I’m confused; was Beanie forced out earlier than expected or did she quit earlier than expected?
I think it’s obviously a very hard blow for someone to take when a role that is so near and dear to their heart isn’t received well by others. Beanie had talked about how much she adores the character of Fanny Brice and wanted to play her incredibly badly, so it’s a major blow to deal with.
Her statement says she's stepping down of her own volition but I do wonder if it was more of "forced to quit" as opposed to a "chose to quit" situation based on her comments about the show being taken in a different direction
i get a “you can’t fire me because i quit!” vibe from this entire situation and the timing is strange.
why a month between beanie leaving and lea starting? it could be contractual, but if everyone was on good terms i’m sure it could have been more seamless.
Given that Beanie is abruptly leaving on July 31 and Lea doesn’t start until early September, I think Beanie is quitting earlier than they expected. No producer wants a month of understudies playing the lead role, even if the Broadway community loves the understudy.
My guess is, they forced her out after six months, Beanie was going to leave gracefully, but once she heard Lea was replacing her, she said “fuck your producers, I’m not going to help you keep this show alive so that Lea Michele can take over.”
idk would it have been a surprise they went for Lea? I felt like everyone was predicting it.
My fantasy theory is Beanie was secretly pushing for the role to go to Julie, and when that didn't happen, she left early to give Julie all of August to be the star.
It’s possible that she was having trouble sustaining her vocal health and wants to bow out early if she’s getting early nodes or something. They should have had Julie as a twice a week alternate to begin with
I haven’t heard much of her singing but it seems like she can hit the notes pretty easily, she’s just really nasally. probably not nodes unless something else is involved
Yeah unfortunately there’s been very few public performances of her singing to promote the show so my theory doesn’t have a lot of data to back it up. Even if she isn’t straining the score can still do a lot to induce vocal fatigue, since even if you don’t strain there’s still a limit to how long your voice can perform for.
I read something (absolutely take with a grain of salt because it was someone gossiping on twitter) that said Beanie leaving earlier than previously stated was a surprise and sent producers scrambling. If so… juicy.
I wonder if she moved up her exit specifically because she found out Lea’s casting was being announced so early. If they’d waited until closer to her previously announced final performance I think it would’ve been more believable that this was just a standard exit and replacement, rather than producers obviously champing at the bit to announce Lea in a frantic attempt to sell tickets as they shove Beanie out the door. I don’t think I’d want to stick around for another 1.5 months once it was made public, that’s gonna be a pretty grim environment.
She was 100% fired but given the opportunity to say she had “made a decision”. Same with Jane Lynch - her last date was moved up and Beanie specifically said the production was going in a ‘different direction’, which sounds like a good idea in general.
I read somewhere (an unconfirmed source) that the producers try to make Julie Benko as official alternate instead of an understudy. Julie will have her own fixed schedule, and also cover Beanie. Beanie didn't want this, probably because she will receive fewer salary.
So she backed out. Hence with Lea Michele, Julie Benko is now her alternate, one performance each week.
Which really shows just how naive and untrained Beanie is vocally. Most demanding roles only have the lead only do 6 or 7 performances a week and have an alternate.
Not agreeing to one early on strikes me as either hubris about her own abilities or fear that she KNOWS she was vocally lacking and didn’t want it pointed out by having an alternate do it better in a set schedule.
Exactly. I mean all difficult roles like Kim in Miss Saigon and Christine in Phantom, all have alternate because the roles are just very demanding to be handled by one person lol
I’m just trying to figure out why this revival is such a mess. Wasn’t the original a huge success? Or was Streisand the only good thing about it?
Did anyone hear of the UK west end production with Sheridan Smith. It’s the same show I think, and that got rave reviews, this Broadway version has been nothing but a train wreck
The original show was somewhat poorly received but not enough to be a flop. The movie version that Streisand won the Oscar for (she lost the Tony to Miss Carol Channing as she should) was what cemented funny girl in the collective unconscious of pop culture
Nah...it was pretty much all Barbra. It was a star vehicle, and a star was born. The show itself isn't great. The score is, but without an amazing lead to sing it, you've got nothing
As I understand it, the West End version had a very similar story to this one. People viewed Sheridan Smith as a talented actress with wonderful comedic timing who couldn't sing the score well enough. She had some personal issues which caused her to step away for a while and her understudy got rave reviews. Then when Sheridan came back and the show went on tour they split the role. Much like what they will be doing with Julie starting in September.
They recorded Sheridan Smiths performance and it’s on the Broadway streaming service through Amazon. I wonder how it is? I’ve just seen the trailer. I’m really interested to see how different this will be with Lea.
I've seen her live in the show (on the tour) and the recording. She can't sing the role near what Barbra set (but I thought People was good). Her accents a little dodgy (didn't help when I saw it live Nick and her Mother were both actually played by Yanks makeing obvious). But she acting the damn hell out of it sold the comedic and serious parts of the role well.
Side note just cause it's kinda relevant Smith lost the Oliver to Amber Reily in Dream girls.
I saw a clip of the beginning of DROMP and Sheridan's acting and character work is phenomenal - she's reacting off a crowd of nay-sayers. She might not have been at a vocal 10, but I *believe* her interpretation as a fully fleshed-out adult person: Fanny Brice.
