{"id":20115,"date":"2022-07-20T11:07:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T11:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/funny-girl-drama-timeline-how-lea-michele-came-to-replace-beanie-feldstein\/"},"modified":"2022-07-20T11:07:47","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T11:07:47","slug":"funny-girl-drama-timeline-how-lea-michele-came-to-replace-beanie-feldstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/funny-girl-drama-timeline-how-lea-michele-came-to-replace-beanie-feldstein\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Funny Girl’ drama timeline: How Lea Michele came to replace Beanie Feldstein"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n
\n
\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u2014
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n

From the moment it was announced that Beanie Feldstein would lead \u201cFunny Girl\u201d in its first Broadway revival, many theater fans wondered: How would Lea Michele take the news?\n <\/p>\n

\n

Michele, a Broadway veteran known for starring on \u201cGlee,\u201d has been publicly angling for the role of comic heroine Fanny Brice for years. This month, she finally got her chance, \u201cFunny Girl\u201d producers announced when Michele would replace Feldstein, the comic breakout star of films like \u201cBooksmart,\u201d as protagonist Fanny Brice.\n <\/p>\n

\n

But \u201cFunny Girl’s\u201d road back to Broadway has been anything but smooth: Between planned and canceled revivals, accusations that Michele was abused to a Black co-star on the \u201cGlee\u201d set and overwhelmingly negative reviews for Feldstein’s performance, the revival has been besieged by setbacks. Revisit the winding chain of events below, from Barbra Streisand’s debut to the current casting snafu.\n <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFunny Girl\u201d is Barbra Streisand’s show, and that’s half the battle of bringing it back to Broadway without her. Fanny Brice is the role that makes her a star. She originates the role of Brice, a vaudeville comedian, on Broadway and later wins an Oscar for its film adaptation. \u201cDo n’t Rain on My Parade\u201d becomes one of her signature songs and \u201chello, gorgeous\u201d one of her signature lines. \u201cFunny Girl\u201d is not revived on Broadway after Streisand appears in it because it is assumed that no other actress can sing a song like \u201cI’m the Greatest Star\u201d and convince an audience that it’s true like Babs can \u2026 until nearly 60 years later.\n <\/p>\n

\n

It’s the mid-season finale of the first season of \u201cGlee,\u201d and theater kids everywhere are glued to Fox. The episode is set at show choir sectionals, and our McKinley High School glee club is determined to shed their underdog status and finally win something.\n <\/p>\n

\n

It seems unlikely at first that the beloved Gleeks will get their happy ending. But then, Michele, playing obnoxious-yet-undeniably-talented lead Rachel Berry, struts out into the audience to perform a soaring rendition of \u201cDon’t Rain on My Parade.\u201d It’s a triumphant performance that introduces the Streisand standard to a new generation of viewers, secures the win for the New Directions glee club and unofficially kicks off Michele’s campaign to play Fanny Brice on Broadway.\n <\/p>\n

\n

Michele, who starred in Broadway’s \u201cSpring Awakening\u201d before assuming the role of Rachel Berry, returns to her theatrical roots by reprising her performance of \u201cDon’t Rain on My Parade\u201d at the 2010 Tony Awards. It’s similar to the \u201cGlee\u201d number in that she sings it mostly from the audience, except now she’s surrounded by greats like Angela Lansbury and Denzel Washington.\n <\/p>\n

\n

Her performance might’ve been another public audition: Earlier that month, CNN writes about rumors that \u201cFunny Girl\u201d could return to Broadway in 2011, starring Michele. Digital readers mostly say it’s a bad idea.\n <\/p>\n

\n

Broadway director Bartlett Sher, who throughout his career has revived beloved classic musicals, announces he’ll take Fanny Brice’s story back to Manhattan. \u201cSix Feet Under\u201d star Lauren Ambrose is rumored to be his Fanny, with Bobby Canavale as her love interest. But after four investors pull out of the production as fears of flagging ticket sales mount, the revival is canceled. Ambrose lives her Broadway heroine dreams in 2018 when she’s cast as Eliza Doolittle in the Sher-directed revival of \u201cMy Fair Lady.\u201d Michele will not appear on Broadway for another decade.\n <\/p>\n

