For Lea Michele, life’s candy and the sun’s a ball of butter now that’s she’s made her debut in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl.
Stepping into Barbra Streisand’s shoes to play Fanny Brice—a role she’s seemingly been preparing for most of her professional career—Michele reportedly received six standing ovations throughout her premiere performance at The August Wilson Theatre.
The first of those came as soon as she sauntered onto stage, before she could even utter the musical’s iconic opening line: “Hello, gorgeous!”
Related: 5 celebrities who totally won’t be at Lea Michele’s ‘Funny Girl’ premiere
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This moment’s been a long time coming for Michele, who made her Broadway debut in a production of Les Misérables and later originated the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening. The actress is best known for FOX’s hit musical dramedy Glee, playing the tenacious Rachel Berry who, in the show’s fifth season, goes on to star in a Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Life imitates art.
Of course, the road to get her back to The Great White Way has been filled with enough drama for a TV series of its own. In 2020, Michele was met with a storm of criticism and allegations for her “diva behavior,” which came to a head when Samantha Marie Ware (who had a recurring arc on Glee’s sixth season) famously accused her of “traumatic microaggressions” as well as other threatening and demeaning behavior.
Things haven’t exactly been a breeze for the Funny Girl revival either. The show opened to tepid reviews in spring with its initial star Beanie Feldstein leaving the production earlier than expected amid a swirl of rumors and the sour reception (standby Julie Benko capably filled in in the interim).
Related: Julie Benko on her ‘Funny Girl’ star turn, sexy co-star, and fav queer composers
Still, nothing could mute the buzz for Michele as curious theater diehards and a number of famous faces (Ryan Murphy and Michele’s bestie Jonathan Groff among them) turned up for her big debut last night. Per a report from Variety, “the audience was clearly on Michele’s side and it’s unlikely she will ever perform in front of another crowd as eager to see her soar.”
And soar she apparently did. Critics won’t be formally weighing in for a few more weeks, although the New York Post‘s Johnny Oleksinski published their take on opening night, praising the “real singing power” brings to the production.
‘Together with the titanic [Tovah] Feldshuh,” they continued, “the Glee star lifts this wanting production into something much more palatable than it was back in the spring. (Many of the existing issues remain, however.) This time, I actually enjoyed it.”
For more takes, we turn to the “Twitterati” in attendance, a number of whom breathlessly sang Michele’s praises at intermission and again after the curtain call.
So far Lea Michele has gotten four standing ovations at this Funny Girl performance
— Kevin Fallon (@kpfallon) September 7, 2022
Honestly an incredible performance.
— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) September 7, 2022
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
oh, honey.. Lea Michele TORE
— Juan A. Ramírez (@itsNumberJuan) September 7, 2022
Lea Michele gets thunderous ovation #FunnyGirl pic.twitter.com/WEhW9BsBvL
— Brent Lang (@BrentALang) September 7, 2022
6 standing ovations for Lea Michele and 0 for Ramin Karimloo’s abs. we used to be a proper country
— Rebecca Rubin (@rebeccaarubin) September 7, 2022
Tonight… 7 standing ovations later… #LeaMichele IS #FannyBrice.@FunnyGirlBwy pic.twitter.com/nQVmBghcw9
— Frank DiLella (@fdilella) September 7, 2022
In addition to the standing ovations, it sounds like Michele got some solid laughs, too—although not always intentionally. According to Deadline, a particular line of Funny Girl dialogue raised a few eyebrows:
Audience at Lea Michele’s ‘Funny Girl’ debut gasped and laughed when she delivered the line “I haven’t read many books.”
?: https://t.co/wqspu3CdIp pic.twitter.com/TUpXxbWpNF
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 7, 2022
bachy
I appreciate that this girl has been the focus of a lot of complaints about her “Diva” behavior, but one thing has been undeniable from the beginning: she is a juggernaut of raw talent.
WeHoGuy69
Thanks, Lea!
cuteguy
@bachy. You are basically condoning shite in a wig. Get help with your sick scat obsession. That is not normal nor healthy
Ronbo
Ohh. Look at the usual haters steam! A woman being attacked by untalented trolls calling names and insults. Hopefully cuteguy will look away from the mirror long enough to learn the difference between a standing ovation and shite.
bachy
oh please @cute! If some drag queen had made the shit/wig comment, everyone would be saying it was a “sick burn”!!!
jackscott
Tovah Feldshuh all day long! As for Lea, big pass. The ability to sing doesn’t give you the right to be such a horrible person. There are so many wonderful actresses out there that could have killed the part and not treated co-workers like trash.
inbama
@jackscott
” The ability to sing doesn’t give you the right to be such a horrible person. ‘
Yes, it does.
dbmcvey
@inbama
No. It doesn’t. And I hope no one ever shites in your wig.
LumpyPillows
Lol, no one shit in anyone’s wig… You are fixed on that.
cuteguy
@inbama get help with your obvious low self esteem. And the mere fact that a MAGA loser supporter like @LumpyPillows is on your side is a tell tale side you’re on the wrong side of the argument
Ronbo
Yet, the standing ovation goes to… the person with talent. People hire the person perceived most able to do the job. Tovah quit after it was widely noticed that she could not do the job – Tovah’s revival didn’t revive.
