched the earth with my talent and I let my light shine.”
—André Leon Talley, forever a legend
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i asked Quinta Brunson about Jimmy Kimmel’s
#Emmys
bit: “It didn’t bother me that much. I consider him one of the comedy godfathers. I don’t know — tmrw, maybe I’ll be mad at him. I’m gonna be on his show on Wed, I might punch him in the face. We’ll see.”
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hollywood theater
🤝
hiring the same white guys
while *loudly* vowing to be
more inclusive
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words fail to encompass my feelings about the
#DearEvanHansen
movie, and the many songs it decidedly does not include.
i tried anyway
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Slave Play will be back on Broadway in a larger theater (400 more seats) and will offer 10,400 $39 tickets in its 8-week run.
divisive as it is, this show remains committed to widening who can even access it to then partake in the convo around it. i wish more would do the same.
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here's a plot twist: my layoff has been reversed. i am keeping my job at the LA Times.
so grateful to everyone who supported me during these past few weeks. though the future of journalism may be uncertain, i'm thankful to be able to do this work for at least one day more 🙌
i'm one of the 100+ LA Times folks laid off today. i'm proud of the work i've done over the past five years, and i'm thankful to the editors, coworkers, sources and readers who've supported my reporting on the theater industry. because i knew you, i have been changed for good 💚
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there were SO many ways Tick Tick Boom could’ve gone wrong. it’s the unlikeliest movie-musical, and yet it’s one of the most thoughtful stage-to-screen adaptations to date.
i spoke with
@Lin_Manuel
, Andrew Garfield and more for how they all pulled it off:
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“If people were honest about what happens, you’d look at a stage and ask, Is this still entertaining? Am I gonna give up my enjoyment so you can have your humanity?”
my candid chat with
@Karenolivo
on exiting Moulin Rouge and exposing theater’s inequities
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🔊 louder for the people who say no one likes musicals 🔊
‘THE COLOR PURPLE’ debuts with $18.1M in its opening day at the domestic box office.
Tied with ‘LES MISERABLES’ for the second highest opening day gross for a film released on Christmas.
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“I knew if I approached my craft w/ integrity and intention and my best to honor the gift God’s given me, good things would happen. I just didnt know ‘good’ would be ‘great’ and ‘great’ would be ‘out of this world.’”
@natasharothwell
thriving in abundance
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🎶 I made it through, I survived, I did it.
Now, do I leave or stay? 🎶
a full breakdown of
#InTheHeightsMovie
's Paciencia y Fe, which imo is the greatest movie-musical set piece in recent memory:
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the Emmys is like that tv show you're still watching *just in case* it finally does something different
but every year it proves you wrong and does its same old thing again. and again. and again.
#EmmysSoWhite
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“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.”
—Stephen Sondheim
he gave us so much art amid so much chaos 💔
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i don’t know who needs to hear this, but every body on Broadway is a “Broadway body.”
wrote a little bit about the lack of body diversity in musical theater:
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i'm one of the 100+ LA Times folks laid off today. i'm proud of the work i've done over the past five years, and i'm thankful to the editors, coworkers, sources and readers who've supported my reporting on the theater industry. because i knew you, i have been changed for good 💚
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save this link for after you watch
#OneNightInMiami
for details on that emotional performance, and the bittersweet meaning of those final frames:
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"She and I are very much in for the long haul, warts and all."
a sweet chat with
#TedLasso
's
@HanWaddingham
and Juno Temple shortly after they learned of their
#EmmyNoms
:
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i look forward to the day when it's no longer necessary to explain why people’s names should be pronounced correctly.
until then...
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happy to report that Anna Shay is as delightful and generous in an interview as she is on Netflix’s new reality show
#BlingEmpire
:
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wow,
@SixBroadway
co-creator Toby Marlow is the first out nonbinary composer-lyricist to win the
#TonyAwards
for Best Original Score 👏
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i love wearing masks in theaters. you can cringe at a choice without offending the performers. you can mouth the words of a song without annoying the audience. you can avoid people you don’t want to greet. you can wear a lip conditioning mask while supporting the arts. all wins!!