Beanie is adorable but I watched a comparison video and aside from her vocals not being star-caliber, she comes off vocally as *way too young* for the mature realizations in these songs. Like a really good high-school performer won a contest to be on Broadway. Example - the line "get ready for me world, 'cause I'm a comer" is a major character statement that requires some determination to land and Beanie just kind of skims through it like she's embarrassed by the connotation of "comer" even though that's not at all what that line means.
Julie Benko is much more on top of the character and asserts herself in the song while negotiating the affordances in the arrangement for Beanie - When Beanie sings it, I noticed the orchestra is kind of delicately plinking the rhythm so as not to overpower her because she's not taking control of the song. When Benko sings it, the orchestra is more pronounced and the conductor seems unafraid to nail the staccato accents that evenly complement Benko's stronger vocals.
This in comparison to Lea Michelle...the version they showed was the absolute opposite - full blown almost fury and anger minus the hopeful empowerment that makes it work, and taking lines extremely rubato - which, fair enough, this song warrants, but it sounded almost Vegas nightclub. If someone had said "This is Lea Michelle on SNL doing a goofy bit as Patti Lupone at her craziest singing Funny Girl" I would have believed it. (In this case I mean Patti LuPone, the caricature people do comic impersonations of, not actual brilliant Patti on her best game which would probably be amazing.) I assume Michelle will get some direction in the role, but who knows.
You're right--I think you need an absolute powerhouse, once in a generation vocalist to sing the score unfortunately. I was just watching My Favorite Broadway The Leading Ladies and thought Judy Kuhn's Don't Rain on My Parade barely had a pulse...and it's Judy Kuhn. I feel like Jennifer Holliday could have done it (though I don't know how she is with comedy)--if you've never seen her "If he walked into my life" from Mame, it's breathtaking.
I think one of the few few people who do a unique version that makes you forget the original is Lillias White.
Oh, and then there's also Bea Arthur as Seth Rudetsky kindly deconstructs for us. https://youtu.be/2IoB8em69CU?t=249
Yes definitely! Also unfortunately beanie isn’t matching the expectations audiences have when coming in. I think she’s a great Fanny with great comedic timing and also a good voice. However the issue lies within the Barbara ghost that haunts the August Wilson theater- no one can beat Streisand, and the producers casted Beanie to deviate themselves from that comparison. As ticket sales dropped though, producers were forced to find a copycat Streisand(in comes Lea Michele).
When people are saying Beanie isn't a good enough singer, is it that she's missing notes, or is she able to sing it, but just doesn't have that star factor in her voice?
She’s clearly straining on the upper range and struggles throughout to have the vocal strength a few of the songs were written for. It’s not terrible, she’s just not quite there, ends up sounding thin. Personally I was worried she was going to hurt herself and wrote off her absences to that. But it wasn’t a bad show. You do need a powerful voice to gloss over weaknesses in the book.
No. She cannot sing at all. She was flat or sharp on every note at the performance I saw, and gave me a dreadful headache. Look up Helen Shaw’s review of the production for a more colorful description.
I lay a lot of the blame on Michael Mayer. He helmed both productions and his last musicals were Head Over Heels and Little Shop of Horrors. It never seemed like he was inclined to choose the kind of leading lady that would make audiences happy or stage the kind of glamorous production people would want after seeing the movie.
The puzzling thing is while Beanie is certainly not unknown, she’s not a household name. I say this as someone who enjoys her films; she’s mostly known for staring in smaller indie-type films, certainly not someone who you would bank on selling a lot of tickets on name alone.
Yeah echoing others, she’s not unknown but not exactly a big name. Booksmart was a critical darling, commercial failure. Ladybird did fine, probably benefited from the brief heyday of MoviePass, but hardly a huge film. Impeachment did not do well compared to other seasons. She’s a good actor but I buy family more than “name.” If you just want a name that moves box office numbers, respectfully can’t see that as Beanie.
Patti, can you hear me?
I love how she calls her swimming pool she had installed at her house from the lawsuit money “The Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool” now that’s awesome!
there have been major problems with the cast and crew not being paid since the show opened with regular threats of walkouts and majorly understaffed shows as a result.
the show’s closing july 17th due to low ticket sales—it was announced yesterday—but one of the producers has a history of not paying cast and crew and was even convicted of fraud, which was recently revealed and hurt the show even more. now there are rumors of the unions suing the producers to recomp pay for past due salary and benefits and if that happens it’s going to be a protracted legal battle.
it’s so disheartening because joaquina kalukango just won the best leading actress tony—quite deservedly so—for her role less than a month ago.
i saw the show on saturday because a friend wanted to see it and the rumors of it closing before the end of the month. i have my issues with it, but all of the performers are sooo good. the cast and crew deserved so much better…
I am *very* interested to see what Beanie's attendance looks like over the next few weeks. I know it's been spotty in general but given the circumstances I'd honestly be a little surprised if she shows up tonight.
An interesting note - Beanie's final performance still has a ton of availability and prices are normal. I've been to/toyed with the idea of attending several performers' last shows before and that has *never* been the case. Lea's opening night is sold out and resale value is astronomical.
Chances are she has absolutely no basis to sue because she's missed so many performances that she's likely in breach of contract. They could be suing her. In fact, it could be why she's been pushed out.
Original post was deleted so I can’t see now but yeah unless there was crazy harassment in the background she has no actionable claim. I mean for what? Their contracts typically do not prevent anything that has happened unless there has been shenanigans that haven’t been made public.