We all should share the opportunity to excell; but, not everyone has talent. Yes, many here have the talent to create enemies lists and hate on cue. But what good does that do?
LumpyPillows
Cuteguy is just plain toxic.
No one shit in anyone’s wig. It sounds like something a drag queen would say when talking smack and that was all this was. Your fixation on this is juvenile.
These vendettas remind me of fatwas. You should be very careful what your behavior say about you and how it effects others.
Be better people, lest the fatwa come for you.
Kangol2
Planet earth to Ronbo, planet earth to Ronbo! Do you mean Beanie Feldstein’s revival didn’t revive? Tovah Feldshuh plays Mrs. Brice in Funny Girl, not Fanny Brice! She started on September 6 and hasn’t quit! What are you talking about?
DBMC
Hey TrumpyPillows, You’re fixed on defending her terrible behavior. What does that say about you?
Ronbo
@everyone I apologize for confusing the two broadway performers on this show. The last smash-hit Broadway show I attended was Cats! and it was disappointing, to say the least. Beanie or Teva (doesn’t matter), the show was closing for lack of interest and talent. Again, My deepest sympathies for the hideous mistake and horror that I put Kangol thru.
At least now with a “name” the show can go on. Smile Kangol, at least now you have a new reason to hate Broadway; how could they give a role to anyone on your list of enemies!?!
sfhairy
So now she’s uncanceled eh Queerty?!? Perfect actress for the role if Barbra wasn’t going to do it again.
dbmcvey
When was she cancelled?
cuteguy
@dbmcvey when she shite in a wig. You and Jonathan Groff may be into sick things like scat but the majority of us are healthy and normal
LumpyPillows
Except no one shit in anyone’s wig.
DBMC
Exactly TrumpyPillows, she was never cancelled. Cancel culture is a myth.
DBMC
Hey “cuteguy” you are really deranged.
Ronbo
It’s more like a hate culture attempting to do harm – not really a cancel culture. Cancelling is only the objective of the haters.
We should know the harm that it does – since we were the object of cancellation for a very, very long time. Instead of just “meh” (which is expected) some here have devolved into full blown hate. Too bad that some are trying to use the same weapons that we fought and won against.
EddieB
A very young actor, heady with fame, acted badly to some people. Sound familiar. I wonder how many “traumatic microagressions” Anne Francis encountered? Love them or hate them, stars, like the rest of us, can sometimes act badly.
dbmcvey
They weren’t really “micro” they were just aggressions. Should stars act like this? Is Lea Michelle really a star? I guess we’ll find out.
bachy
@dbmcvey: if you have any doubts, check out the review of Funny Girl in the Daily Beast.
DBMC
bachy, does the review say whether she’s acting badly back stage? Does a review (especially at the Daily Beast) have the power to make someone a star?
I have no doubt the opening night audience, which was probably completely made up of her fans, enjoyed the performance.
We’ll see what happens next.
Diplomat
I look forward to hearing what cast mates say about her behavior. My sense is she got the message.
She may never own that play, but she still delivered the goods, and that’s seriously awesome. Bravo for her, diva stunts and all.
abfab
Were you there?
dbmcvey
Still, I wouldn’t leave any wigs laying around.
Diplomat
If you want to see who should really be doing the lead in Funny Girl, Google my good friends vids: Rebecca Clark Streisand. She’s a carbon copy voice of Streisand. She blows Lea Michelle off the stage.
Yooper
That’s the thing, a carbon copy of Streisand isn’t what it’s about. No disrespect to your good friends, but Barbra impersonators are a dime a dozen. That’s the trouble with an iconic musical play and film in which an actor (this case Streisand) worked magic and owns the role to this day, no one is going to come within a mile of her performance.
Diplomat
Check her out and you might feel differently.
cctv
This show is a dud
dbmcvey
Yeah, I like most of the music but it’s a really bad script, and, apparently the sets and costumes aren’t great in this production.
LumpyPillows
Seems like the reviews, from people who actually saw it, unlike you, disagree.
Kangol2
I haven’t seen this version but the one with Beanie…well, Jane Lynch was great!
cuteguy
It’s pretty obvious her PR team filled the audience with her support system so they could use social media to sing her praises. That’s why critics weren’t there. It was a well crafted PR stunt. But it doesn’t change the fact of what a horrible person she truly is
Ronbo
Kind of like how you show up to demalnd “what a horrible person she truly is” whenever someone is added to Queerties enemies list?!? Like clockwork, we can count on your hateful comments, right on cue.
Hate is not OUR family values. Try compassion and acceptance for people trying their best to express themselves. It’s what you demand for yourself, right?
Yooper
So gossip websites are full of innuendo, he said, she said, she’s a horrible person, she’s mean, she’s a diva, everyone hates her, she threatened to shite in a wig, blah blah blah. But can she deliver, that’s what counts, everything else is take with a grain of salt gossip.
dbmcvey
Yeah, who hasn’t threatened to shite in a co-workers wig.
LumpyPillows
Sounds ludicrously funny to me. No one really believes it would happen, well, except you.
Toofie
Sounds like audiences will be pleased. Good for her and good for the show.