Well, after much speculation it has finally been announced that Lea Michele will be taking over from Beanie Feldstein when she steps down from the lead role in Funny Girl on Broadway in September.
She has had a rough time since the show opened to largely negative review of her performance. It was finally confirmed yesterday that she would leave the show and tonight her replacement was announced.
Lea Michele - who had previously appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables and Spring Awakening is best known to the public as Rachel Berry from the US TV show, Glee. Fans of Glee will remember that in the penultimate season of the show Rachel moved to NYC and won the role of Fanny Brice in a production of Funny Girl. For a long time there were rumours that fiction would play out in reality when, in 2017, the creator of Glee aquired the rights to the musical and the assumption was that he would open it on Broadway starring Lea Michele. However that never materialised.
Until now.
Lea Michele will take over the role on the 8th September with the alternate, Julie Benko continuing to perform on a Thursday. Beanie Feldstein leaves earlier than planned on the 31st July with Julie Benko taking over until 4th September.