So last night Lea Michele was on WWHL with Andy Cohen and talked about 'Funny Girl' and said she's finally ready to come back to Broadway with a revival of the show. Ryan Murphy is still attached she said. Hoping it happens!
We'be got a hugely successful production of the musical in the UK at the moment, with a comedic actress, Sheridan Smith (in my opinion hugely overrated) as Fanny Brice. Her singing ability is extremely limited - just check out the cast recording and listen to her murder the score. If they can make a success of it, I'm sure Lea and Ryan can.
To give context, a caller asked Michele whether there were still plans for her to do the show given that Ryan Murphy holds the rights. She said since she had performed so many songs from Funny Girl on Glee they thought they would wait, but that she felt ready to do it now that enough time has passed. It was extremely speculative and vague, which made it clear that there's nothing official happening on that front. I still have a hard time picturing Michele being willing to come back to Broadway especially in a role that has so much baggage but maybe I'm underestimating her. She was so obnoxious during that interview, I felt bad for poor Andrea Martin, who deserved a better co-interviewee.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
I'd rather drink acid. She has an awful reputation...we'll see how welcome the Broadway community is to her once she comes back.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
The key part of the exchange is that Michele said she feels ready to do the show now.
Ryan Murphy, on the other hand, was pretty dismissive the last time he was asked about it a couple years ago. "We had talked about it for sure. But then I feel like we did so many of those songs and so many of those scenes [on GLEE] that in a weird way, I feel like we did it in some way." He continued, "I don't know, never say never. We've talked about a lot of different things. Maybe. But it's not on my docket right now."
It sounded to me like she was trying to be a good sport when the reality of it not happening hasn't changed.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I can remember a time... around the middle of Glee's first season... when people loved Lea Michele. Glee was the hot must-see show and Lea was launching what was likely to be a fabulous singing career.
Then the writing fell apart, Lea Michele's interviews grew annoying and many folks lost interest. Lea Michele's Funny Girl might have been a hit in 2009. It would be a tough sell for producers in 2019.
"Oh look at the time, three more intelligent plays just closed and THE ADDAMS FAMILY made another million dollars" -Jackie Hoffman, Broadway.com Audience Awards
I just don't think she has the right Fanny Brice quality that is required. But then nobody really does. Plus, the role was tailored for Streisand's strengths and manner. But maybe Michele's interpretation will prove to be interesting. I didn't really see Sheridan Smith as Fanny either, but apparently people liked/loved her performance.