Lea Michele Is Nice Now And Can Allegedly Read
Of all people you’d think Lea Michele would be familiar with the Streisand Effect and I don’t mean when you star in a Broadway play about a young, starry eyed up-and-comer and instantly become the “greatest star.” I mean when you are already the “greatest star” and try to dispel a long-standing rumor but only wind up reminding everybody that you’re a mean girl who (allegedly) can’t read. Lea’s big Funny Girl debut is next week, and for those unable to attend, Lea’s given an interview to The New York Times to let us know just what we’ll be missing— a wiser, more generous, and mature leader who is going to do “a good job when the camera’s rolling, but also when it’s not.” And in case you’re asking, she may not be able to read a room, but she absolutely can (allegedly) read a book. Need proof? She must have read The Feminine Mystique because how else would she know that it’s sexist to joke about her illiteracy?
It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since Lea got her ass handed to her by nearly everybody she’s ever worked with save her bestie Johnathan Groff who she enthralled with her vagina many moons ago. And here she is, back on top playing the role she has wanted to play since her Spring Awakening and now Funny Girl director Michael Mayer introduced her to the film version starring the role’s Broadway originator Barbra Streisand. He wanted to cheer her up because she was “sulking” in her dressing room over a guy who absolutely broke up with her in person because how else was he gonna do it? Write her a Dear, Lea letter? Lea says that after an “intense time of reflection,” she’s ready to show the world her softer side. According to The New York Times:
“I feel more ready than I ever have before, both personally and professionally,” Michele said in an interview three weeks before her debut. She spoke from a dressing room vacated by the actress Jane Lynch, who ended her run as Brice’s mother earlier than planned, ensuring that the former “Glee” co-stars would never perform together onstage.
The allegations prompted an “intense time of reflection” about her conduct at work, Michele said — which, she believes, has equipped her to be a part of, and lead, a Broadway company for the first time since leaving “Spring Awakening” in 2008.
“I really understand the importance and value now of being a leader,” she said. “It means not only going and doing a good job when the camera’s rolling, but also when it’s not. And that wasn’t always the most important thing for me.”
While Lea admits to being a perfectionist, she refused to comment on her former Glee co-star Samantha Ware‘s accusation that one of Lea’s failings as a leader when the cameras weren’t rolling, was threatening to shit in her wig. Lea says she doesn’t “feel the need to handle things” through the media. So I’ll just assume she has privately apologized to Sam by sending her a gift basket from Wigs on Wings. And while she hasn’t apologized or admitted to shit, she does “acknowledge” some things.
Michele now acknowledges that her work style is intense, sometimes to a fault. “I have an edge to me. I work really hard. I leave no room for mistakes,” she said. “That level of perfectionism, or that pressure of perfectionism, left me with a lot of blind spots.”
She traced that psychology to her days as a child actress on Broadway, where, she said, the expectation to perform at a consistently high level often put her in a “semi-robotic state.”
See, it wasn’t Mama Lea who allegedly threatened to shit in Sam’s wig and can read, it was Robot Lea, her evil twin. Robot Lea is the one who (allegedly) can’t read because she can only register ones and zeros.
Still, Michele admits that she is only just learning how to be publicly vulnerable. Online hatred of her can verge on gleeful, and she fears that if she responds to criticism — or a bizarre rumor that she is illiterate — it will fuel the fire.
“I went to ‘Glee’ every single day; I knew my lines every single day,” she said. “And then there’s a rumor online that I can’t read or write? It’s sad. It really is. I think often if I were a man, a lot of this wouldn’t be the case.”
Well, if she were a man she wouldn’t be starring as Fannie Brice on Broadway so her point is moot. Also, knowing one’s lines is different from reading them, but then again, Robot Lea was in charge during her Glee years so she probably just uploaded them directly from the cloud. But I will give Mama Lea points for creativity. She just explained the Streisand Effect while trying to counter the Streisand Effect— a move that will heretofore be known as the Michele Method.
lea michele forcing jonathan groff to read her funny girl lines to her rn pic.twitter.com/Hy6HrISK24
— rio (@rioc123) July 11, 2022
Pic: Christian Lora/Image Press Agency