Lea Michele Will Replace Beanie Feldstein In ‘Funny Girl’ And The Internet Is Quaking
The internet has once again predicted what’s to come, this time with Lea Michele, aka Rachel Berry from Glee, snatching the lead role from Beanie Feldstein in the musical extravaganza, Funny Girl.
Beanie was originally cast in the leading role as Fanny Brice, but announced that she would be leaving the production a mere three months after her debut.
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In a statement posted on Instagram, Beanie wrote that playing Fanny was a “lifelong dream” and how the experience brought her a lot of “joy”.
“I will never forget this experience and from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank every single person who came to the August Wilson for the love and support you have shown me and our amazing cast and crew,” the Broadway star wrote, as well as announcing her final show which will be on 31 July.
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When the show opened in 2020, Funny Girl saw an array of “mixed reviews”, but no one has yet to confirm the real reason why Beanie ditched the role.
Since then, rumours have been swirling that the Glee star will be making her way to the Broadway stage to play Fanny Brice. Heck, even when Beanie was announced as the lead, gleeks and other Twitter heads jumped on Lea Michele for not getting the part in 2021.
Lea Michele after finding out within a month that she’s not in the Funny Girl revival or the Wicked movie pic.twitter.com/LQhhDtPjvQ
— Hillary Templeton (@HillTempleton) November 5, 2021
jane lynch getting cast in funny girl whilst lea michele gets nothing exudes major sue sylvester energy and i'm so here for it
— sophia ✨ (@musicallaneous) October 6, 2021
Lea Michele didn’t get funny girl or wicked pic.twitter.com/A6KWdD2BDf
— ✨ (@heyjaeee) November 5, 2021
Lea Michele was expected to have received the role as she had previously expressed her interest in playing Fanny Brice. In an interview on Live With Andy Cohen, a fan asked her if she would appear in the production, and she replied saying “I really hope so”.
And for those who never watched Glee, Lea’s character Rachel was obsessed with Barbara Streisand, who starred in the original Broadway production of Funny Girl. Rachel even had a whole Funny Girl arc in Seasons 4 and 5, where she landed the role of Fanny.
Lea played that role so well that she performed the musical’s biggest tune ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ at the 64th Tony Awards.
But oh how the tables have turned, news broke this morning that she, THE Rachel Berry, has won the role as Fanny and the internet has gone absolutely buck wild.
Emmy Award-nominee LEA MICHELE and Tony Award-nominee TOVAH FELDSHUH join #FUNNYGIRL beginning September 6!
Don’t miss Beanie Feldstein until July 31 only, followed by @JujujulieBee through September 4.
See you at the August Wilson, gorgeous!⭐️ pic.twitter.com/bvqArWoMJa
— Funny Girl on Broadway (@FunnyGirlBwy) July 11, 2022
With this latest casting news dropping, gleeks and Twitter fans have returned once again to make fun of Lea Michele. They’re not just taking jabs at the many rumours that surround her career, but her alleged inability to read and past claims about her mean girl personality.
So to celebrate the gleeful news, here are the best reactions to Lea Michele’s new role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl:
lea michele made a deal with the devil so she could be in funny girl on broadway… she’s like ariel but instead of trading her voice she traded the ability to read
— freya (@freyabwg) July 11, 2022
jane lynch when lea michele shows up to her first funny girl rehearsal pic.twitter.com/A6DVZID1Ix
— leyla ? | ST SPOILERS (@leylanocontext) July 11, 2022
Lea Michele showing up to her first performance of Funny Girl pic.twitter.com/Q5oFxHulQz
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) July 11, 2022
Lea Michele when the Funny Girl producers approached her pic.twitter.com/Yl355PvLm9
— megumi’s stepmom (@gingerbreadchan) July 11, 2022
jane lynch and lea michele on opening night of funny girl pic.twitter.com/4J4T3hjaAd
— ivy (@ohhhhherewego) July 11, 2022
If Lea Michele is cast in funny girl alongside Jane lynch I will be forced to come to the conclusion that the world as we know it is actually just an episode of Glee and idk if I can handle this
— Morrisa Cohen (@morrisa_cohen2) July 10, 2022
funny girl’s producers after deciding to go with lea michele pic.twitter.com/mHMSh7ihgp
— m (@bigIttIeIies) July 11, 2022
lea michele when she inevitably joins funny girl on broadway now pic.twitter.com/2WOIMWcZD2
— brie. (@briebxrries) July 11, 2022
the worst part is that even if we try to cyberbully lea michele out of funny girl she won’t even be able to read our mean tweets
— Katie Elizabeth (Taylor’s Version) (@katiebug95_) July 11, 2022
We need an American Girl doll who is an insider and knows the tea about what’s going on at Funny Girl on Broadway pic.twitter.com/IcDhgKN5Zk
— Austin (@austinkreitler) July 11, 2022
I’m so obsessed with the fact that the Funny Girl revival was both a mess on Glee AND in real life
— ginny ? (@gikneesbees) July 11, 2022
this Beanie Feldstein/Funny Girl drama is better than ANYTHING Ryan Murphy could've written pic.twitter.com/Q68Df2ehtZ
— i'm bitter (@lexigg_) July 10, 2022
Giving her Funny Girl feels like giving Thanos all the Infinity Stones.
— Mark MacKillop (@mark_mackillop) July 12, 2022
my friends who aren’t into broadway or glee when i try to explain the lea michele/funny girl drama pic.twitter.com/140cKvAAXc
— mallory (@mallorywarrix) July 11, 2022