Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Broadway: No Tony Awards Love Sends Beanie Feldstein Packing from “Funny Girl,” Jane Lynch Too

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Beanie Feldstein is outta here.

The star of Broadway’s “Funny Girl” is exiting the show in September. That will be six months from opening to her farewell.

Jane Lynch is leaving too. She played Fanny Brice’s mother as if she were Sophie Lennon from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” My guess is each of them had “Outs’ and they are taking them.

Usually the cast of a new hit show stays at least 9 months to a year. But Lynch has a busy career, and Beanie’s faced a lot of criticism as Fanny. The show received just 1 Tony nomination, for tap dancer Jared Grimes. Otherwise, it was snubbed (which I think was very wrong of the Tony voters).

The hope is Beanie’s understudy, Julie Benko, who’s filled in a lot for her, will get the permanent job. Everyone who sees her raves about her work. For Mrs. Brice the producers can get someone who looks like Benko. Feldstein and Lynch were an odd mother and daughter in appearance, they looked nothing like each other.

“Funny Girl” is still making over 1 million dollars a week, but it’s in a slow decline. If the producers want to keep it going, they’ll cut costs and rethink the marketing. It can be done.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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