Lea Michele Replaces Beanie Feldstein in ‘Funny Girl’ Revival
Listen up Glee fans, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Or is it…?
Beanie Feldstein will be replaced by Lea Michele on “Funny Girl,” causing controversy due to allegations that Michele has made racist remarks.
July 26, 2022
Broadway’s 2022 revival of “Funny Girl,” which hit stages on March 26 of this year, is already facing controversy over the casting and recasting of the lead role. For the past three months, Beanie Feldstein, an actress known for “Booksmart” (2019) and “Lady Bird” (2017), has portrayed the role of Fanny Brice in the production. Beginning Sept. 6, Lea Michele will take over as Brice.
“Funny Girl” originally debuted on Broadway in 1964 and is based on the iconic comedian Fanny Brice. It starred the highly accredited actress and vocalist Barbra Streisand, whom audiences fell in love with, leading Streisand to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Brice in the 1968 film adaptation.
Once reviews of the revival came out, many critics said that Feldstein’s performance unfortunately did not live up to Streisand’s.
The main criticism of Feldstein was that her voice did not suit the role — or perhaps Broadway in general. Reviews of the show overwhelmingly mention that Feldstein’s voice is lackluster, especially for a role that requires a strong singing voice to keep the storyline consistent.
Adrian Horton of The Guardian said that Feldstein’s voice was “paper-thin, reedy in the higher registers and overly nasal throughout, (and) noticeably untextured compared to the rest of the cast.”
Similarly, Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment News also mentioned that “Her singing voice is much reedier and less distinctive than Streisand’s though, and the sweet, scattered daffiness of her comic persona feels too modestly scaled for the powerhouse presence Funny Girl demands.”
Helen Shaw of Vulture even described her voice as “piercing and unpleasant” and “not a sound you expect to hear on Broadway.”
“Once production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.” Beanie Feldstein
Needless to say, things were not going well for Feldstein. Even positive reviews of her performance did not fail to mention that her voice was not up to par. The general opinion was that she was not the right choice for the role, which is most likely what caused production to “take the show in a different direction.”
On July 10, Feldstein announced on Instagram that her contract would be ending early.
She wrote, “Once production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated,” Feldstein said.
Feldstein’s last performance will take place on July 31, cutting her original yearlong contract eight months short.
If Michele’s rendition of Fanny Brice is received favorably, the upcoming shows could be a comeback for both the 2022 revival of “Funny Girl” and Michele’s Broadway career.
On July 11, actress Lea Michele announced that she would be taking over the role of Fanny Brice starting Sept. 6. Michele is certainly no stranger to the score of “Funny Girl,” courtesy of her prominent role as Rachel Berry in the TV show “Glee” (2009-2015).
In “Glee,” Rachel is introduced as a young girl with an undeniable musical talent who possesses big dreams of being on Broadway. Throughout the show, Rachel mentions her idolization of Barbra Streisand and her iconic role in “Funny Girl.” Later in the series, she stars as Fanny Brice in a revival of the musical on Broadway.
There is obvious irony in Michele following in the footsteps of her character, but it is also unsurprising considering Feldstein’s critiques and that Michele has clearly proven she has the voice to follow Streisand’s performance.
Michele started her Broadway career in 1987 as a child actress, serving as an understudy in “Les Misérables.” She also appeared in “Ragtime” (1998), “Fiddler on the Roof” (2004) and “Spring Awakening” (2006) on Broadway before securing the role of Rachel Berry in “Glee.” However, at least career-wise, things have been rather quiet for the actress in the past few years. Her most recent projects include “The Little Mermaid: An Immersive Live-to-Film Concert Experience” (2019) and a-made-for-TV movie, “Same Time, Next Christmas” (2019).
If Michele’s rendition of Fanny Brice is received favorably, the upcoming shows could be a comeback for both the 2022 revival of “Funny Girl” and Michele’s Broadway career.
However, the recasting has caused controversy resulting from allegations that Michele has made racist comments toward other actors on the set of “Glee,” along with claims that Michele is extremely unpleasant to work with in general.
Another actor, Gerard Canonico, who worked on “Spring Awakening,” even described Michele as a “nightmare” to work with.
Samantha Ware, an actress who portrayed the character of Jane Hayward on “Glee,” shared her experiences with Michele on Twitter in 2020. Ware stated, “I believe you (Michele) told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘shit in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
Ware maintains that Michele abused her on the set of “Glee” and made multiple microaggressive comments toward her throughout their time working together.
But Ware is not the only former co-star of Michele’s to allege this behavior. Heather Morris, who portrayed Brittany Pierce on “Glee,” also tweeted in 2020 “Let me be very clear, Hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for hate to be spread to anyone else. With that said, was she unpleasant to work with? Very much so; for Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out.”
Morris’ opinion seems to be that of the majority of actors who have worked with Michele. Another actor, Gerard Canonico, who worked on “Spring Awakening,” even described Michele as a “nightmare” to work with.
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Michele’s behavior was also mentioned back in 2016 in Naya Rivera’s memoir “Sorry Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes, and Growing Up.” The late actress, who starred as Santana Lopez in “Glee,” described Michele as someone who “didn’t like sharing the spotlight” and mentioned that Michele gave her the silent treatment while filming season six of “Glee.”
Jane Lynch, another “Glee” alumni, will also be leaving her “Funny Girl” contract early. There is speculation that Lynch is leaving the show because she does not want to have to work Michele for a second time. Lynch’s last performance will take place two days before Michele takes over as Fanny.
Understandably, some Broadway fans are not ecstatic about the recasting of Fanny Brice. However, only time will tell what the result of this choice will mean for both “Funny Girl” and Lea Michele’s career.
Michelle Levin • Dec 25, 2022 at 4:34 pm
“Understandably, some Broadway fans are not ecstatic about the recasting of Fanny Brice.” Who for example? Do you actually have quotes or facts or are you just throwing that in there? Please elaborate!