Look out, Beanie Feldstein! Lea Michele isn’t the only diva coming for your gig. Amid the massive casting shakeup over at the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, Countess Luann de Lesseps has thrown her hat in the ring to join the cast.
For those of you that haven’t been following this Broadway drama, Beanie Feldstein has been leading the current run of Funny Girl, playing the lead role of Fanny Brice. Lea Michele had been openly campaigning to land this role for years, but then her career got derailed by rumors about her being a horrible mean girl behind the scenes. Lea got canceled, and Beanie got the role, but theatre critics have been dragging her for a subpar performance. Now, in a surprising shakeup, Beanie is exiting the show early, and Lea is taking over.
As Page Six reported, Beanie announced the news of her exit in a carefully-worded statement, saying, “Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.”
The next day, Lea was announced as Beanie’s replacement, but during the kerfluffle, Bravo’s resident cabaret star decided to throw her hat in the ring. She posted on Twitter, “Just call me. I’m in! #FunnyGirl @FunnyGirlBwy.”
If Beanie could do it on a Broadway stage, there’s no reason that Luann couldn’t, at least, do it on an off-Broadway stage. So perhaps that can be an add-on experience for this year’s BravoCon.
Although Luann isn’t going to be filling in for Beanie Feldstein, it wouldn’t be totally out of the ordinary to see her hit a Broadway stage someday in some capacity. Plenty of Housewives, some singers and some not, have performed on the Great White Way.
Of course, Erika Jayne from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills had her short-lived stint as Roxie Hart in Chicago. And before she was a Housewife, Lisa Rinna played the same role. Real Housewives of Atlanta stars Kandi Burruss and NeNe Leakes have both appeared in Broadway productions. Kandi is even producing a Broadway show starring Samuel L. Jackson right now. Maybe she can get Luann the hookup on a Broadway role?
TELL US – ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT LEA MICHELE GOT THE ROLE IN FUNNY GIRL DESPITE THE RUMORS ABOUT HER BAD BEHAVIOR? DO YOU THINK COUNTESS LUANN COULD PULL OFF A STINT ON BROADWAY?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]