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for anyone who wants details on tonight's
#TheLastOfUs
, including whether you can visit that Jackson commune yourself:
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for anyone wondering: why Karen Olivo, nominated for Moulin Rouge, did not attend (or even watch) the
#TonyAwards
tonight
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joshua henry playing both rapunzel's prince in into the woods AND gaston in beauty in the beast is perfect, no notes
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In the Heights is out today.
Cinderella, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Dear Evan Hansen in Sept.
Tick, Tick...Boom! and West Side Story later this year.
plus live-captures of Come From Away and Diana.
and Annie Live! too.
2021 is doing the most!!
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is Williamstown Theatre Festival a professional springboard? or a place that exposes young artists to repeated safety hazards and a toxic work culture?
my story on this prestigious fest, and whether its recent changes are too little, too late:
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"It’s unfair that Hamilton gets to enjoy the benefits of these claims of diversity and inclusion but essentially excommunicate someone who spoke up about it."
—Suni Reid, whose EEOC complaint accuses the show of discrimination + retaliation
read it here:
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i don’t know who needs to hear this, but:
please don’t let what one single person thinks of you stop you from becoming the singular person you could be
please don’t internalize what you know isn’t true about you
and please don’t stop looking for the people who really do see you
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yes, i see your tweets about not being able to read my
@latimes
stories bc you hit a paywall.
if you’ve enjoyed anything i’ve written lately, please consider subscribing! it keeps myself and others in the newsroom employed:
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one of my favorite Broadway experiences is that revival of The Gin Game in which Cicely Tyson spent two hours revealing the facets of her brilliance opposite James Earl Jones. every gesture, every line delivery was a masterclass. thankful for how her artistry enriched us all.
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save this link for after you watch the
⚽️
#TedLasso
season finale 😱
@nickmohammed
has waited months to speak on that heated Nate scene and how those final frames came to be:
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"West End musical theater performers need to be onscreen more. Please give them a chance because we won't let you down."
--Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham, saluting her roots
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i’m pretty sure the virus doesn’t care about anyone’s “rights, reputations, and livelihoods being on the line” or whether “every soul is entitled to live according to their convictions and work without being publicly ostracized” but go off
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i’m looking for people who, bc of the pandemic, have (permanently) pivoted away from the arts and into an entirely new field.
if you used to work consistently in theater, film, music, TV, etc and are open to being interviewed + photographed, email me at ashley.lee
@latimes
.com 👋
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save this link for after you watch that
🎄
#TedLasso
holiday episode 🎁
“I hope people don’t think it’s too early for a Christmas episode, and I hope they’ll rewatch it at Christmas and enjoy it again.”
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COVID pushed many artists and arts workers to look at what they weren’t getting from their pre-pandemic jobs, and what precarious elements they had long tolerated for the love of theater.
honored to share ten of their stories for
@latimes
' sunday cover:
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once again, the “reporting” on these opening weekend box office grosses — especially for non-franchise movies centered on underrepresented audiences — are a problem in itself. this happens all the time and i’m so sick of it.
Your newsroom needs more Black people. Look at this mess.
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backstage, i asked Jerrod Carmichael about his
#Emmys
look, even amid the L.A. heat: "It's fox, it’s vintage, Puff Daddy wore it in a music video. I'm very happy in it, happy I won in it.
"And it goes well with gold," he said, holding up his trophy 🙌
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ima be honest with you: of the many musical adaptations coming out this month, i enjoyed
#CinderellaMovie
the most 🙃
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with
#InTheHeights
and Wicked,
@jonmchu
really is that game-changing director who could probably take on allll the movie-musicals.
“I’m so down,” he said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
my LA Times profile:
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i was privileged to be able to do multiple unpaid internships and might not be where i am today if not for them
i also think they’re discriminatory, exploitative and inherently awful, and aspiring journalists deserve a better on-ramp
both can be true! both ARE true!
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still peeved that critics panned the Cinderella movie with Brandy and Whitney Houston, which premiered on this day in 1997.
it remains an exemplary TV musical adaptation and should be treated as such ✨
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five years ago today, a boss yelled at me during my performance review. he had overheard me say i was sick of writing about late night clips bc i wanted to do more original reporting. he called me lazy and didn’t deserve a cost-of-living raise, let alone the job i had for years.