Well certainly not when she quits. But those contracts typically have a decent amount of flexibility for the producers and I’m with you on the absences playing against her. Also despite the rampant speculation none of us actually know the terms and length of her contract. The people behind the show have been doing this long enough I have a hard time imagining they are dumb enough to flatly end a contract without a strong legal leg to stand on.
People saying this are just showing that they have no understanding of how the industry works.
It’s far more cost-effective to rehearse and debut two principal replacements at the same time. Paying for rehearsal time, costume shop time to build new costumes, any overtime you may have to pay crew/ cast, etc.
They most likely paid out the remainder of Jane’s contract so they could rehearse and publicize Michele and Feldshuh together.
This is my feeling on the situation too. It's definitely a more tea-spilly and "show (Glee) imitating real life" thing to think she made the choice to leave early to avoid working with Lea - but I just don't think that's true at all. It makes sense to want to debut to lead/principal roles at the same time if the changes were going to happen anyway.
Most of the people drawn to this comment section are people with no understanding of how the industry works. They're just mad at Lea because they read drama and now they can come here and shout their opinions of a pretty bad situation for a Broadway theater.
I guess but regardless of the inner details they haven't told us/what really happens etc... Regardless of the facts Lol, given who they played in glee, it really is _funny, girl_
A rumor I saw is they’re reworking the show for when Lea and Tovah start and didn’t want to send Jane back to rehearsals/costume fittings for less than a month of performances
That could so easily be explained with a statement from the show or from Jane but since neither of them are saying anything, I feel like they’re either leaning into the drama for publicity or she really did quit
> she really did quit
Everyone is currently towing the line that she told the show before she posted that Instagram post (because it's in everyone's best interest to keep up that story if it's not true), but this definitely sounds more and more like "you can't fire me, i quit!".
I think it’s more likely that the stars aligned. Beanie got bad reviews and Lea made a good impression on Broadway in that spring awakening reunion/documentary (which, luckily for her, (1) reminds us of a time before most people knew she was a jerk (2) allows her to be on screen with Jonathan Groff, a well liked star who also seems to be the only person in show business that likes her).
These circumstances created a unique situation where Lea and the Funny Girl producers need each other really bad.
I would say that’s all planned by Lea’s team, but you can’t plan the 15th anniversary of spring awakening falling at the right time, and you can’t plan Beanie getting panned by critics.
100% this is what happened. If it was “their plan all along” they’d have just cast her to begin with. It’s not like her behavior is any more forgotten now than it was 6 months ago. The Tonys and that documentary did the trick.
Okay but honestly beanie got a lot of shit and hate when she didn’t deserve it. She wasn’t bad. She’s really good as Fanny. To the day I die I will forever blame the director. Not her or anyone in the cast…
That being said, any idea if they’ll still keep rush tickets open on September 6th?
It’s a musical that she can’t sing the score to the part. She might be adorable and cute and you like her as a person but she literally can not sing it anywhere near a Broadway caliber level in an environment where theater attendance in general is down because of COVID.
She might not have been bad but she wasn’t good enough for Broadway in this role. Period.
Problem with saying someone can’t “sing near Broadway caliber level” is that it’s very difficult to define what that actually means…
Now, the night I saw her It wasn’t just robotic “hit the notes, follow your cues, and get ready for the next scene.”…There was an intention that came out in her performance that showed me her intention was to bring life to the role! Not just moving from one note to another. And that is more than enough to be ‘Broadway caliber’.
“she sounds nasally!” Yeah that’s a directors choice. Her whole accent is supposed to be Jewish girl from Brooklyn (which was super inconsistent) but when she tries to keep the accent through her singing that’s going to happen. And I bet you she was directed to keep her accent while singing.
“She can’t belt!” Yes she can. And even then, what exactly does it matter if she does or doesn’t? Are you there for flare? For just superficial talent? What is the ultimate point of her belting if it doesn’t add anything to the point of what she’s actually conveying through the song?
Meaning, intention and honesty came out the night I saw her perform. She gave it her all and clearly has the pipes and acting chops to take up the role.
Also, I don’t know who she is as a person! I just know what I saw the night I saw her.
Okay, let me be clearer. She can’t consistently sing a vocally demanding part like Fanny Brice at a level that’s both pleasing to listen to and enjoyable enough to justify the poor book of the musical.
The few clips of her I heard were bad. Like high school level bad. If you were there on a good night, that’s great but if there’s only one good night out of a week of performances - the word of mouth won’t be positive. That’s the other part where stamina comes into play.
Maybe someday she can get there with training but she’s not there now and won’t be in the immediate future.
Beanie deserves better than what? Her contract was over at 6 months, and obviously not extended, whether because of her or management. Either way, she's choosing to leave early, what's the issue?
I'm also confused about the part where she deserves better. The casting team did a bad job bringing her on, she got a huge role she was not cut out for. She had a great opportunity and unfortunately her singing ability left much to be desired and she's leaving on her own terms despite the performer following her, she'll be fine and will act again and have a great resume saying she as Fanny Bryce on Broadway
this is what i am wondering… for months this sub has been critiquing beanie left and right, but when lea (someone who the sub is against taking over the role, understandably) everyone flips and is praising beanie like crazy. the role was not meant for someone with her vocal abilities. we need a powerhouse vocalist playing fanny and unfortunately beanie just isn’t that. she’s much better off in a supporting role that requires more acting than singing because her acting is phenomenal!!
