It’s been a wild 24 hours for the production of Funny Girl. After Beanie Feldstein cryptically declared that she would be exiting her role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway show’s buzzy revival earlier than expected, the production confirmed a Gawker report and announced that none other than Lea Michele would serve as her replacement.
On Sunday, Feldstein, who was scheduled to stay in the role until September 25, posted a message on Instagram saying that while the role had been a lifelong dream of hers, she would depart on July 31, vaguely referencing creative differences behind-the-scenes. “Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated,” she wrote. Within minutes of Feldstein’s note, the official account for Funny Girl posted that “exciting cast announcements” would be coming on Monday.