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i will never get over the fact that, for some reason, Broadway actors have to perform their shows on the day of the Tony Awards
meanwhile i'm starting to get ready for the Emmys and am already spent
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if your theater company is forging on with outdoor shows this summer, please prioritize your tech crews and designers, who are working amid heat and rain to make these productions possible.
my story on the Williamstown Theatre Festival walkout:
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#Cinderella1997
is ✨magical✨ because it knew exactly what it was doing, and then did it very well.
i took a critical look at a childhood fave, and the lessons it has for those behind the current movie-musical boom:
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"To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like, this is what striving looks like. And don't you ever, ever give up on you." —Sheryl Lee Ralph 🥰
#Emmys
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it’s amazing how
#InsecureHBO
is — simultaneously and wholly — a celebration of Black joy, a millennial coming-of-age tale, an aspirational romantic comedy and one of recent TV’s most remarkable portraits of friendship.
LA Times’
#SeasonByeve
reads, here:
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🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵
but the world is full of zanies and fools
who don’t believe in sensible rules
and won’t believe what sensible people sayyyyy
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personally i love wearing masks on planes, especially on long flights. besides protecting yourself and others, you can fall asleep with your whole! mouth! open! and don’t have to worry about how funny you look, what your breath smells like, how much you’re drooling. i’m a fan.
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all i can say is, thank you again to all the alumni who bravely shared their harrowing Williamstown Theatre Festival experiences.
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@FilmUpdates
Chloe says, after
#TheLittleMermaid
, Halle “is more confident in herself and her gifts. “It was a difficult time for both of us because even though we were supporting each other, I don’t think either of us knew who we were without the other.”
full story:
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#InTheHeights
is everything i’ve ever wanted in a stage-to-screen adaptation bc it showcases the spectacle of musical theater by unapologetically using the bolder tools of film. it’s v clear that
@jonmchu
respects both mediums equally, as he brought out the best of each 🙌
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today is my birthday. since i'm always telling my friends to celebrate themselves more often, i'ma take a sec to do the same and plug some favorite pieces that i wrote this year.
i am not joking when i say that many of these are stories i never thought i'd be able to write:
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“This movie has an opportunity to show the world that change — real, true change — is okay.”
i wrote about the inspired casting of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, a coveted stage role that’s largely been played by white actors since Wicked opened in 2003
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omgomgomgomg i'm freaking out rn i'm a finalist for
@LAPressClub
's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism awards
😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
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“I don’t feel defeated, I feel angry. I feel like we never got a fair chance.”
a candid chat with
@HelenHjPark
, Jason Kim and the producers of
#KPOPBroadway
about the show’s past few weeks and its future iterations:
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at
#AFIFEST
,
@Lin_Manuel
dedicates the world premiere screening (and all screenings) of
#ticktickBOOMmovie
to Jonathan Larson 🎶
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Hollywood, take note:
#DexterNewBlood
proves it’s incredibly possible to revisit a series in a way that’s both thrilling and thoughtful. what a season, what a finale.
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this
#Grownish
episode was filmed in 2019 but speaks to where
@ChloeBailey
and
@HalleBailey
are right now.
i asked
@chloexhalle
about acting alone for the first time, and pursuing art alongside your best friend and sister:
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cardi b has put on her sunday clothes ❤️
pitch: a live-streamed Hello Dolly revival starring Cardi B without irony or commentary just legit amazing casting and performance and lolz
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"Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here, as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black baby from Massachusetts. To anyone that thinks that they can't do it, I'm going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to."
@thealexnewell
#TonyAwards
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it’s taken me a loooooong time to undo what i internalized that day, and i’m still working on exorcising a few bits. i’ve since proven (to myself, really) that a readership for my work exists, and realized that a good manager is much more interested in growth than gaslighting.
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“Listen, there’s always gonna be people for whom this may not be their cup of tea.
As artists, if we try too hard to appeal to everyone, then we don’t make things that are meaningful to anyone.”
@cooperfilms
, creator of the brilliant new series
#BelAir
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the fact that, after months of talking about the theater industry’s lack of accessibility, the actual Tony Awards will only be available on another streaming service is quite the choice!
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"In a world that entices us ... to in turn feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success, do not be afraid to disappear from it, from us, for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence."