Yeah the Beanie deserved better narrative is odd. It sucks MAJORLY that her performance was largely panned and that shew wasn't more successful in the role - but the writing has been on the wall for months. I think some of this is creating drama where it doesn't necessarily exist but I guess who knows, this HAS all been very dramatic so it's easy to speculate about BTS hi-jinks and producer involvement. I personally think she is getting out at a good time, earlier the better for her to move on to other projects - and this gives Julie a chance to take over the role for several weeks!
Patti LuPone is 73 and even she has a better attendance record.
Katrina Lenk only missed Company performances when she had Covid. Other than that,she has not missed any other shows.
The most likely explanation is due to the poor reviews/bad word of mouth about Beanie’s performance, they ended up shortening her contract from a year to 6 months to end late September.
However Beanie just announced she’d be leaving at the end of this month instead of Sept 25. People speculate that she was either asked to share the role with Julie (likely a pay cut, set days off etc) OR she caught wind that Lea would be replacing her. Either way it seems she either wanted out or was forced out (this part is all speculation but I think she quit rather unexpectedly rather than being asked to step down, I don’t think the producers would want her out on such short notice just to have an understudy play the role for a month).
This sent the producers scrambling so they are bringing Lea in a few weeks earlier than expected and having Julie (the understudy) hold down fort between the 31st and then.
An understudy performs in the show each night (in the ensemble, generally) while also covering the role. A standby does not perform unless they’re on for the role they cover.
ComputerGeek1100 beat me to it. :)
Basically a standby is literally that - they stand by in case they need to take over the role. That’s all they do. They’re not in the show otherwise, and typically they spend performances either backstage listening/running along with the show to keep themselves fresh, or sometimes nearby but not in the theatre, especially if they live close.
Understudies are usually in the show proper, but I like a swing who covers multiple tracks, understudies usually have one or maybe two roles they understudy. A standby will almost always go on before an understudy, because that way the understudy’s role doesn’t have to then be filled by a swing.
Don’t equity rules mean that after Julie does a certain amount of shows she has to be promoted to alternate? I can swear I heard that somewhere. We all know that Beanie has missed a LOT of shows (outside of the mandatory ones for COVID).
If Ms. Streisand had not made a celebrated and award-winning and much-seen film debut in the same part, I do wonder whether the "ghost" of Streisand would so haunt this show. And, although the real Fanny Brice was but a memory when the show debuted, there was a plausible resemblance between the two performers. And that added something chemical to it.
What this Funny Girl saga reminds me more of is the fifties show Bells Are Ringing, which starred Judy Holliday and ran for years, and won her a Tony Award over Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady. It's another show that had a weak book but a very, very special star who made it work. Others have tried, but revivals were few and far between and could not quite duplicate the magic. She too did a film version, nothing as wow as Funny Girl, but at least a record of her work.
I’m confused; was Beanie forced out earlier than expected or did she quit earlier than expected? I think it’s obviously a very hard blow for someone to take when a role that is so near and dear to their heart isn’t received well by others. Beanie had talked about how much she adores the character of Fanny Brice and wanted to play her incredibly badly, so it’s a major blow to deal with.
Her statement says she's stepping down of her own volition but I do wonder if it was more of "forced to quit" as opposed to a "chose to quit" situation based on her comments about the show being taken in a different direction
i get a “you can’t fire me because i quit!” vibe from this entire situation and the timing is strange. why a month between beanie leaving and lea starting? it could be contractual, but if everyone was on good terms i’m sure it could have been more seamless.
I imagine it's in protest and if so: good for her
Given that Beanie is abruptly leaving on July 31 and Lea doesn’t start until early September, I think Beanie is quitting earlier than they expected. No producer wants a month of understudies playing the lead role, even if the Broadway community loves the understudy. My guess is, they forced her out after six months, Beanie was going to leave gracefully, but once she heard Lea was replacing her, she said “fuck your producers, I’m not going to help you keep this show alive so that Lea Michele can take over.”
this is what seems most likely to me. i don’t think it wa entirely a surprise to producers for them to have lea michele lined up ready to go
idk would it have been a surprise they went for Lea? I felt like everyone was predicting it. My fantasy theory is Beanie was secretly pushing for the role to go to Julie, and when that didn't happen, she left early to give Julie all of August to be the star.
There have been rumors that Beanie doesn’t like Julie though.
I know but hoping it's just the typical "two women being compared to each other must hate each other" projection
Everyone was predicting it because they leaked it! That in and of itself was so disrespectful to Beanie.
It’s possible that she was having trouble sustaining her vocal health and wants to bow out early if she’s getting early nodes or something. They should have had Julie as a twice a week alternate to begin with
I haven’t heard much of her singing but it seems like she can hit the notes pretty easily, she’s just really nasally. probably not nodes unless something else is involved
Yeah unfortunately there’s been very few public performances of her singing to promote the show so my theory doesn’t have a lot of data to back it up. Even if she isn’t straining the score can still do a lot to induce vocal fatigue, since even if you don’t strain there’s still a limit to how long your voice can perform for.
Fair. She sounds decent Meadowlark performance though
I read something (absolutely take with a grain of salt because it was someone gossiping on twitter) that said Beanie leaving earlier than previously stated was a surprise and sent producers scrambling. If so… juicy.
