Hey beauty!
Lea Michele will take on the lead role of Beanie Feldstein in “Funny Girl,” the Broadway production announced Monday.
The announcement comes on the heels of Feldstein’s shocking Instagram post late Sunday, in which she revealed she would be leaving the show earlier than expected.
Michele, 35, will begin performing on Tuesday, September 6 alongside Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh, who will take over from Jane Lynch.
Julie Benko, Feldstein’s standby, will play the part in August and on Thursdays from September 8. Tony nominees Ramin Karimloo and Jared Grimes will still be on the show.
Playing Fanny Brice — in a role originated by Barbra Streisand — was a long-time dream for Michele.
The “Glee” alum sang one of the show’s iconic tunes, “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” on the first season of “Glee.” She also brought the house down at the Tony Awards in 2010 when she sang the same tune.
A Broadway insider who was there that night recalled the performance as “thrilling” and told Vidak For Congress that “the power was phenomenal.”
Feldstein, who was actually supposed to stay on the production until September 25, announced on her Instagram that she will finish early at the end of July.
“When the production decided to steer the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to stop earlier than expected,” she wrote cryptically.
Vidak For Congress revealed exclusively on Monday that the show’s producers were taken aback by Feldstein’s Instagram post and were “overwhelmed” by her decision.
Michele is a Broadway veterinarian who made her debut as Young Cosette in “Les Misérables” at the age of 8. She went on to appear in shows like “Ragtime” and “Fiddler on the Roof” before playing the part of Wendla Bergmann in “Spring Awakening”.