‘Funny Girl’ Drama Timeline: How Lea Michele Came to Replace Beanie Feldstein
Michele, a Broadway veteran best known for starring in “Glee,” has been publicly seeking the role of comedic heroine Fanny Brice for years. This month, she finally got her chance, when the producers of “Funny Girl” announced that Michele would replace Feldstein, the comedic star of movies like “Booksmart,” as protagonist Fanny Brice.
But “Funny Girl”‘s return to Broadway has been anything but smooth: Between planned and canceled revivals, accusations that Michele abused a black co-star on the set of “Glee,” and overwhelmingly negative reviews for Feldstein’s performance, the recovery was beleaguered by setbacks. Revisit the winding chain of events below, from Barbra Streisand’s debut to the current cast.
“Funny Girl” is Barbra Streisand’s show, and that’s half the battle to get it back on Broadway without her. Fanny Brice is the role that made her a star. She originated the role of Brice, a vaudeville comedian, on Broadway and later won an Oscar for her film adaptation. “Don’t Rain on My Parade” becomes one of his signature songs and “hello, wonderful” one of his signature lines. “Funny Girl” is not revived on Broadway after Streisand appears there because it is assumed that no other actress can sing a song like “I’m the Greatest Star” and convince an audience that it’s true like Babs the can … until almost 60 years later.
December 2009: ‘Glee’ airs Lea Michele’s first song ‘Funny Girl’
It’s the midseason finale of the first season of “Glee,” and theater kids everywhere are glued to Fox. The episode takes place in the choir sections, and our McKinley High School cheer club is determined to shake off their underdog status and finally earn something.
It seems unlikely at first that the beloved Gleeks will get their happy ending. But then Michele, playing the obnoxious but undeniably talented lead role of Rachel Berry, struts into the audience to perform a soaring “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” It’s a triumphant performance that introduces the Streisand standard to a new generation of viewers, secures victory for the New Directions glee club, and unofficially launches Michele’s campaign to play Fanny Brice on Broadway.
June 2010: Michele appears on the Tonys to sing “Parade”, again
Michele, who starred in Broadway’s “Spring Awakening” before taking on the role of Rachel Berry, is returning to her theatrical roots by reprising her performance of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” at the 2010 Tony Awards. to the “Glee” number in that she mostly sings it from the audience, except she’s now surrounded by big names like Angela Lansbury and Denzel Washington.
Her performance could have been another public audition: Earlier that month, CNN wrote about rumors that “Funny Girl” might return to Broadway in 2011, starring Michele. Digital readers usually say that’s a bad idea.
June 2011: A revival of ‘Funny Girl’ is planned without Michele
Broadway director Bartlett Sher, who throughout his career has brought beloved classic musicals to life, announces he will bring the story of Fanny Brice back to Manhattan. ‘Six Feet Under’ star Lauren Ambrose is rumored to be her Fanny, with Bobby Canavale as her love interest. But after four investors pull out of production as fears of a drop in ticket sales mount, the revival is called off. Ambrose lived out her Broadway heroine dreams in 2018 when she starred as Eliza Doolittle in the Sher-directed revival of “My Fair Lady.” Michele won’t appear on Broadway for another decade.
February 2014: A fictional revival of “Funny Girl” arrives on “Glee”
In the fifth season of “Glee,” Rachel de Michele moves to New York and dedicates her life to scoring the lead role in a revival of “Funny Girl.” His nemesis and former Glee Club teammate Santana Lopez (played by the late Naya Rivera) is also up for the lead role. Rachel ends up being cast, but so is Santana – as Rachel’s understudy. The producers of this fictional revival say the competition between the two will make the buzz for the show – and years before the actual “Funny Girl” revival hits Broadway, art is imitating life.