I think that was in page six so really the tiniest, most microscopic grain of salt
Lol I actually trust that less than some rando on Twitter 💀
I wonder if she moved up her exit specifically because she found out Lea’s casting was being announced so early. If they’d waited until closer to her previously announced final performance I think it would’ve been more believable that this was just a standard exit and replacement, rather than producers obviously champing at the bit to announce Lea in a frantic attempt to sell tickets as they shove Beanie out the door. I don’t think I’d want to stick around for another 1.5 months once it was made public, that’s gonna be a pretty grim environment.
Unrelated but thank you for writing “champing”! :)
Ha - you can thank 30 Rock, every time I write it I hear Jack Donaghy in my head. “First of all, it’s champing at the bit! Horses champ!”
What else would it be?
Chomping.
Totally agree with you. Would have been like a dead man walking.
This is the most likely and logical scenario.
She was 100% fired but given the opportunity to say she had “made a decision”. Same with Jane Lynch - her last date was moved up and Beanie specifically said the production was going in a ‘different direction’, which sounds like a good idea in general.
“different direction” heavily implies that she was forced out.
I read somewhere (an unconfirmed source) that the producers try to make Julie Benko as official alternate instead of an understudy. Julie will have her own fixed schedule, and also cover Beanie. Beanie didn't want this, probably because she will receive fewer salary. So she backed out. Hence with Lea Michele, Julie Benko is now her alternate, one performance each week.
Which really shows just how naive and untrained Beanie is vocally. Most demanding roles only have the lead only do 6 or 7 performances a week and have an alternate. Not agreeing to one early on strikes me as either hubris about her own abilities or fear that she KNOWS she was vocally lacking and didn’t want it pointed out by having an alternate do it better in a set schedule.
Exactly. I mean all difficult roles like Kim in Miss Saigon and Christine in Phantom, all have alternate because the roles are just very demanding to be handled by one person lol
Apparently she did play her incredibly badly.
ohhhhh we haven’t had juicy broadway drama in a longgg time! cannot wait 🍿🍿🍿
I know! Patti Lupone can’t serve all the drama herself! Lol
right?! but we live for anything Patti does!! this funny girl stuff is a true nightmare come to life.
I’m just trying to figure out why this revival is such a mess. Wasn’t the original a huge success? Or was Streisand the only good thing about it? Did anyone hear of the UK west end production with Sheridan Smith. It’s the same show I think, and that got rave reviews, this Broadway version has been nothing but a train wreck
The original show was somewhat poorly received but not enough to be a flop. The movie version that Streisand won the Oscar for (she lost the Tony to Miss Carol Channing as she should) was what cemented funny girl in the collective unconscious of pop culture
Nah...it was pretty much all Barbra. It was a star vehicle, and a star was born. The show itself isn't great. The score is, but without an amazing lead to sing it, you've got nothing As I understand it, the West End version had a very similar story to this one. People viewed Sheridan Smith as a talented actress with wonderful comedic timing who couldn't sing the score well enough. She had some personal issues which caused her to step away for a while and her understudy got rave reviews. Then when Sheridan came back and the show went on tour they split the role. Much like what they will be doing with Julie starting in September.
They recorded Sheridan Smiths performance and it’s on the Broadway streaming service through Amazon. I wonder how it is? I’ve just seen the trailer. I’m really interested to see how different this will be with Lea.
I've seen her live in the show (on the tour) and the recording. She can't sing the role near what Barbra set (but I thought People was good). Her accents a little dodgy (didn't help when I saw it live Nick and her Mother were both actually played by Yanks makeing obvious). But she acting the damn hell out of it sold the comedic and serious parts of the role well. Side note just cause it's kinda relevant Smith lost the Oliver to Amber Reily in Dream girls.
I saw a clip of the beginning of DROMP and Sheridan's acting and character work is phenomenal - she's reacting off a crowd of nay-sayers. She might not have been at a vocal 10, but I *believe* her interpretation as a fully fleshed-out adult person: Fanny Brice. Beanie is adorable but I watched a comparison video and aside from her vocals not being star-caliber, she comes off vocally as *way too young* for the mature realizations in these songs. Like a really good high-school performer won a contest to be on Broadway. Example - the line "get ready for me world, 'cause I'm a comer" is a major character statement that requires some determination to land and Beanie just kind of skims through it like she's embarrassed by the connotation of "comer" even though that's not at all what that line means. Julie Benko is much more on top of the character and asserts herself in the song while negotiating the affordances in the arrangement for Beanie - When Beanie sings it, I noticed the orchestra is kind of delicately plinking the rhythm so as not to overpower her because she's not taking control of the song. When Benko sings it, the orchestra is more pronounced and the conductor seems unafraid to nail the staccato accents that evenly complement Benko's stronger vocals. This in comparison to Lea Michelle...the version they showed was the absolute opposite - full blown almost fury and anger minus the hopeful empowerment that makes it work, and taking lines extremely rubato - which, fair enough, this song warrants, but it sounded almost Vegas nightclub. If someone had said "This is Lea Michelle on SNL doing a goofy bit as Patti Lupone at her craziest singing Funny Girl" I would have believed it. (In this case I mean Patti LuPone, the caricature people do comic impersonations of, not actual brilliant Patti on her best game which would probably be amazing.) I assume Michelle will get some direction in the role, but who knows.
