Lea Michele as Fanny - Funny Girl — Page 68

Bear88 - you're really, really going to enjoy yourself. Lea is an absolute supernova on that stage. Not only is she in thrilling voice, but her comedic prowess is on full display. You can tell she has so clearly researched every detail about Fanny Brice's life and it all comes out of her. She leaves nothing for herself and gives it all to the audience - just like Fanny. I'm happy you've got tickets. I'm hoping to see Lea at least twice more before the show closes.

CindersGolightly said: "Bear88 - you're really, really going to enjoy yourself. Lea is an absolute supernova on that stage. Not only is she in thrilling voice, but her comedic prowess is on full display. You can tell she has so clearly researched every detail about Fanny Brice's life and it all comes out of her. She leaves nothing for herself and gives it all to the audience - just like Fanny. I'm happy you've got tickets. I'm hoping to see Lea at least twice more before the show closes."

I don't know about research - I know Julie did an enormous amount. With Lea, I think Fanny became an organic part of her - a role she simply had to play.

A friend of mine just saw Ramin as the Phantom in the Trieste production (Saturday and today). She said at first, she thought, yes, Ramin as Phantom, but, no, he WAS the Phantom (no disrespect to Michael Crawford, but it is what it is). This was a show he first saw at age 13 and was determined to play. On another note, when she saw FG, she saw Ramin playing Nicky and Lea being Fanny.

I have to agree. Sometimes a character just belongs to a certain artist, no matter how good another artist may be "acting" the role. Not sure if anyone wants to be Nicky, though. LOL.

Happy to hear you are going to be seeing it again.

bwayphreak234 said: "Man, this production of Funny Girl has really botched it with casting and/or casting announcements in some way... First we had Feldstein who proved she couldn't vocally handle the role from the second that first rehearsal clip was released. Then we had her "departure" and Michele's casting announcement, both which were pretty poorly handled... and now this...

They're on track to close in the black on Broadway (I think, anyways). I anticipate the tour will do fairly well between subscription seats already being front-loaded in at all the tour stops combined with single ticket sales from being a fairly well-known property. Michele singlehandedly saved the Broadway production from being a financial disaster, but it's truly a shame that at pretty much every turn the casting for the lead has been such a chaotic mess."

Whatever anyone’s feelings on this productions casting choices, you are absolutely correct in that it was undeniably messy in terms of it’s handling.

The production team cannot possibly have gone into the process of casting the tour, without this in mind…unless this is some real life Leo & Max producing and the whole thing was supposed to be a tax write off, that keeps making good and they have ‘no way out!’


The young lady cast for the tour must really be something special. Whilst many previous posters are absolutely correct that legally speaking, the production can’t be asking about religious or ethnic background, it would be naive to imagine they haven’t investigated this, there are avenues of trying to find those things out even if it’s having an assistant trawl through Facebook photos. They cannot have cast this person without having a good indication. Not after all the drama they have already had.


Whatever anyone feels on that front, the hate this actor is getting on social media, and sometimes directed directly at her via her own socials, as people have said, is really uncomfortable.

"The young lady cast for the tour must really be something special. Whilst many previous posters are absolutely correct that legally speaking, the production can’t be asking about religious or ethnic background, it would be naive to imagine they haven’t investigated this, there are avenues of trying to find those things out even if it’s having an assistant trawl through Facebook photos. They cannot have cast this person without having a good indication. Not after all the drama they have already had"

Let's not forget the producers and creatives of this production also initially cast Beanie Feldstein who was completelty illl equipped for the part. I don't say that to infer the actress cast for the tour may be of questionable talent, only as evidence that those overseeing this production have made questionable choices throughout this process without any evident forecasting of their potential consequences.

In casting an unknown for the tour, the only viable press angle was going to be "the star is born" strategy. Even if Katarina does end up being good in the role, that narrtative now will be perpetually caveated with the controversy of her casting. They have totally shot themselves in the foot.

Over the weekend the story was picked up by AM New York and also on a number of Jewish news outlets. I'm sure others will follow.

No one I know has heard anything about any of these ramblings going on AND several follow Broadway. I guess it's safe to assume that because this is the tour its evading people's radars. I'm sure had this been Broadway, it would have made national news and even brought up on The View, etc. Time to go back to the regular programming or Ben Platt and his publicist evading a Rolling Stones reporter's question regarding that New York Magazine NEPO BABY article during a recent press junket for the new film THEATER CAMP.

Kad said: "The controversy, such as it is, has already begun to quiet. Moreover, it never broke through into news sources to make it something people outside of a very niche, very online theater fan circle would even be aware of- which couldn’t be said about the Feldstein debacle and the subsequent replacement by Lea, which became fodder for tabloids and news stories in major media."

Fair point, but just wait: this poor girl is going on tour. She is going to be thrown to the press in city after city. I do not think this issue is going away by any stretch (nor should it).

Penna2 said: "

I've been castigated for saying this before, but why are you calling her a "poor girl?" She is not a child, she's a young woman who has been in the business for some time. One would assume she knew what the casting notice asked for, if not directly, but by strong suggestion and chose to ignore that. She likely did the same when auditioning for another role in a show with a predominantly Jewish theme/cast. She and her agent decided it didn't matter.
."

Because I (and i dont think you) know any of what you just wrote to be necessarily true, and I find it very hard to believe she presented herself as Jewish in some nefarious fashion. Hard for me to get angry/worked up over someone trying to get their big break by auditioning, and the fault here lies solely with the producers.

Yeah, I don’t think there are going to be protests in every city. The tour cast announcement on the production’s Instagram has over 18,600 likes, and I think it’s probably the same 200 - 300 people making negative comments and liking each other’s over and over again. The average ticket buyer just wants someone who is good in the role.

All the major Jewish celebs I’ve seen have posted in favor of the casting - Bruce Villach, Michael Musto, etc. I think it’s a non-issue now. Just hope she blows it out of the water or else the haters will be back.

Highland Guy said: "Penna2 said: "And, yes, every city the show plays will have people protesting."

BALDERDASH

For Jews who dorh protest zu viel:
Words to the wise

Updated On: 7/18/23 at 05:53 PM

Jarethan said: "

The irony is that the same people who obsess about the casting of FB probably loved Nathan Lane play Max Bialystock, even though his ancestors came from Ireland and he was raised a Catholic. But that's okay. The same people are pushing for Alex Newell, born a biological male, to be cast as Effie, born a biological woman. One could argue that 'authentic' casting would rule out AN, but they don't care. The pure arbitrariness of some of these strong opinions is tiresome.

."

Infuriating how many people keep banging their head against a wall to make a pointless point. Not only is Max Bialystock, ya know, FICTIONAL, but The Producers did not promote itself as emphasizing the importance of Max Bialystock's heritage, did not emphasize the Judaism in the book in marketing/promotions, and was not produced in the context of a push for representation. I agree that representation is a nice idea but should not get in the way of solid casting, but IGNORING this context to make the same point again and again is just downright offensive by now in that it simpy discards the concerns raised by people (and not just Jews, another slur that keeps getting bandied about here).