As a result of the most controversial casting decision in contemporary musical theater, actress Lea Michele will debut as Fanny Brice in the broadway revival of Funny Girl on Sept. 6. On July 11, the show announced Michele will replace Beanie Feldstein, whose final show is on July 31.
Michele is regarded as a highly talented and credible performer. However, Michele’s ability to perform is ultimately not what will fill seats at the August Wilson Theater in New York City. The former Glee actress is a complex figure with years of experience, internet scandals, and a devoted fanbase from the campy 2010s dramedy from which her fame exploded.
Beanie Feldstein’s announcement to end her Funny Girl career ahead of schedule came as a surprise to Broadway fans everywhere. Though Feldstein initially planned to retire from her role on September 25, she wrote in a July 10th Instagram post: “Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.” Feldstein didn’t elaborate on this “different direction,” but the show planned to terminate her contract on Sept. 25 anyways due to unfavorable reviews and decreasing revenue.
The show wished to replace Feldstein with a more youthful and engaging voice to fill the shoes of a 21–year–old Barbara Streisand, the original Fanny Brice. When Feldstein declared her early retirement from the role, fans began speculating. Broadway and Glee fans alike predicted Michele would be the next Brice. This wasn’t an unrealistic projection, as Michele is well–acquainted with Fanny Brice throughout her performances on Glee.
However, it seems that the timeline leading up to the July 11 announcement appears to be a lengthy marketing scheme.
In 2011, Broadway director Barlett Sher began the casting process for Brice in the Funny Girl revival. At this time, Michele, who spent her early career as a child actress on Broadway, was playing the role of Rachel Berry, a talented high–school singer, in Glee. Though Michele offered to balance her on–stage and on–screen careers, Sher casted Lauren Ambrose instead.
In Glee, Michele sang several songs from Funny Girl in glee club rehearsals and performances. She even auditioned and secured the role of Fanny Brice in Glee’s fictional Funny Girl Broadway revival. Most notably, Michele’s theatrical solo of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” in the first season was a character–defining moment for Rachel Berry.
After several failed attempts to bring Funny Girl back to Broadway, it was announced that Feldstein would be the new Fanny Brice in a production directed by Michael Meyer, who also directed Michele in Spring Awakening on Broadway in 2006. Starting on March 26, Feldstein would be Brice in the long–awaited, real–life Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Criticisms alleging Feldstein’s miscasting began immediately, with many fans advocating for Lea Michele and her years–long commitment to being Fanny Brice.
However, Michele’s reputation in Hollywood is undeniably tainted.
In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests in light of the violent murder of George Floyd, Michele’s former Glee castmate Samantha Marie Ware, a black woman, came forward with several instances of racist interactions with Michele on the set of Glee.
When Michele voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement on social media, Ware responded in all–caps in a since deleted tweet: “LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISION GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE I’LL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU 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…”
Now, two years later, Ware issued another public statement via Twitter, reckoning with Michele finally clutching her dream role. Ware blames the Broadway community for “uphold[ing] whiteness” and casting Michele despite her patchy social views.
On a less serious note, fans continue to surmise that Michele is secretly illiterate and will struggle to read her Funny Girl lines. This conspiracy theory, stemming back to 2018, claims that Michele cannot read or write due to her early childhood Broadway success which disrupted a young Michele’s traditional elementary school career.
Michele’s casting as Fanny Brice received the exact response the show intended. Despite Michele’s questionable past on Glee and in the media, fans are buzzing with excitement over purchasing tickets and promotions for her opening night. As of last Tuesday, the TikTok hashtags for #funnygirl and #leamichele have accumulated 780 million and 470 million views, respectively.
In a period where Broadway and social media go hand–in–hand, the choice to cast Lea Michele as Fanny Brice in the on–stage Funny Girl revival is the perfect marketing scheme. Michele’s years of waiting, conspiracy theories, and contentious Twitter exchanges will bring more attention to the Funny Girl cast than Beanie Feldstein was ever able to.