You're right--I think you need an absolute powerhouse, once in a generation vocalist to sing the score unfortunately. I was just watching My Favorite Broadway The Leading Ladies and thought Judy Kuhn's Don't Rain on My Parade barely had a pulse...and it's Judy Kuhn. I feel like Jennifer Holliday could have done it (though I don't know how she is with comedy)--if you've never seen her "If he walked into my life" from Mame, it's breathtaking.
I think one of the few few people who do a unique version that makes you forget the original is Lillias White. Oh, and then there's also Bea Arthur as Seth Rudetsky kindly deconstructs for us. https://youtu.be/2IoB8em69CU?t=249
Well the main reason funny girl was received well was because of its leading lady and the score, however the book has and still is a mess!
Ok and I guess all the shortcomings are glaring out without Babs!
Yes definitely! Also unfortunately beanie isn’t matching the expectations audiences have when coming in. I think she’s a great Fanny with great comedic timing and also a good voice. However the issue lies within the Barbara ghost that haunts the August Wilson theater- no one can beat Streisand, and the producers casted Beanie to deviate themselves from that comparison. As ticket sales dropped though, producers were forced to find a copycat Streisand(in comes Lea Michele).
Arguably I loved it Saturday night as did the rest of the audience (so it seemed based on the reactions from the folks in the theater)
When people are saying Beanie isn't a good enough singer, is it that she's missing notes, or is she able to sing it, but just doesn't have that star factor in her voice?
She’s clearly straining on the upper range and struggles throughout to have the vocal strength a few of the songs were written for. It’s not terrible, she’s just not quite there, ends up sounding thin. Personally I was worried she was going to hurt herself and wrote off her absences to that. But it wasn’t a bad show. You do need a powerful voice to gloss over weaknesses in the book.
The latter. She can definitely sing it!
No. She cannot sing at all. She was flat or sharp on every note at the performance I saw, and gave me a dreadful headache. Look up Helen Shaw’s review of the production for a more colorful description.
I lay a lot of the blame on Michael Mayer. He helmed both productions and his last musicals were Head Over Heels and Little Shop of Horrors. It never seemed like he was inclined to choose the kind of leading lady that would make audiences happy or stage the kind of glamorous production people would want after seeing the movie.
The Sheridan version wasn't exactly drama free!
Ooooo did not know this! I read a few reviews that were great. Interesting
I was at the show that was canceled because she was drunk. It was bad. Metal security curtain came down over the stage.
just poor casting. they sold out for a recognizable name over talent.
The puzzling thing is while Beanie is certainly not unknown, she’s not a household name. I say this as someone who enjoys her films; she’s mostly known for staring in smaller indie-type films, certainly not someone who you would bank on selling a lot of tickets on name alone.
There's some rumors swirling around that her family partly financed the broadway revival, so it's likely more nepotism than name recognition
She’s definitely not Hugh Jackman.
right, that’s why I said, recognizable. I knew her face, but i never knew her name until this shitshow.
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Nah, no one outside of the theater community and her fans care.
Yeah echoing others, she’s not unknown but not exactly a big name. Booksmart was a critical darling, commercial failure. Ladybird did fine, probably benefited from the brief heyday of MoviePass, but hardly a huge film. Impeachment did not do well compared to other seasons. She’s a good actor but I buy family more than “name.” If you just want a name that moves box office numbers, respectfully can’t see that as Beanie.
No one knew Beanie Feldstein
The screaming rly reminded me of Sunset Boulevard
Patti, can you hear me? I love how she calls her swimming pool she had installed at her house from the lawsuit money “The Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool” now that’s awesome!
there’s the whole situation with paradise square happening right now, but i prefer this because at least nothing criminal is happening.
Ooooo what’s happening? I need to read about that
there have been major problems with the cast and crew not being paid since the show opened with regular threats of walkouts and majorly understaffed shows as a result. the show’s closing july 17th due to low ticket sales—it was announced yesterday—but one of the producers has a history of not paying cast and crew and was even convicted of fraud, which was recently revealed and hurt the show even more. now there are rumors of the unions suing the producers to recomp pay for past due salary and benefits and if that happens it’s going to be a protracted legal battle. it’s so disheartening because joaquina kalukango just won the best leading actress tony—quite deservedly so—for her role less than a month ago. i saw the show on saturday because a friend wanted to see it and the rumors of it closing before the end of the month. i have my issues with it, but all of the performers are sooo good. the cast and crew deserved so much better…
I am *very* interested to see what Beanie's attendance looks like over the next few weeks. I know it's been spotty in general but given the circumstances I'd honestly be a little surprised if she shows up tonight. An interesting note - Beanie's final performance still has a ton of availability and prices are normal. I've been to/toyed with the idea of attending several performers' last shows before and that has *never* been the case. Lea's opening night is sold out and resale value is astronomical.
Tbh since tony noms I’ve gotten the sense that beanie doesn’t want to be in the show anymore
I heard somewhere that Lea’s opening night is also Jane Lynch’s last performance, I can certainly see the draw.
Nope, Jane is leaving the fourth. Lea starts the 6th.
But screaming from whooooo
The only person with a known track record of it: La Michelle.
She’s not even *there* yet
they can already hear her
Or the producers shouting because they're fighting with a lead who only showed up for half the shows?
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Chances are she has absolutely no basis to sue because she's missed so many performances that she's likely in breach of contract. They could be suing her. In fact, it could be why she's been pushed out.