-Michaela Coel, preaching
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omg. my
@latimes
piece about watching The Father onstage + onscreen with my dad won a Southern California Journalism Award!
thank you
@LAPressClub
, and my editor
@thefilmgoer
🥹 my dad is very happy about this and says he's ready for his acceptance speech
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whoa — just found out my
@latimes
story on audiences' reactions to the touring Oklahoma revival won a National Arts & Entertainment Journalism award!
thank you
@LAPressClub
! and a forever bravo to the actors who performed in Daniel Fish's textual expose:
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if you're looking for your next comfort watch, let me introduce you to Canine Intervention, a Netflix show in which Jas Leverette teaches you how to train your dog/live your life:
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“To the world we dream about
and
the one we live in now.”
this Hadestown toast felt different tonight. i don’t know. these two worlds just seem too far apart.
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white privilege is having “a bad day” and yet living to see the next one. truly not a luxury afforded to all.
#StopAsianHate
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Hello. I am a journalist on staff at a publication in a film. I sometimes sleep with my sources and can stay employed by only working on one story at a time for months on end.
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omg! my story on artists and arts workers who've exited the theater industry during the pandemic is nominated for two National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards 🥹🥹🥹
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things to know about
@joshuahenry20
's Gaston: the chest hair and cleft chin are fake, the bulging muscles are real 💪
#BeautyAndTheBeast30th
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i asked Sheryl Lee Ralph about singing "Endangered Species" in her
#Emmys
speech: "I think of myself as an artist, as a woman and especially as a woman of color, I'm an endangered species, and I don't sing any victim song. I know where my voice belongs."
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theater is, yet again, behind some of 2020’s best movies and TV shows.
i wrote a few thoughts on why Hollywood bears an obligation — artistic and moral — to help the theater, an industry that’s been more or less on life support since the pandemic began:
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i am heartbroken, discouraged and altogether exhausted.
but i am here.
that is the best that i can do right now. and it is enough.
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save this link for after you watch the new episodes of
#HacksOnHBOMax
for all the details on that beautiful, excruciating email ✉
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i wasn't sure it'd be possible to replicate the magic of I'm Just Ken live on the
#Oscars
stage — only bc it's got so many locations, references and jokes! — but imo they really pulled it off.
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devastated that the brilliant puppetry design of
@LifeOfPiBway
, submitted to the
#TonyAwards
in the costume design category, will now go unacknowledged. what brilliant, innovative creations, unlike anything i've ever seen live.
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*massive* audience gasps at tonight’s Hadestown opening, immediately followed by a loud “omg” and a sprinkle of sobs.
i love this show so much.
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Wayne Brady painting whiskers on his face and making a ladle out of a spam container is next-level
#RatatouilleMusical
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how lucky we all are that
@thedanieb
will again play Sofia in the upcoming Color Purple movie. her powerhouse “Hell No!” should be experienced by as many people as possible
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v happy for all of tonight's winners including Jennifer Hudson, who has reached EGOT status!!
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soooooo i also submitted some commentaries about certain stage-to-screen adaptations ... some of which got me scolded by publicists and flooded with angry reader emails ... and won 🏆
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bravo to
@ArianaDeBose
and all the
#TonyAwards
winners who thanked the understudies, swings and standbys onstage tonight. these performers rarely get acknowledged at this ceremony, even though they've been the lifeline of theater well before this pandemic.
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save this link for after you watch
#InsecureSeriesFinale
@YvonneOrji
tells all about filming Molly’s big day, collaborating on the
#InsecureHBO
episode’s most devastating scene and pulling off that teary, thankful moment with
@IssaRae
:
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every year i wonder if the first reactions to an awards movie would still be what they are if these people weren’t seeing it a) early, b) for free, and c) possibly with in-person celebrity appearances
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i'm very busy today: i shared my thoughts in a sizable work meeting and now i have to fret about what i said, how it landed and why i thought it was worth it to say something, knowing i would then take hours to recover
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today marks six years since Hamilton’s opening night on Broadway, which included a party at Chelsea Piers with fireworks over the Hudson, a performance by The Roots and me freaking out about losing my very full tape recorder
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got a few tidbits about Bertha Russell's bold ball gown in the
#GildedAgeHBO
finale, courtesy of
@carriecoon
:
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