Lea Michele to Star as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL Starting 9/6; Beanie Feldstein Departing 7/31- Page 32

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:43am

For years I’ve thought, what did being a Glee fan do for me after providing so much torture? I’m reading all these gossip leaks now thinking “it’s finally paying off”.

And to think Lea Michelle could have avoided the accusations of racism if she didn’t join the bandwagon in 2020 of posting empty, self-righteous comments on a tragedy that had nothing to do with her. Without that, she’d just be another toxic diva.

Anyway, the Daily Beast article said Lea and Beanie are both represented by the same theatre agent? Can’t wait for Matt Bomer to play him in the Ryan Murphy miniseries.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:44am

The weight/non-traditional casting argument from Beanie supporters is such a blatant attempt to move the goal posts and to attempt to re-frame this situation around anything other than Beanie's lack of ability that it's a fool's errand to even engage with it. Is there a nuanced discussion to be had? Certainly. But that's not happening on Facebook or Twitter or... (as of now) here.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:46am

Highland Guy said: "Ridiculous to say people don't know what Fanny Brice looked like She has been a well-known and loved figure in popular American culture for more than a century. OF COURSE people recognize her. Did you know there's even a Broadway musical based on her life?

Ridiculous."

Streisand literally didn’t even research Fanny’s life beforehand because she didn’t want to approach it an an imitation. Not only does a 21st century audience not know what Fanny actually looks like—their main reference is Streisand as Fanny, who didn’t even want to TRY to be like her. 

[Kad]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:50am

Highland Guy said: "Ridiculous to say people don't know what Fanny Brice looked like She has been a well-known and loved figure in popular American culture for more than a century. OF COURSE people recognize her. Did you know there's even a Broadway musical based on her life?

Ridiculous."

I don’t know what time warp you’re living in, but no, Fanny Brice- a performer who did not make many big screen appearances and therefore is not someone people in 2022 are going to easily be able to actually watch - is not a person that many people today would be able to recognize. That is a statement about pop culture, not Fanny Brice’s worth. 

Instead of repeatedly blundering into this thread to shove your foot in your mouth, you can just say nothing at all. 

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 11:50 AM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:51am

Highland Guy said: "Ridiculous to say people don't know what Fanny Brice looked like She has been a well-known and loved figure in popular American culture for more than a century. OF COURSE people recognize her. Did you know there's even a Broadway musical based on her life?

Ridiculous."

 

Hot take but totally inaccurate.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:53am

Kad said: "Highland Guy said: "Ridiculous to say people don't know what Fanny Brice looked like She has been a well-known and loved figure in popular American culture for more than a century. OF COURSE people recognize her. Did you know there's even a Broadway musical based on her life?

Ridiculous."

I don’t know what time warp you’re living in, but no, Fanny Brice- a performer who did not make many big screen appearances and therefore is not someone people in 2022 are going to easily be able to actually watch-is not a person that many people today would be able to recognize. That is a statement about pop culture, not Fanny Brice’s worth.

Instead of repeatedly blundering into this thread to shove your foot in your mouth, you can just say nothing at all."

 

'Blah blah blah.  Still trying to bully me.  Such a punk.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:57am

Wait till you hear about how popular vaudeville is nowadays

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 11:57am

Oh, this thread is a hoot!

Hysterical pearls and tampons flying everywhere!! Now this is why I come to BWW, boys and girls!

Keep up the fine work, y'all!

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 11:57 AM

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:16pm

Sally Durant Plummer said: "Oh, this thread is a hoot!

Hysterical pearls and tampons flying everywhere!! Now this is why I come to BWW, boys and girls!

Keep up the fine work, y'all!"

I haven't been able to get past this thread to read anything else since Monday. I need a Reader's Digest summary of everything else that's going on.  Most important, has CSC announced-on sale dates for "A Man of No Importance"?

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 12:57pm

Oh, that ending note!

 

 

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 1:32pm

 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 1:40pm

Oh wow...ya'll are still here squabbling? 

Might I suggest exploring the out of doors? reading a new book? picking up crocheting? ...anything?

[themick2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 1:45pm

Touch grass, as the kids say these days.

Although, lets face it.  Theater people were all the indoor kids in camp.

[Highland Guy]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 1:46pm

OhHiii said: "Oh wow...ya'll are still here squabbling?

