Lea Michele will retire as Funny Girl's greatest star come September
Lea Michele will exit the role that married her real life with the aspirations of her breakout Glee character, Rachel Berry, in September
Goodbye, gorgeous: Lea Michele’s time as Fanny Brice, the titular Funny Girl of the acclaimed Broadway revival, is coming to an end this year. After extending its initial run, Funny Girl will officially close on Broadway after a final performance on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. When all is said and done, the show will have run 599 performances and 30 previews, per Variety.
The fall closing date will arrive almost one year on the dot after Michele first made her debut in the role on September 6, 2022, and effectively merged her own personal destiny with that of her breakout Glee character Rachel Berry. (In season five of Ryan Murphy’s musical dramedy, which aired from 2013-2014, Rachel herself stars in a Broadway production of Funny Girl, realizing a lifelong dream.) After concluding its time on the Great White Way, Funny Girl will hit the road: starting in September, the production is set to visit 30 American cities, with Providence, R.I. first on the list.
The Funny Girl revival originally opened in April 2022, marking the show’s first return to Broadway since it debuted in 1964 with Barbra Streisand in the lead. But Michele hasn’t been with the production since day one; she took over top billing from Beanie Feldstein on September 6, 2022, after Feldstein’s performance drew middling to bleak reviews, with multiple critics singling out her limited vocal abilities.
Feldstein’s contract with the show was originally set to expire late last year, but she ultimately departed Funny Girl early in July 2022, noting that production had “decided to take the show in a different direction.” Amid negative reviews and lackluster show turnout, Jane Lynch also departed her role as Fanny’s mother in August and was replaced by Tovah Feldshuh.
It was all parade and no rain, however, once Michele came aboard—after she joined the cast, Funny Girl broke a box office record at the August Wilson Theater, generating $2 million in ticket sales in just a week. Michele has also received critical acclaim for her performance, with Deadline’s Greg Evans writing: “Funny Girl is, as so many suspected all along, the musical that Lea Michele was born to lead.” One thing seems clear: a certain only child with too many headbands would be very, very proud.