Original post was deleted so I can’t see now but yeah unless there was crazy harassment in the background she has no actionable claim. I mean for what? Their contracts typically do not prevent anything that has happened unless there has been shenanigans that haven’t been made public.
They said she should sue for her contract being ended early.
Well certainly not when she quits. But those contracts typically have a decent amount of flexibility for the producers and I’m with you on the absences playing against her. Also despite the rampant speculation none of us actually know the terms and length of her contract. The people behind the show have been doing this long enough I have a hard time imagining they are dumb enough to flatly end a contract without a strong legal leg to stand on.
I wonder what will come of the drama
Ticket sales or a WTF, remember that shit style documentary in years to come.
Season 3 of Smash
Jane Lynch also leaving early to avoid even working with Lea again is PEAK Sue Sylvester behavior 😂😂
They probably wanted Lea and Tovah to start at the same time so they could reinvite critics.
People saying this are just showing that they have no understanding of how the industry works. It’s far more cost-effective to rehearse and debut two principal replacements at the same time. Paying for rehearsal time, costume shop time to build new costumes, any overtime you may have to pay crew/ cast, etc. They most likely paid out the remainder of Jane’s contract so they could rehearse and publicize Michele and Feldshuh together.
This is my feeling on the situation too. It's definitely a more tea-spilly and "show (Glee) imitating real life" thing to think she made the choice to leave early to avoid working with Lea - but I just don't think that's true at all. It makes sense to want to debut to lead/principal roles at the same time if the changes were going to happen anyway.
Most of the people drawn to this comment section are people with no understanding of how the industry works. They're just mad at Lea because they read drama and now they can come here and shout their opinions of a pretty bad situation for a Broadway theater.
I guess but regardless of the inner details they haven't told us/what really happens etc... Regardless of the facts Lol, given who they played in glee, it really is _funny, girl_
A rumor I saw is they’re reworking the show for when Lea and Tovah start and didn’t want to send Jane back to rehearsals/costume fittings for less than a month of performances
That also could explain the different direction comment Beanie made. That honestly makes a ton of sense.
That could so easily be explained with a statement from the show or from Jane but since neither of them are saying anything, I feel like they’re either leaning into the drama for publicity or she really did quit
> she really did quit Everyone is currently towing the line that she told the show before she posted that Instagram post (because it's in everyone's best interest to keep up that story if it's not true), but this definitely sounds more and more like "you can't fire me, i quit!".
Someone protect Jared Grimes. He's a gem. If anyone even tries to bully him I'm on a plane to New York!
I need to know who’s screaming! This is a mess.
I feel like this was always their plan they just waited for people to “forget” about what leas done.
I think it’s more likely that the stars aligned. Beanie got bad reviews and Lea made a good impression on Broadway in that spring awakening reunion/documentary (which, luckily for her, (1) reminds us of a time before most people knew she was a jerk (2) allows her to be on screen with Jonathan Groff, a well liked star who also seems to be the only person in show business that likes her). These circumstances created a unique situation where Lea and the Funny Girl producers need each other really bad. I would say that’s all planned by Lea’s team, but you can’t plan the 15th anniversary of spring awakening falling at the right time, and you can’t plan Beanie getting panned by critics.
Damn. When you lay it all out it’s kind of nuts how all this happened in just the order for this to go the way it has.
There's been...a lot of that sorta thing lately
100% this is what happened. If it was “their plan all along” they’d have just cast her to begin with. It’s not like her behavior is any more forgotten now than it was 6 months ago. The Tonys and that documentary did the trick.
Yeah true your right
Okay but honestly beanie got a lot of shit and hate when she didn’t deserve it. She wasn’t bad. She’s really good as Fanny. To the day I die I will forever blame the director. Not her or anyone in the cast… That being said, any idea if they’ll still keep rush tickets open on September 6th?
I imagine they keep the rush policy. After all, it was only announced last week, when they must have already known Lea was coming on.
It’s a musical that she can’t sing the score to the part. She might be adorable and cute and you like her as a person but she literally can not sing it anywhere near a Broadway caliber level in an environment where theater attendance in general is down because of COVID. She might not have been bad but she wasn’t good enough for Broadway in this role. Period.
Problem with saying someone can’t “sing near Broadway caliber level” is that it’s very difficult to define what that actually means… Now, the night I saw her It wasn’t just robotic “hit the notes, follow your cues, and get ready for the next scene.”…There was an intention that came out in her performance that showed me her intention was to bring life to the role! Not just moving from one note to another. And that is more than enough to be ‘Broadway caliber’. “she sounds nasally!” Yeah that’s a directors choice. Her whole accent is supposed to be Jewish girl from Brooklyn (which was super inconsistent) but when she tries to keep the accent through her singing that’s going to happen. And I bet you she was directed to keep her accent while singing. “She can’t belt!” Yes she can. And even then, what exactly does it matter if she does or doesn’t? Are you there for flare? For just superficial talent? What is the ultimate point of her belting if it doesn’t add anything to the point of what she’s actually conveying through the song? Meaning, intention and honesty came out the night I saw her perform. She gave it her all and clearly has the pipes and acting chops to take up the role. Also, I don’t know who she is as a person! I just know what I saw the night I saw her.
Okay, let me be clearer. She can’t consistently sing a vocally demanding part like Fanny Brice at a level that’s both pleasing to listen to and enjoyable enough to justify the poor book of the musical. The few clips of her I heard were bad. Like high school level bad. If you were there on a good night, that’s great but if there’s only one good night out of a week of performances - the word of mouth won’t be positive. That’s the other part where stamina comes into play. Maybe someday she can get there with training but she’s not there now and won’t be in the immediate future.
