Maybe the next role for Lea Michele should be Wonder Woman.
Since the “Glee” star took over as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway, the box office has shot up by a million dollars a week. People, it turns out, like people who sell tickets!
In the first week of Lea Michele’s run, the numbers were $1,636,212. That was up from a long summer of between $600,000 and $700,000 a week with mostly stand by players as Beanie Feldstein jumped ship. Prior to Beanie’s exit, the show was at its highest with $1.2 million back on May 29th. But then it went into enough of a decline that most shows with this kind of budget would have closed.
Enter Lea Michele. Frist week, great. Second week, she got COVID and the excellent stand by, Julie Benko, was back to save the day.
Last week Lea Michele was back, and box office popped up again to $1.640 million. The parade is in full swing and no one is raining on it. (Having Tovah Feldshuh steal the show as Fanny’s mother didn’t hurt, either.)
This news will revive the call to let new actors taking over parts in shows be re-considered for Tony Awards. If Lea Michele and Tovah Feldshuh had been in the original launch last April they’d not only have been nominated, but they might have won!
