Harshest gossip I’ve read - Beanie Feldstein dumped from Funny Girl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
To me one of the most impressive things here is that Beanie carried on and doesn’t seem hugely
impacted by being panned. I think it speaks to the secure base she must have from her childhood and sense of self-worth. Many qualified people doubt themselves. It sounds like she was always a poor choice for the role but had confidence in her self. I don’t know about you but it would my nightmare to take a job I wasn’t prepared/didn’t have the aptitude or ability to do.

It also speaks for her charm that people have a lot of empathy for her. In another context, I can see it as white nepotism kid got job she wasn’t talented enough for and bombed.

She called out a ton. She also got butthurt when her understudy would post that she's going on (which is a common thing for understudies to do!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Lea isn’t going to rehearse in the space is not that uncommon, especially if a show is currently onstage and someone else is preparing to jump in. It’s also a way of being respectful, like the new owners of the house not showing up early to take keys and move in!

I don’t see this as very scandalous. If the reviews are that the lead can’t sing, there you have it. I get that there are many ways to present material and tell a story, but because of Streisand and Lea especially, people know these songs and expect the people singing these songs to have really strong, impressive voices. People have also heard these songs in concerts by Indina Menzel, Chenoweth, etc. Like, come on, you expect these songs to bring down the house with really big belts.

It's the way it went down that is scandalous. You don't often get a Broadway lead quitting the show on Twitter because she overheard they were replacing her.

Well, if she read the reviews, she probably had an inkling this would be a possibility. I’m surprised she didn’t step down herself, instead of continuing on as if she wasn’t tanking the show.

This! She should have just taken the L and moved on. Instead she hung around but called out sick a ton of times (she did have COVID, but even with that she missed a ton more shows than is acceptable for the lead) and got embroiled in a big, embarrassing gossip fest. If she had left early on, she'd have some embarrassment but everyone would have forgotten about it by now.

One of the articles said it could have been spun so much better, that she had to step down due to other commitments, family issue, etc. That they could have handled the transition better.

Agree. It sounded like one of the producers wanted to stick with her out of loyalty to Beanie, but the thing is, truthfulness is kind. Someone needed to step up and tell her the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t fully understand the scandal - what am I missing? Beanie was going to be leaving on 9/25 anyway, and it’s very common for actors to pass the torch to another. Why was it so offensive that the news broke that Lea Michelle would be the replacement at that time? When was that supposed to be announced?

Her contract was for a year. That 9/25 date was early damage control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that Jane Lynch, who's in Funny Girl, went "Wait, Lea's coming? Hell no!" and noped the heck on out of there.

Eh, it makes more sense for Lea and Tovah to start together. It would be weird for Lea to do a handful of shows with Jane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that Jane Lynch, who's in Funny Girl, went "Wait, Lea's coming? Hell no!" and noped the heck on out of there.

Eh, it makes more sense for Lea and Tovah to start together. It would be weird for Lea to do a handful of shows with Jane.

No, it would have been fantastic press for the show to have a reunion, even a short-lived one. Jane clearly didn't want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that Jane Lynch, who's in Funny Girl, went "Wait, Lea's coming? Hell no!" and noped the heck on out of there.

Eh, it makes more sense for Lea and Tovah to start together. It would be weird for Lea to do a handful of shows with Jane.

+1 Plus, Jane said she adores Lea. You don’t say that if you can’t stand someone.

“ Jane Lynch is ecstatic for her former “Glee” co-star Lea Michele, who has landed her dream role as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s “Funny Girl.”
“I adore her. She’s just going to take this show and make it her own,” the actress told Deadline.
“I’m so glad she’s getting the opportunity in real life to do the show and not just on ‘Glee.’”

https://pagesix.com/2022/07/13/jane-lynch-reacts-to-glee-co-star-lea-micheles-funny-girl-casting/amp/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that Jane Lynch, who's in Funny Girl, went "Wait, Lea's coming? Hell no!" and noped the heck on out of there.

Eh, it makes more sense for Lea and Tovah to start together. It would be weird for Lea to do a handful of shows with Jane.

No, it would have been fantastic press for the show to have a reunion, even a short-lived one. Jane clearly didn't want to.

Lea and Tovah are going to be a powerhouse pairing.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like Beanie sucked and they tried to help her, but there was no helping her, so they hired someone to replace her. This is very, very, very common. They probably kept her on WAY longer than they should have as a favor to her family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love that Jane Lynch, who's in Funny Girl, went "Wait, Lea's coming? Hell no!" and noped the heck on out of there.

Eh, it makes more sense for Lea and Tovah to start together. It would be weird for Lea to do a handful of shows with Jane.

No, it would have been fantastic press for the show to have a reunion, even a short-lived one. Jane clearly didn't want to.

As the other name actress in the show, Jane was also probably eager to wash herself of this stinker and move on to something new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like Beanie sucked and they tried to help her, but there was no helping her, so they hired someone to replace her. This is very, very, very common. They probably kept her on WAY longer than they should have as a favor to her family.

+1. And influential friends like her bff Ben Platt.

[Anonymous]

Beanie is no Mama Cass If she had the voice and chemistry with the lead actor, no one would have been calling for her replacement. This is not about her being fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would they cast someone who can't even sing into the lead role?

She can sing, but not Broadway-caliber, filling-the-shoes-of-Streisand sing.

+1. It is an iconic role, like “A Star Is Born”. After Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand, they cast Lady Gaga. Actually, Lady Gaga would have made a great Fanny.

Yes, Beanie would have been much better suited to a role like one of those in Six where there are a bunch of different personalities AND it's new to audiences. Putting Beanie is such an iconic role was doomed for failure.

What? No.
She isn’t as good as any of the actresses in Six.
She looks like a talented high school performer.
Not broadway caliber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand she's not famous but a real shame they didn't simply cast the apparently outstanding understudy.

+1. At least she gets to star for the entire month of August and a couple nights per week after that.

Not sure she's so nice either. Apparently she was promoting herself and her excellent notices on social media, which was perceived as rubbing Beanie's nose in it. The producers should have handled all of this differently, what a cluster.

There is nothing wrong with actors posting about their work online.
It was disgusting reading the producers trying to assign blame to
The understudy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand she's not famous but a real shame they didn't simply cast the apparently outstanding understudy.

Won’t happen unfortunately. Broadway is about tourist dollars and producers and funding sources only want to risk shows based on names.

[Anonymous]

I read the production has issues too. The sets/costumes/book aren't up to caliber.

Like check out Music Man, a super traditional revival. They spent a TON on the sets/costumes, have this huge cast of extremely talented dancers. They didn't just rest on their celebrity leads.