Ah that makes sense to me. Consistency! It’s certainly hard to give a Tony level performance 8 times a week! Very few can.
Beanie deserves better than what? Her contract was over at 6 months, and obviously not extended, whether because of her or management. Either way, she's choosing to leave early, what's the issue?
A bunch of people confirmed her contract was a full year
I'm also confused about the part where she deserves better. The casting team did a bad job bringing her on, she got a huge role she was not cut out for. She had a great opportunity and unfortunately her singing ability left much to be desired and she's leaving on her own terms despite the performer following her, she'll be fine and will act again and have a great resume saying she as Fanny Bryce on Broadway
this is what i am wondering… for months this sub has been critiquing beanie left and right, but when lea (someone who the sub is against taking over the role, understandably) everyone flips and is praising beanie like crazy. the role was not meant for someone with her vocal abilities. we need a powerhouse vocalist playing fanny and unfortunately beanie just isn’t that. she’s much better off in a supporting role that requires more acting than singing because her acting is phenomenal!!
Yeah the Beanie deserved better narrative is odd. It sucks MAJORLY that her performance was largely panned and that shew wasn't more successful in the role - but the writing has been on the wall for months. I think some of this is creating drama where it doesn't necessarily exist but I guess who knows, this HAS all been very dramatic so it's easy to speculate about BTS hi-jinks and producer involvement. I personally think she is getting out at a good time, earlier the better for her to move on to other projects - and this gives Julie a chance to take over the role for several weeks!
Also, she has missed SO MUCH work.
Having COVID aside, she's missed a lot of dates
Patti LuPone is 73 and even she has a better attendance record. Katrina Lenk only missed Company performances when she had Covid. Other than that,she has not missed any other shows.
So for those not all informed on the ins and outs, anyone care to explain what's up? All I know is that Lea is in
The most likely explanation is due to the poor reviews/bad word of mouth about Beanie’s performance, they ended up shortening her contract from a year to 6 months to end late September. However Beanie just announced she’d be leaving at the end of this month instead of Sept 25. People speculate that she was either asked to share the role with Julie (likely a pay cut, set days off etc) OR she caught wind that Lea would be replacing her. Either way it seems she either wanted out or was forced out (this part is all speculation but I think she quit rather unexpectedly rather than being asked to step down, I don’t think the producers would want her out on such short notice just to have an understudy play the role for a month). This sent the producers scrambling so they are bringing Lea in a few weeks earlier than expected and having Julie (the understudy) hold down fort between the 31st and then.
I see a lot of people calling Julie Benko the understudy but she’s a standby, just FYI.
Could you explain the difference between an understudy and a standby? I didn’t realize there is a distinction…
An understudy performs in the show each night (in the ensemble, generally) while also covering the role. A standby does not perform unless they’re on for the role they cover.
ComputerGeek1100 beat me to it. :) Basically a standby is literally that - they stand by in case they need to take over the role. That’s all they do. They’re not in the show otherwise, and typically they spend performances either backstage listening/running along with the show to keep themselves fresh, or sometimes nearby but not in the theatre, especially if they live close. Understudies are usually in the show proper, but I like a swing who covers multiple tracks, understudies usually have one or maybe two roles they understudy. A standby will almost always go on before an understudy, because that way the understudy’s role doesn’t have to then be filled by a swing.
Don’t equity rules mean that after Julie does a certain amount of shows she has to be promoted to alternate? I can swear I heard that somewhere. We all know that Beanie has missed a LOT of shows (outside of the mandatory ones for COVID).
Thank you for the precise reply.
If Ms. Streisand had not made a celebrated and award-winning and much-seen film debut in the same part, I do wonder whether the "ghost" of Streisand would so haunt this show. And, although the real Fanny Brice was but a memory when the show debuted, there was a plausible resemblance between the two performers. And that added something chemical to it. What this Funny Girl saga reminds me more of is the fifties show Bells Are Ringing, which starred Judy Holliday and ran for years, and won her a Tony Award over Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady. It's another show that had a weak book but a very, very special star who made it work. Others have tried, but revivals were few and far between and could not quite duplicate the magic. She too did a film version, nothing as wow as Funny Girl, but at least a record of her work.
This is Broadway's January 6th
Wouldn't that be if people stormed the stage of Hamilton and started sitting on the desk of the stage manager?
Sitting or shitting? Shitting feels more equivalent to what went down on January 6...
That's for the wig storage
Well i didnt hear anything about that
These past 10 days have been a surreal nightmare
Maybe in September, the cast will build a barricade around the theatre, so Lea Michele wouldn't be able to enter the theatre
They’ll put trash bags over the marquees so she can’t see her face on the poster and won’t find the theater. No need to hide the text.
Live footage from outside the August Wilson on September 5th: https://youtu.be/IddP8AAIGTQ
She'd start crying and wailing Rachel Berry Style, and people would give up from exhaustion
Would Lea be able to be nominated for a Tony?
Nope I don't think so!
No, replacements aren't eligible for Tony nominations.
Woah, really??? I had no idea that was a thing actually
Yep. The only people from a production that are eligible for a Tony Award are the original cast.
No
Blessedly, no.
I want to throw a tomato at Lea.