Glee’s Rachel Barry finally got to live the life of her dreams in the drama and in real life as the actress Lea Michele got to perform in Funny Girl on Broadway. According to the audience, her role as Fanny Brice managed to hit the right notes, which resulted in her receiving seven standing ovations on different occasions throughout her Broadway performance.
Michele received her first standing ovation as she appeared onstage, and a raucous applause greeted her. Not only that, before the musical reached the intermission, she also elicited three more standing ovations from the audience.
So far Lea Michele has gotten four standing ovations at this Funny Girl performance
— Kevin Fallon (@kpfallon) September 7, 2022
One of the most notable performances of the opening night was Lea Michele’s rendition of ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade.’ Most Glee fans would be able to appreciate how far the leading lady has come from performing on the show to onstage. Her barn-burning fervor would’ve given anyone goosebumps. As soon as she delivered the climax, the audience erupted in applause and yet another standing ovation, which was the fourth of the seven, for the night.
Previously, the role of Fanny Brice was played by none other than Barbra Streisand, which helped her rise to fame. Needless to say, Michele didn’t disappoint her predecessor in terms of the song and the bar she raised by adding her own distinct touch, stamping the raving reviews about her singing in the past.
The opening night’s audience also included a bunch of fans and past colleagues of Michele’s; Ryan Murphy, her former boss from Glee, Zachary Quinto, Jonathan Groff, and many others.
Jonathan Groff is attending Lea Michele's opening night on Funny Girl pic.twitter.com/dH4gmm28tE
— Jonathan Groff Updates (@GroffUpdates) September 7, 2022
Do you plan on watching Lea Michele’s Fanny Brice on Broadway? Let us know!
A good musical comes with its own set of backstage drama, which in this case is the casting for the role of Fanny Brice. It has been over 50 years since Funny Girl’s debut, and this first-ever revival initially starred Beanie Feldstein for the role. However, the show didn’t receive positive reviews in the least, despite Beanie Feldstein doing her best. Eventually, the role was replaced by Lea Michele after a lot of contractual drama with Feldstein, as the two actresses share the same agent.
It was practically Michele’s life goal to play Fanny Brice once in her career. She even went on to perform ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ at the Tony Awards. Not only that, the entire premise of her reel character Rachel Berry on Glee (2009 – 2015) was also to star as Fanny Brice on Broadway. Guess Michele got to live the best of both worlds after all.
Although Michele’s been auditioning for the role her entire life, one would wonder why she didn’t get cast right away. The primary reason being the actress’ reputation in the past. Apparently, the actress has been called out on more than one occasion for being racist and outright rude to her fellow co-stars on the show.
For all everyone knew back in 2020, she was a horrible person to work with. However, in a recent interview with the media, the actress explained her stance against the accusations, and second chances were in the books for her.
By the end of the show, Michele had earned seven standing ovations; her act-one entrance, her performances of ‘I’m the Greatest Star,’ ‘His Love Makes Me Beautiful,’ ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade,’ her act-two entrance, the finale, and during the curtain call as well.
As Michele showed up to take one final bow, she was already moved to tears and mouthed, “Thank you so much!” to the crowd. She also waved at Groff in the audience and blew kisses to the rest of her co-stars who were in the audience to support her. The opening night was a success, no doubt which Lea Michele relished through and through.
Rebecca Rubin captured the moment of Lea Michele getting emotion during the first curtain call:
Lea Michele sobbing through her first curtain call in #FunnyGirl pic.twitter.com/twFVaIU5eV
— Rebecca Rubin (@rebeccaarubin) September 7, 2022
Logan Leavitt appreciated Michele’s performance and described her to be “unbelievable”
There’s no other way to describe Lea Michele’s performance in Funny Girl other than unbelievable pic.twitter.com/qNmTowwhEC
— Logan Leavitt (@LoganLeavitt) September 7, 2022
