Lea Michele to Star as Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL Starting 9/6; Beanie Feldstein Departing 7/31- Page 4

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:18pm

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "oh please she is an adult she could have said no or withdrawn at any point in the process"

So what you're saying is the producers hold NO responsibility for this? They came to her with a job and I'm sure countless praise. THEY were the ones with money on the line and THEY should have been the ones to pull out. It's THEIR contract, Beanie was just fulfilling contractual obligations. SHE should have been the one to walk? Knowing that the entire cast (at the time) was getting paid off of HER back? You wanted her to take responsibility for that to?

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:18pm

TotallyEffed said: "Jordan Catalano said: "So I guess we’re not getting a cast recording?"

In my fantasy it's a sure thing that Lea will record an album.



This is the most drama on Broadway since Spider-man."

Howard and Janet Kagan would like a word with you. 

[Penna2]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:18pm

Sutton Ross said: "Schmergo2 said: "I have a bit of a theory: what if when she said they were "taking the show in another direction," perhaps that meant they were planning on changing things up so that, in the 2 months leading up to Beanie's planned departure date, Julie was going to be bumped up to an official alternate? That's one of the few changes I could easily see a Broadway show making mid-run that might make Beanie upset. This is absolutely just a wild theory, though."

Not wild at all, good idea. However, I don't think she would care about Julie and would have welcomed only doing the role 6 times a week. My theory is this: She found out they were going to announce who the new Fanny was going to be tomorrow and felt ambushed. Like, why see her when you can see a much better Fanny at the end of September! Do you know what I mean?

It just seems odd to me they would announce the new Fanny? It always struck me odd with the leaks about Lea. How would that help the show? I'm wondering if when they saw their receipts last week, Beanie calling in sick again, and how well Ephie performed, they figured they had what they needed to move ahead. Beanie's name wasn't bringing in the audiences anymore, so no big loss. Take your chances with the new (and better) blood.

 

[akhoya87]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:21pm

Penna2 said: "akhoya87 said: "I feel bad for Beanie. I didn't like her as Fanny for the reasons other folks have pointed out (mostly, the singing), but it does seem like she's getting unceremoniously shoved aside to fulfill the Prophecy of Glee.

I bought tickets to see Julie Benko in late August (to see if her performance changes my mind about this show), and I hope they let her keep those dates."

She is leaving because 1) box office - they lost 10% gross last week, audience is down. Her NAME has lost it's value for bringing in an audience. 2) She doesn't have the right stuff for the part -never did, but they had an audience. 3) Time off for why? My guess stamina, again training and ennui. Bad reviews. The critics were not her fans.

I don't think this has anything to do with Glee and Lea Michele. Someone here says she has a tour in August, so unless someone is underwriting the cancellations on that, we could be seeing Julie come then end of the month.

Bottom line is the bottom line. She's not producing for them."

All valid points.  But I think it's too much to say this doesn't have anything to do with Lea Michele.  I take your point about plummeting ticket sales, but the flip side of that decisionmaking is to reach the conclusion that putting Lea in ASAP (assuming it's her) will help boost advance sales and help with cash flow for the production.  

Then again, who knows.  Maybe the gossip rags are wrong, and they announce Mila Kunis or someone as the next Fanny.  (I'm only kidding, please don't @ me.)

[mlledir]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:22pm

Looking at Lea's website, she only has 3 concert dates in August, so I imagine she could easily work around that...?

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:23pm

Mandy? He’d oversing the HELL out of it. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:23pm

Is there any exact tally of the number of performances Bean-o missed?

[laporms]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:26pm

I saw the show last month. Was she amazing? No, but the producers knew this from day one. It's too bad she didn't follow Uma Thurman's Smash character's lead and just dip before opening. 

But life goes on and most people in this board should be elated instead of clutching their pearls over this announcement. She wants out and y'all wanted her out. End of story. 

[jagman1062]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:29pm

I'm pretty sure the new direction has something entirely to do with economics, as several of you have said. The direction is to make the show better. I'm not slamming Beanie, because I didn't see her performance. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Julie Benko was playing Fanny the day I went to see the show. Julie was phenomenal and gave a bravura performance. But the bad word of mouth about Beanie and the show just being so-so wasn't going to attract a lot of people to the box office. Any investor trying to recoup as much money as possible really has no loyalty to any one individual outside of a contract, so of course, any effort to make the show successful will focus on removing the "problems." (I thought Jane Lynch was miscast, but I believe she has greater recognition than Beanie). I heard that Beanie's father and brother were silent producers of the show, which is why she didn't have to audition, and I don't know if that's true, but I'm sure even they want to see some return on their investment. It's said that Beanie has become a casualty in what appears to be a debacle, but people have survived greater challenges, and we did all receive the gift that is Julie Benko.

[starcatchers]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:30pm

Penna2 said: "starcatchers said: "ACL2006 said: "She was upset she didn't get good reviews or a Tony nomination and negotiated to leave in September. Now she knows her standby and u/s are getting better reviews then her and essentially gives her two week notice. Talk about being entitled."

She told you all that, did she?



(and before anyone comes for me, I haven’t seen the show, nor do I particularly care to. Some of the nasty comments on here are just blowing my mind)."

Not coming for you at all, but if you saw the show, you would understand."

 

no, I wouldn’t understand this level of vitriol, because I can express my dislike for something without being vicious  

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:31pm

Has nobody thought of Rachel Bloom to take on the role? I would KILL to see her

[Strange Lupone]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:33pm

quizking101 said: "Has nobody thought of Rachel Bloom to take on the role? I would KILL to see her"

That makes one of you.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:35pm

TaffyDavenport said: "I just wanna know who I’ll be seeing on August 28th."

 

Honey Boo Boo

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:35pm

  

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:36pm

Aw, I love Rachel Bloom, she is absurdly talented and so hilarious but she doesn't have a voice for Broadway. 

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:42pm

Kinda laughable how the PR Dept tried to sneak this under the radar on a Sunday night. Jeeez. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:45pm

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:46pm

Dollypop said: "Is there any exact tally of the number of performances Bean-o missed?"

Pretty sure I saw the number 27 for missed performances in another thread recently. 

[Penna2]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 8:47pm

Bill Snibson said: "Kinda laughable how the PR Dept tried to sneak this under the radar on a Sunday night. Jeeez."

I saw the post on the FunnyGirlBwy unofficial site, then saw Beanie's IG. She took the wind out of their sales by making her announcement first.

[Penna2]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:00pm

"Nothing but love for this artist" 

This is what Ramin wrote on Beanie's notice on his IG story. Sounds like it was a force out...and maybe had something to do with her skills? He's a very kind man, chose his words very carefully.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:03pm

Do an astrology reading on them.  I’m surprised you didn’t already to get ALL your answers to your questions.  

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:11pm

Forbidden Broadway needs to make a return and cover this whole Funny Girl mess.  

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:13pm

I feel like all this “announcement” stuff means it’s has to be someone significant, no? I mean sure Benko is great but if the advance is that bad they def need to get a recognizable name.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:17pm

"Taking the show in a different direction" is corporate-speak for fired. This statement screams "I was fired/replaced."

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/10/22 at 9:21pm

So if she was fired, her first full week back after Covid the show dropped a stunning $326+k. And okay July 4 week, okay but next week 7 of the 8 performances landed on TDF. First time. Isn’t it possible that her fan base is finite? Why didn’t they rush in and buy up July when her departure was announced? Instead, the revival’s advance seemed to be drying up. Fired or quit, it was over.