May 2014: Michele says she’ll star in real ‘Funny Girl’ revival
Invited to Andy Cohen’s ‘Watch What Happens Live,’ Michele confidently tells Bravo exec that her ‘Glee’ godfather, series creator Ryan Murphy, has secured the rights to produce a ‘Funny Girl’ revival IRL, and she’ll be playing Fanny, natch. At this point, Michele has already performed much of the “Funny Girl” score on “Glee.”
But that’s not the case – Murphy said in the fall of 2015 that there were no further plans to revive “Funny Girl” for the stage. He says that since Michele performed “so many of those songs and so many of those scenes in a weird way, I feel like we did.” Michele’s dreams are dashed once again, “Glee” ends the following year and aside from Michele mentioning her “Funny Girl” aspirations a few more times over the years, news of a revival remains dormant.
2020: Michele is accused of creating a toxic work environment on ‘Glee’
Samantha Marie Ware, who appeared in the final season of ‘Glee’, 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 “a living hell” and exposed her to “traumatic microaggressions”. Meal delivery service HelloFresh is severing ties with Michele over Ware’s accusations, and Michele is responding to Ware’s comments and apologizing for “any pain I’ve caused.”
August 2021: ‘Funny Girl’ hits Broadway – starring Beanie Feldstein
A revival of “Funny Girl” is finally coming to Broadway after a 2016 West End revival received strong reviews. But this new iteration of the series will feature Feldstein, a well-narrated movie actor who has mostly been untested when it comes to his ability to direct such a vocally challenging musical. (She also appeared in the acclaimed 2017 revival of “Hello, Dolly!” in the supporting role of Minnie Fay.) Feldstein repeatedly says that playing Fanny has been her lifelong dream.
“Glee” viewers/anyone familiar with pop culture in 2009 are wondering what Michele thinks of this casting. She comments on Feldstein’s Instagram to congratulate her: “YOU are the biggest star! This is going to be epic!!!”
April 2022: ‘Funny Girl’ opens to overwhelmingly negative reviews
Reviews of the revival are overwhelming, and most of them are aimed at Feldstein’s vocal abilities. Helen Shaw from New York writes that Feldstein’s “voice lets her down” and describes her singing as “sharp and unpleasant”. Jesse Green of The New York Times is slightly nicer; he calls her “good” and “quite funny in places”, although he acknowledges that her voice is “not well suited to the music”.
The consensus is that Feldstein was misinterpreted as Fanny. She then missed several performances due to a Covid-19 infection and tonsillitis. She says she will be leaving the show in September.
July 2022: Feldstein leaves, Michele finally enters “Funny Girl”
Sales of “Funny Girl” tickets are steadily dropping, hitting new lows in the first week of July, when sales drop more than 10% from the previous week, according to Broadway World. There are rumors that the producers are considering replacing Feldstein with Michele, who has proven time and time again (and again) that she can sing the difficult score of “Funny Girl.”
The Daily Beast provides some insight: After learning on Gawker (from an anonymous source) that Michele would be replacing Feldstein, the “Booksmart” actress reportedly stopped communicating directly with producers.
On July 10, she announced to surprised fans (and, according to the Daily Beast, surprised producers) that she would be leaving the show at the end of July instead of the end of September, as she had previously stated. She attributes her departure to the producers taking the show “in a different direction.”
The production announces the casting of Michèle the next day. Michele says “a dream come true is an understatement”.
July 2022, continued: Controversy over Michele’s casting frames
Michele’s casting is hugely controversial: Although she’s a talented performer, many online theater fans remember accusations that she targeted Ware on “Glee” and created a toxic work environment. Ware comments on Michele’s casting, “Yes, I care. Yes, I’m [sic] affected … Yes, I was abused. Yes, my dreams were stained. Yes, Broadway stands for whiteness.”
Despite her reputation on set, the anticipation of Michele as Fanny Brice is causing a stir among some deep-pocketed audience members. On SeatGeek, tickets for Michele’s opening night are selling for up to $2,500 (free of charge, which is also around $500, according to Variety).
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