Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Broadway: Lea Michelle Misses Yet Another “Funny Girl” Performance Just Days Before the Troubled Revival Closes

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Lea Michelle doesn’t mind raining on the parade of her fans.

Less than a week before “Funny Girl” closes, Michelle is out of the show tonight. She’s “under the weather,” her usual excuse. Except, of the course the weather is pretty good right now.

In the year of Michelle’s run as Fanny Brice, she’s missed dozens of performances despite already having Thursday nights off. Julie Benko, the busiest understudy in history, will fill in tonight. She already does Thursdays and filled in dozens more times when Beanie Feldstein was playing Fanny Brice.

“Funny Girl” made $2.1 million last week — the highest in its year long history — based on fans rushing in to see Lea Michelle at the last minute. What a drag if she’s out during the final week.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is 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. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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