Scalpers Are Already Trying To Cash In On Lea Michele In “Funny Girl,” And Beanie Feldstein Might Have Been Blindsided By The News
It’s been all of three seconds since Lea Michele landed the role of a lifetime: that of a real-life Barbra Streisand impersonator at the heart of some ambition-based musical theater drama. Or rather, the replacement role of Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, left vacant by Beanie Feldstein, who originally chose to leave the show in September, but then suddenly changed her mind and wanted out as soon as humanly possible (hmmm…I wonder why??). Lea replacing Beanie has turned into Broadway gossip Christmas, and some scalpers are doing the absolute most to profit off of the situation, including driving up ticket prices into the four-figure mark. Oh, and there are more rumors about Lea’s little takeover, which is great news if you wanted to guess exactly when producers handed her the part.
Beanie originally announced that she would be leaving the revival on September 25th of this year, alongside Jane Lynch, who played Fanny’s mom. On June 12th, the 75th Tony Awards happened. The Funny Girl revival notably received a single nomination (Best Actor in a Featured Role for Jared Grimes), which wasn’t exactly a surprise to anyone who read the lukewarm reviews of Beanie’s performance and the show as a whole. According to a senior show source who spoke with The Daily Beast, things were messy behind the scenes in all sorts of ways.
All through the roiling saga of Beanie Feldstein leaving Broadway musical Funny Girl, and Lea Michele being announced as her replacement in the role of Fanny Brice, they have been represented by the same theater agent, The Daily Beast has learned.
David Kalodner, of top agency WME’s theater department, declined to comment to The Daily Beast on how he had balanced both actors’ interests in the backstage negotiations that have led Michele to replace Feldstein in the Broadway show, now more noted for its drama offstage than on.
Having the same agent sounds like some The Producers-level of career bumbling, but it clearly worked out for one of Agent David’s clients (Lea. It worked out for Lea). If it sounds like a sneaky move to be working with one client while you’re campaigning for another to take their place, then surely you’ll love this bit of information:
A senior show source revealed that Michele was officially signed on to play Brice “a week and a half” after this year’s Tony Awards, before an internet-inferno-causing Gawker article on June 30 that reported she was “set to take over the role.”
Gawker’s post was published a little over two weeks after the Tonys had aired, and that follows the timeline laid out by The Daily Beast’s source, who claims Lea was signing her Funny Girl contract about eleven days after the Tonys. But Beanie was reportedly kept in the dark about the whole thing, and only learned about Lea replacing her through that Gawker article. On July 10th, ten days after that Gawker post hit the internet, Beanie abruptly announced on Instagram that after “production decided to take the show in a different direction,” she decided her final show would be July 31st. The Daily Beast claims that producers were “shocked” at her Instagram announcement, and that they had no idea she was leaving so soon. Jane Lynch also changed her departure date, from September 25th to September 4th. Lea Michele’s first performance will be on the 6th, which means the two Glee actors won’t share a minute of stage time together.
So yeah, Beanie more than implied that there was no reason for her to stick around any longer than humanly possible, and thus decided to blindside them with her exit notice. That’s embarrassing for producers, but at least they can dry their tears with all the ticket stubs that will be littering the aisles of the August Wilson Theater. According to The Daily Mail, ticket prices for Funny Girl have exploded on ticket resale sites by scalpers hoping to cash in on Lea’s opening night performance. via Daily Mail:
The 35-year-old former Glee star stepping into the role as Fanny Brice on September 6 is responsible for a steep price for those attempting to purchase a seat to watch her highly-anticipated performance.
Tickets for her opening night on SeatGeek are retailing for $570 to $2,250, with the most expensive tickets going for a whopping $2,500, not including another $500 in service fees.
Tickets for the remainder of Beanie’s performances, and the performances in August that will be done by her understudy Julie Benko, begin at $69, with most weekday performances starting at $49. Practically a steal compared to the $2500 scalper tickets for Lea’s opening night show. And even then, $2500 is a steal. There are probably people who would pay ten times that amount, just to see if Lea breaks character during “I’m The Greatest Star” to shout, “Me! I Am! Lea Michele! IT’S ME WHO IS THE GREATEST STAR!” before hysterically cackling and making direct eye contact with everyone in the first 20 rows.
Pic: INSTARimages