Might I suggest exploring the out of doors? reading a new book? picking up crocheting? ...anything?"

I've been for my morning run/walk.  Finished another chapter of "Murder on the Orient Express".  I know how to crochet, but right now I'm doing a bit of cross-stitch embroidery.

And I'm also posting here.

 

[Kad]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 1:47pm

OhHiii said: "Oh wow...ya'll are still here squabbling?

Might I suggest exploring the out of doors? reading a new book? picking up crocheting? ...anything?"

You post on this board nearly every day, including numerous times in this thread. 

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 2:12pm

bwayphreak234 said: "I posted this a while ago, but the fact that an entire creative team and team of producers green-lighted her casting and continued with her after having presumably heard her sing and act during workshops and rehearsals is just baffling to me. The fact that she made it this far into the production process is just mind boggling to me and always will be. This entire thing is a fiasco that could have, and SHOULD have, been avoided. It's been glaringly obvious that she was never right for this role."

This is what confounds me about this situation. In the Daily Beast article, the source kept repeating "We should have fired her in previews" or "We should have fired her immediately after the reviews came out." But how did this production even get as far as previews (or even full rehearsals) with Beanie in this role?? Once they heard her sing (which has pretty much been as expected, based on her previous work), it should have been obvious she was miscast.

It makes me seriously question Michael Mayer and the whole creative and musical team if they were in any way surprised by audience and critical response. Can they not differentiate good singing from poor singing? Were they so naive or stupid to think that Beanie would NOT be compared to the golden standard Barbra set, or that singing ability would not be a primary concern for anyone following in her footsteps? The marketing team's tact has been to try to convince us that comedic or acting ability would be enough to override any deficiencies in singing ability, but anyone who is familiar with this show and with any shred of creative intelligence should have been able to foresee that was not the case.

The only explanation I can think of is that their hands were tied, for whatever reason. How much Beanie's family connections contributed to her being in this production is unclear, but she has been central to the publicity around this production from the very beginning. Even the art prominently features her face. They unwisely built the marketing and media of this production around Beanie specifically so that, by the time rehearsals (and certainly previews) were underway, it would have looked really bad to let her go and start over with someone else.

It's all just been sheer idiocy and incompetence.

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 02:12 PM

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 2:23pm

Well it’s official now: she was TOLD to leave September 25 (so…fired) and then quit, moving her departure date to July 31.

https://www.playbill.com/article/funny-girl-producers-beanie-feldstein-respond-to-rumors-surrounding-stars-departure

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 2:32pm

Yeah, they were betting on her, built merch around her, and signed her for a full year. I guess they thought her being likeable and sweet was all they needed. The blame lies with everyone involved in believing that. She refused to be humble and remove herself for some reason so they needed to do it. Period. 

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 02:32 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 2:36pm

Those press statements are weak. I guess now the production's primary goal is to stop the bleeding that came to a climax with the Daily Beast expose. Call a cease-fire (in public) with Beanie and try to move on.

Although, a single Broadwayworld thread with 795 posts, viewed by almost 160,000 people in less than five days... Clearly the drama makes for a spectacle that people can't stop talking about.

Updated On: 7/14/22 at 02:36 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 3:00pm

I would not say Funny Girl is about "a woman who becomes a Ziegfeld girl." It's about how Fanny loves Nick Arnstein and then loses Nick Arnstein, and she happens to become a star halfway through the first act.

As for the critiques of Beanie not being chosen to be a Ziegfeld girl... the script already has numerous lines about how Fanny feels like she doesn't look like the other girls and that people will laugh at her for singing about how beautiful she is. Which is what 'His Love Makes Me Beautiful" is about.

So it's an unnecessary & cruel point that gets away from why Beanie is bad in the role. It's not about her looks or believablity. She just can't sing it and she doesn't have star power.

[teatime2]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 3:19pm

I saw the show last night, and for what it's worth, the audience loved her. I loved her too! Sure, is she the best singer? No. However, I adored her performance and loved seeing a new take on the role. I cannot imagine how she must feel right now, and how hard the next few weeks could be for her and her mental health. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 3:43pm

MikeInTheDistrict said: "bwayphreak234 said: "I posted this a while ago, but the fact that an entire creative team and team of producers green-lighted her casting and continued with her after having presumably heard her sing and act during workshops and rehearsals is just baffling to me. The fact that she made it this far into the production process is just mind boggling to me and always will be. This entire thing is a fiasco that could have, and SHOULD have, been avoided. It's been glaringly obvious that she was never right for this role."

