The former 'Glee' actress remembers her emotional reaction when she learned from her agents that she had secured a lead role in the Broadway production.
- September 8, 2022
AceShowbiz - Lea Michele burst into tears after landing a role as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl". The former "Glee" star learned that she'd been cast in the Broadway production when she was getting brunch with her two-year-old son Ever.
"Funny story, I got the call from my agents that I got the part. I had no idea," the 36-year-old actress told PEOPLE. "I was literally sitting out at Bubby's with my child, feeding him buttered pasta and broccoli. And I get a call from my agents, and they said, 'You are going to be Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.' And as I looked up, I start hysterically crying, and I'm like, 'oh my God.' "
Lea still has vivid memories of Gideon Glick looking at her while she started crying. She recalled, "He saw me crying. People had been asking me [about the role], but I didn't really know what was going to happen."
"He was like, 'Oh my God, did you just get the part?' And I was nodding. And so he took a picture of me on the street hysterically crying, getting the part of Fanny Brice. Gideon used to be my old roommate. And he was actually there with me when I got the call that I would be in 'Les Miz' as well. So it was just a very full-circle moment for me."
Meanwhile, Lea recently rubbished talk of there being any tension between herself and Beanie Feldstein, who headlined the musical when it opened earlier this year. She said, "I saw the show. I wrote her and told her what an incredible job I thought that she did."
"I think that everybody just thinks everything is so drama-filled. I also think that people really love the excitement of pitting women against each other, which I think is really sad and unfortunate."