\n

In \u201cGlee’s\u201d fifth season, Michele’s Rachel moves to New York and devotes her life to scoring the lead in a revival of \u201cFunny Girl.\u201d Her frenemy and former glee club teammate Santana Lopez (played by the late Naya Rivera) is also vying for the lead role. Rachel ends up getting cast, but so does Santana \u2013 as Rachel’s understudy. The producers of this fictional revival say the competition between the two will drum up buzz for the show \u2013 and years before the real-life \u201cFunny Girl\u201d revival makes it to Broadway, art imitates life.\n <\/p>\n

\n

Guesting on Andy Cohen’s \u201cWatch What Happens Live,\u201d Michele confidently tells the Bravo executive that her \u201cGlee\u201d godfather, series creator Ryan Murphy, obtained the rights to produce a \u201cFunny Girl\u201d revival IRL, and she’ll be playing Fanny, natch. At this point, Michele has performed much of the \u201cFunny Girl\u201d score already on \u201cGlee.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

But it isn’t to be \u2013 Murphy says in fall 2015 that there are no longer plans for him to revive \u201cFunny Girl\u201d for the stage. He says that since Michele performed \u201cso many of those songs and so many of those scenes that in a weird way, I feel like we did it.\u201d Michele’s dreams are dashed once more, \u201cGlee\u201d ends the following year and aside from Michele mentioning her \u201cFunny Girl\u201d aspirations a few more times over the years, news of a revival remains dormant.\n <\/p>\n

\n

Samantha Marie Ware, who appeared on \u201cGlee’s\u201d final season, accuses Michele of creating a negative experience on the set of the show. Ware, who is Black, writes that Michele made her first TV show \u201ca living hell\u201d and exposed her to \u201ctraumatic microaggressions.\u201d Meal delivery service HelloFresh severs ties with Michele over Ware’s accusations, and Michele responds to Ware’s comments and apologizes for \u201cany pain which I have caused.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

A \u201cFunny Girl\u201d revival is finally coming to Broadway after a 2016 West End revival received fine reviews. But this newest iteration of the show will star Feldstein, a well-reviewed movie actor who is mostly untested when it comes to her ability to lead such a vocally challenging musical. (She also appeared in the celebrated 2017 revival of \u201cHello, Dolly!\u201d in the supporting role of Minnie Fay.) Feldstein repeatedly says that playing Fanny has been her lifelong dream.\n <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cGlee\u201d viewers\/anyone aware of pop culture in 2009 wonders what Michele makes of this casting. She comments on Feldstein’s Instagram to congratulate her: \u201cYOU are the greatest star! This is going to be epic!!!\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

The revival’s reviews are damning, and most of them take aim at Feldstein’s vocal abilities. Helen Shaw of New York writes that Feldstein’s \u201cvoice lets her down\u201d and describes her singing as \u201cpiercing and unpleasant.\u201d The New York Times’ Jesse Green is slightly kinder; he calls her \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cfunny enough in places,\u201d though he acknowledges that her voice is \u201cnot well suited to the music.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

The consensus is that Feldstein was miscast as Fanny. She goes on to miss several performances due to a Covid-19 infection and tonsillitis. She says she’ll depart the show in September.\n <\/p>\n

\n

\u201cFunny Girl\u201d ticket sales gradually bottom, hitting new lows the first week in July, when sales sink more than 10% from the previous week, according to Broadway World. There are rumblings that producers plan to replace Feldstein with Michele, who’s proven time and again (and again) that she can sing the challenging \u201cFunny Girl\u201d score.\n <\/p>\n

\n

The Daily Beast provides some insights: After learning on Gawker (from an anonymous source) that Michele would replace Feldstein, the \u201cBooksmart\u201d actress reportedly stopped communicating directly with producers.\n <\/p>\n

\n

On July 10, she announces to surprised fans (and, according to the Daily Beast, surprised producers) that she will leave the show at the end of July instead of the end of September, as she’d previously stated. She attributes her departure to producers taking the show \u201cin a different direction.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

The production announces Michele’s casting the next day. Michele says \u201ca dream come true is an understatement.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

Michele’s casting is extremely controversial: Though she’s a talented performer, many theater fans online recall accusations that she targeted Ware on \u201cGlee\u201d and created a toxic work environment. Ware comments on Michele’s casting: \u201cYes, I care. yes, im [sic] affected \u2026 Yes, I was abused. Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n

Despite her reputation on set, anticipation of Michele as Fanny Brice causes a stir among some audience members with deep pockets. On SeatGeek, tickets for Michele’s opening night sell for as much as $2,500 (without fees, which also add up to around $500, according to Variety).\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n