This is what confounds me about this situation. In the Daily Beast article, the source kept repeating "We should have fired her in previews" or "We should have fired her immediately after the reviews came out." But how did this production even get as far as previews (or even full rehearsals) with Beanie in this role?? Once they heard her sing (which has pretty much been as expected, based on her previous work), it should have been obvious she was miscast.

It makes me seriously question Michael Mayer and the whole creative and musical team if they were in any way surprised by audience and critical response. Can they not differentiate good singing from poor singing? Were they so naive or stupid to think that Beanie would NOT be compared to the golden standard Barbra set, or that singing ability would not be a primary concern for anyone following in her footsteps? The marketing team's tact has been to try to convince us that comedic or acting ability would be enough to override any deficiencies in singing ability, but anyone who is familiar with this show and with any shred of creative intelligence should have been able to foresee that was not the case.

The only explanation I can think of is that their hands were tied, for whatever reason. How much Beanie's family connections contributed to her being in this production is unclear, but she has been central to the publicity around this production from the very beginning. Even the art prominently features her face. They unwisely built the marketing and media of this production around Beanie specifically so that, by the time rehearsals (and certainly previews) were underway, it would have looked really bad to let her go and start over with someone else.

It's all just been sheer idiocy and incompetence."

It seemed obvious to me at the time (previews/opening) and seems confirmed by the article now that the producers intentionally went with someone who didn't have a big voice. I had thought that was to put the emphasis on the "funny" part of Funny Girl and also to distance whoever was cast from suffering a direct Streisand comparison (yeah, it didn't work out that way). I got the impression from comments here that in London,  Sheridan Smith was similarly a limited vocalist cast to give a strong comedic performance. The article makes it sound like a further issue was Beanie being viewed as an emerging star in movies and t.v., thus giving further incentive to casting a performer with a limited range, if in fact she was expected to be a big tourist draw.

It's also worth pointing out that, contrary to the haters, nothing suggests she was incompetent. There was a genuine divide here between people who thought her vocals were fine, or she was capable of handling them with a little more practice, and those who thought she was simply abysmal. You don't get such disparate responses if your star is a total failure. It's interesting now that Funny Girl is classified as a disaster that Beanie's being completely slammed while, conversely, now that Company is looked at as a landmark revival, Katrina Lenk is being hailed for pulling off a role many strongly insisted she didn't have the voice for.

Now that all is said and done, I think Beanie should have been replaced in previews. When I saw a number of people championing her, I began to think we naysayers (and I was one of them) had gotten it wrong, and she could handle the part, or at least might grow into it (again, the comparison with Lenk is telling). But all that happened was a young woman with talent and a developing career was forced into a humiliating situation and left to flail while dissent mounted and word of mouth became toxic.

Really, really terrible producing, but also clearly terrible directing, as Mayer seems to have had, from back with the London production, ideas about what Funny Girl and for casting the show that just aren't at all consistent with what an audience wants from it. 

I hate the venom directed at Beanie, but that doesn't mean keeping her in the role was a wise choice. Ultimately, it wasn't even a kind one.

[shocktheatre]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 4:33pm

Oh by all means we have to protect Beanie, a grown woman who has chosen to work in the entertainment industry.

At the same time, it might be a a good idea to put FG back into the dustbin where it languished for decades, and just let its songs be screeched at Marie's Crisis.

[ManOfLaMuncha]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 4:37pm

https://deadline.com/2022/07/broadway-box-office-july-10-into-the-woods-funny-girl-1235062490/

 

the ticket prices for Lea Michele are crazy.

[FranklinDickson2018]

Posted: 7/14/22 at 4:43pm

The recent Playbill artice and other sources refer to Julie Benko as "covering" for Lea Michele on Thursdays.  But is that the right choice of words?  Isn't she a Thursday night alternate?  I thought a cover referred to stand-by status and not having actually scheduled performances on a regular basis . Would like to know the correct meaning of the term.  In the opera world, for example, cover means that you are the understudy for a particular role.  You see that in program bios all the time.  Thanks for any FYI.  

From Playbill: 

Julie Benko is slated to lead the revival August 2–September 4, and will stay on to cover Thursday performances from September 8.