“‘Funny Girl’ producers want Lea Michele to replace Beanie Feldstein” links

Lea Michele’s Beanie Feldstein voodoo doll worked, y’all. [Dlisted]
This poor lion has the worst bangs trauma, omg. [OMG Blog]
A new trailer for Billy Eichner’s Bros! [LaineyGossip]
Big surprise, Chris Pratt & Arnold Schwarzenegger get along famously. [Just Jared]
Neil Diamond’s “Caroline,” you will always be famous. [Seriously OMG]
A meditation on fatherhood. [Pajiba]
St. Vincent’s bleached brows are certainly a choice. [Go Fug Yourself]
There are tons of Instagram accounts devoted to trash-pandas. [Gawker]
This story about a woman who wore white to her friend’s wedding is so weird. Imagine using your wedding as some kind of long-running friendship test. [Buzzfeed]
Khoe Kardashian will never learn. [Jezebel]
Texas Republicans are f–king lunatics. [Towleroad]
Maddie Ziegler is modeling for Fabletics. [Egotastic]

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43 Responses to ““‘Funny Girl’ producers want Lea Michele to replace Beanie Feldstein” links”

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  1. jferber says:

    This is Lea Michele’s wet dream. Knowing the lousy person she is, she probably had her publicist do a hate campaign against Beanie’s performance. I honestly think she and her people planned this coup. And I have a feeling one of her PR people will refute me. Poor Beanie.

    • lucy2 says:

      I never thought of that, but…maybe? I saw Beanie in the show last month, and she was good! I couldn’t figure out why everyone was being so vicious about her in the reviews.

      • Kate says:

        @lucy2, same, I thought she was great and everyone I know who has seen her also enjoyed the show and her in the role.

    • VoominVava says:

      I don’t know. Beanie tried and seemingly didn’t live up to the role. It’s still a profession and the right person for the position should have it. I’m sure Beanie is a wonderful person and she should be happy she had the chance to make her dream come true. It’s sometimes a once in a lifetime chance that so many wish they could have. She should be proud!
      As for Lea, I know she was said to be horrible on the set of Glee, but that was years ago and hasn’t she apologized? I don’t love the idea of cancelling people forever unless they committed a crime or sexual assault, or something like that. Lea has an incredible voice and she may just be the right person for the position. She also wants it so badly, isn’t that passion a good thing for a role like this?

      • M says:

        Lea was awful on the set of Spring Awakening back in the day too. So much so that it’s rumored that she was blacklisted from Broadway. She has a reputation. She was the it girl of the early 2010s and the only roles she’s gotten since then are small supporting roles on projects that haven’t been successful. Her lack of employment after Glee is for a reason. I also don’t like canceling people for life unless they are truly awful people but imo, Lea hasn’t learned her lesson and will never change.

    • minx says:

      Beanie did her best, I’m sure, but she has a light community-theater voice and that role needs a belter.

    • bonobochick says:

      IIRC, actual theater critics who watched previews of the show were the ones who wrote up that Beanie didn’t have the vocal range for the lead performance. No “PR hate campaign” is needed when it’s the critics who are directly panning the vocals in their respective columns.

      • minx says:

        Yes, Lea Michele doesn’t have that kind of power, to mount some kind of successful smear campaign. Beanie was miscast. I’m hoping Julie Benko gets the part, she’s been getting raves.

    • The Recluse says:

      I suspected that things wouldn’t go well for Beanie when I heard she was cast in this musical. She has no serious background as a singer or in musical theater. Someone commenting awhile back in the NY Times said that nepoti$m got her that part and not the best sort of talent that you need to make it work. They should just hand it over to the understudy since she did so well in it.

    • DiegoInSF says:

      Lea is so disgusting she shouldn’t make a comeback, but it seems h’wood loved comebacks even if it’s awful human beings like mel gibson yuck

    • Mel says:

      I went to check out Beanie Feldstein’s vocals on Youtube when I heard she was cast. She was NOT up to the task. She has a nice voice, but the Funny Girl score was written for a powerhouse vocalist. She is NOT that. It’s like hiring someone with a perfectly pleasant voice to sing And I’m Telling You. It ain’t gonna work. If Beanie had to audition for that role, she wouldn’t have gotten it. While I’m one big “meh” regarding Lea Michele, she’s been practicing for this her entire life. She sucks as a person, but I think she can do it. *Shrugs*, the producers want their money, let’s see if she can get it for them.

      • minx says:

        “It’s like hiring someone with a perfectly pleasant voice to sing And I’m Telling You.”—exactly!

    • WentThere says:

      She’s very hungry and ambitious for this moment. I don’t think she realizes that likable people are getting their good things through better measures. She probably would say that she doesn’t care about being likable, but I bet she longs for praise and genuine admiration.

  2. ChillinginDC says:

    Beanie got such bad reviews by theater goers and critics, I feel a bit sorry for her. I thought Lea was a rumor because they have been saying her understudy is fantastic. But I know she’s up in September too. I hope they try to keep her.

  3. SIde Eye says:

    Everyone else in the cast needs to ask for a raise for having to put up with Leah’s vile, venomous behavior. Omg her poor castmates!

    • HoofRat says:

      Perhaps they’ll sh*t in her wig?

      • SIde Eye says:

        @HoofRat lol I would not fault any of them one bit if this happened. How is she allowed anywhere near a stage or near other actors?

    • DiegoInSF says:

      She’s been so heinous, I don’t think she should be uncancelled just because she didn’t sexually assault someone?? Is that the bar? She was venomous and nasty as all, Uber racist. I hope she never gets a comeback! She’s disgusting!

      • Faithmobile says:

        Just here for the Bros trailer.

