David Kalodner, of top agency WME’s theater division, declined to comment to The Daily Beast on how he had balanced the interests of both actors in the behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to Michele replacing Feldstein in the Broadway show, now best known for drama off stage rather than on. Feldstein received mostly negative reviews for her performance, particularly her singing abilities, after the show opened on April 24. A senior show source, who requested anonymity, also revealed that Michele — famous for his strong desire for the role and his performance of Brice’s songs on Glee and at the 2010 Tony Awards — had officially signed on to play Brice ” a week and a half.” after this year’s Tony Awards, before a Gawker article that raised hell on the Internet on June 30 said she was “ready to take on the role.” At the time, the deal was already done and signed, the source said. The article caused Feldstein “a great deal of upset,” they said, adding that after it was published, the show’s producers were unable to speak directly to Feldstein, as they had been able to before, and were instead told to go through her representatives. On Sunday, Feldstein caused another internet firestorm when she announced via Instagram that she was leaving the show on July 31, rather than September 25 as announced last month: “Once production decided to take the show in a different direction, I did the extremely difficult decision to leave earlier than expected.” Her acclaimed student Julie Benko will take over the role until Michele’s first performance on September 6, and will play Fanny every Thursday thereafter. Glee star Jane Lynch, who plays Fanny’s mother on the show, announced in June that she would be leaving on September 25 along with Feldstein. But on Monday, producers revealed that her final performance will be Sept. 4 and that her replacement, Tovah Feldshuh, will join the Sept. 6 production alongside Michele, meaning the two former Glee stars won’t reunite on stage. “We were told we couldn’t talk to her and go through her agents. This was the first negative change. Everything went downhill very quickly after that.” — Source “Funny Girl”. Producers were “shocked right now” but not surprised by Feldstein’s Instagram post on Sunday announcing her sudden departure from the show, the show’s source said. “There was an ongoing conversation with Beanie and the team, and it wasn’t fruitful and it wasn’t kind. Once the Gawker story about Lea came out, it became very controversial. He stopped talking. Until then it was very one on one. Anyone could talk to her, she was very light and beautiful and felt that she had the support of the whole team. She knew we all did our best for her. If not that day, the next day, we were told we couldn’t talk to her and go through her reps. This was the first negative change. Everything went downhill very quickly after that. “After Sunday, everything is tense in the theater. One person who worked there told me, “Nobody knows what to say to Beanie.” Representatives for Feldstein, Michele, Kalodner, executive producer Sonia Friedman and Funny Girl production did not respond to requests for comment for this article. There was disagreement between the producers after negative reviews of the show emerged. The Daily Beast understands that a minority of producers wanted to quickly ax Feldstein from the role. a majority, led by Friedman, wanted to side with it, which it did. “I remember our meeting about the ads for the show the day after the reviews came out,” the source said. “It was brutal. We spent what we could tell. The decision was made to double down on Beanie and the joy and fun she was having. It was crazy to say that, given what was written, but that’s what we did. Another strategy was to say how much more she looked like Fanny Brice Beanie than Barbra Streisand. We found the few good things people had said, stood by her, and carried on. The critics weren’t wrong, but we tried to focus on Beanie’s sweetness and innocence—but that doesn’t take you away from the brass of “You’ve got to be able to sing.” “The reviews affected Beanie in a big way. I don’t think we cared enough about her in that regard. It was her first major Broadway role to carry the show.” — Source “Funny Girl”. “We really stood by her. All was great and grand, except all was not great and grand. Reviews affected Beanie a long time. I don’t think we cared enough about her in that regard. It was her first major Broadway role to carry the show. I don’t think we equipped her with how to do that.” Feldstein has not talked about leaving the show after the scathing reviews, the source said. “The company rallied around her. She is very warm and the company was very warm to her. She was sick with COVID and had been out on scheduled breaks. But when he came to work, he came to work and everyone appreciated that.” The source said they had seen Funny Girl in London, thought it was “not good,” but had been reassured by Friedman that its Broadway incarnation would be radically improved. “It wasn’t. We had a problem before we opened when someone recorded a tech rehearsal. Admittedly it wasn’t a good recording and Beanie’s voice didn’t sound right. It went around the theater community like wildfire.” Jared Grimes, Ramin Karimloo, Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch during the evening curtain call for the Broadway musical ‘Funny Girl’ at The August Wilson Theater on April 24, 2022 in New York City.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
Then came the opening night reviews. “Like others involved in the production, I put on my ‘good soldier’ face and stood by him and stood by Beanie,” the source said. “My feeling was that the show would go out if we didn’t let Beanie go. It should have been gone and this delivery should have been three weeks after opening. But I was very much in the minority.” The source said Benko’s social media posts when she endorsed Feldstein caused ill feelings. “They were harmless posts and it was fine until people started saying how amazing Julie was, which didn’t reflect well on Beanie after all the negative reviews. The producers talked to each other and were evenly split on whether to allow the posts. The producers didn’t shut it down and maybe they should have. Beanie cared. He said words to the effect of, “I don’t feel like you’re supporting me while I’m away.” This is not an uncommon problem. You want your understanding to be good, but you don’t want it to be better than the star, or appear to be. That hurts the show.” Michele, the source said, began meeting with individual producers to say she was available and interested in taking on Feldstein. However, a source close to production insisted that there was no contact between Funny Girl producers and Michele’s representatives until after the June 15 announcement that Feldstein intended to leave the show on September 25. The deal to sign Michele was reportedly signed the week of June 20. “My feeling was to get rid of Beanie and get Lea as soon as possible. They considered me very cold.” — Source “Funny Girl”. “My feeling was to get rid of Beanie and get Lea as soon as possible,” the show source said. “I was considered very cold. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t know what else you could do. The show was dying and dying because we hadn’t made the right decision early enough in the process. Sonia (Friedman) won’t pull the trigger to fire someone. It just won’t do it. Firing Beanie was not an option, so the question became how would all parties outside of the situation manage.” Diana: the Musical, which also received withering reviews, had a star in Jeanna de Waal “whose voice was amazing, even if the songs were so-so,” the source said. “We didn’t have the same thing where we could turn into a ‘folk show’ because our star’s voice wasn’t amazing. People wanted to stand by Beanie, really, but there weren’t enough carefully crafted positive things to say about her. Others on the production team thought the tide could and would turn in her favor. “Beanie started leaving the show and ending her contract early. The question for producers became how to deal with the situation. The producers had to advertise Lea as an entry on the show, and also protect Beanie while she was on the show. Both things had to happen together. “The ideal situation, as in other shows, is for one star to happily pass the baton on to the next star. The idea is: we have a great press conference, everyone smiles, one Fanny Brice passes the torch to the next Fanny Brice, the show goes on. But the Gawker article blew it up. Lea’s date was so mishandled. The deal to sign her should have been done in the middle of Wyoming six feet underground in a bunker in the middle of nowhere. Instead, it was headline news from the start. It was crazy.” More discord was caused when the producers, knowing that Benko would be used in two shows a week when Michele was appointed, wanted to try an understudy for Benko in actual shows. Benko was on board with this, but the move prompted further speculation about what was going on in the show.
“We didn’t act fast enough to remove her”
On Sunday, shortly before Feldstein made her announcement on Instagram, representatives from Feldstein’s team and Funny Girl’s management spoke to each other. “Shortly after this conversation, . . .