      • SIde Eye says:

        @DiegoInSF I completely agree with you! I swear my eye is twitchy reading about her “comeback” after seeing the post about the racist brooch lady yesterday. Princess Karen of Asshatery was allowed to exit or retire from royal life on her terms. Now this chick is getting cast? Infuriating!

  4. Colby says:

    That wedding guest story is wild.

    Normally I would say without hesitation that someone wearing white to a wedding is the a**hole, but not in this case. What a freaking psycho!!

    • Zoochy says:

      There’s an even more insane update on Reddit. Apparently the OP gave the bride a 48 hour warning before posting all of the receipts on social media, and then the bride’s husband tried to proposition OP to keep her quiet (!)

    • Matilda says:

      I only have one fashion rule left in my book (well besides to keep animal prints at a minimum the older I get) and that is never to wear white or any color that can photograph as white to a wedding. If the wedding calls for the guests to dress in white, fine but otherwise just no. That said I feel this story was more about a very manipulative woman who was never really OP’s friend. The fact that the bride wore blue also is a kicker. She’s obviously better off without this person in her life but getting harassed by the bride’s family and friends on social media must be quite frustrating. Glad she outted the bride’s bad behavior.

    • Charfromdarock says:

      That wedding story is unbelievable.
      Missus sounds like a psychopath.

  5. The Voice says:

    That bride sounds like a nightmare. She’s probably spent more time trying to manipulate situations and people than she could have been spending on making herself a better person. OP doesn’t need “friends” like that. The bride was probably always jealous of OP and she planned this out for a long time. How frightening to have such a poisoned mind.

  6. VoominVava says:

    Khloe will never learn, and also it’s pretty rich when she’s touting handling things with grace and love but she used Kylie’s best friend Jordan by dragging her through the mud for headlines / ratings on the show. She was not very graceful then, was she.

    • ME says:

      The KarJenners seem to hate women. They don’t like competition. It’s also wierd that Kim and Khloe both wanted boys but got girls for their first born. Why did that matter so much to them? Even Rob was disappointed when he found out he was having a daughter.

      • VoominVava says:

        I didn’t know that. They are so freaking strange. And so many girls look up to them.

  7. girl_ninja says:

    Beanie tried and it didn’t work out. Ce la vie… Lea can belt it but can she be funny? That’s important in this role. I don’t know that she has the acting chops.

    After the way she’s treated people in the past I don’t think she deserves this chance but maybe she’s changed.

    • Lex says:

      No fan of Lea but she was funny in Scream Queens

      • VoominVava says:

        I watched Glee and she was so funny in that, too. She played her part really well with irony and emotion.

    • Merricat says:

      If Lea Michele has learned how to conduct herself like a professional, someone might give her a chance. The word “diva” has become entirely overused and misunderstood, but it’s a title that has to be earned, not assumed; Lea did not pay her dues. It says something that she was overlooked in the first place for a role she has wanted for years. Theatre-makers have the longest memories of anyone in entertainment.

  8. AnneL says:

    If Beanie doesn’t have the vocal chops for the role she never should have been cast. People pay a LOT of money for Broadway tickets and they deserve to see the best. With so many talented singers and actors out there busting their asses for a chance like this, there is no reason or excuse to cast someone for reasons of nepotism. And I say this as someone who saw her in “Book Smart” and likes her as an actress.

    As for Leah, I don’t know. She does have an amazing voice. The producers will have to gauge for themselves whether she can be part of a cast and not drive everyone crazy. Maybe she’s matured. People do.

    For the record I saw Kelsey Grammar in “La Cage Aux Folles” on Broadway and I was fine with him in that tole. I don’t like his politics, but he is a very good actor, has a sturdy voice and can carry a tune. He was a good fit for the role because it doesn’t require a vocal powerhouse performance. But “Funny Girl” is different.

    • minx says:

      Exactly, Funny Girl needs a powerhouse singer. “Don’t Rain on My Parade?” I’ve seen some You Tube videos of Beanie singing and she has that girlish Disney-ish singing voice. Broadway shows are multi-million dollar investments, I can’t believe someone gave her the go-ahead. As you said people pay a lot of money, they expect a lot in return. As they should.

  9. Melissa says:

    long time lurker… i saw funny girl last week. beanie was not a good fit for the role b.c she doesn’t have the range for fanny. choreography and tap dancing were awesome.

  10. jferber says:

    I agree that a person who’s just mean shouldn’t be canceled forever or at all, really. I feel that most of this canceling would be of women, anyway, and not men.

    • AnneL says:

      That’s a very good point, and my general feeling as well. I don’t know how “mean” she was. It might have crossed a line into “abusive” which is different. But to be forever cancelled seems excessive.

    • Merricat says:

      Theatre people kind of live and die on their reputation, though. If you’re an asshole, theatre people will avoid working with you, and they will spread the word–because you spend a LOT of time rehearsing with people, so personalities are important.

      • Deering24 says:

        One of the first lessons one learns in media is that life is too damn short to deal with toxic entitlement. The work is grueling enough, but poisonous jerks triple everyone’s workload. No talent is worth it.

  11. WyoGirl says:

    Those in the know say that Beanie’s understudy, Julie Benko, is fantastic and should get the role. A star in the making.

    • kirk says:

      Didn’t even know Beanie Feldstein could sing. I liked her as Monica Lewinsky in American Crime Story. Would be nice to hear understudy if she’s that amazing, but she may not have big enough name to pull in audience. Leah was funny, if even unintentionally, in Glee.

    • Sid says:

      Wyogirl, I was seeing on musical theater boards that people were even changing their ticket dates to make sure they saw Ms. Benko in the role.

  12. Danbury says:

    LOL that poor lion