When the news broke that there was to be a revival of Funny Girl on Broadway, discussion over casting immediately broke out. Overwhelmingly, the collective hive mind of Twitter was sure on one thing: Lea Michele was a shoo in. Who else could it be? When Beanie Feldstein (of Booksmart fame) was announced as Fanny Brice, there came an onslaught of memes implying that Lea would be furious at the news. Given that Jane Lynch (Lea’s fellow Glee cast mate and the enemy of her character) was cast in the production, it became a point of focus for Glee fans.
Shortly after the show began, and Feldstein’s performance was reviewed harshly by critics, it was announced that Lea would be taking over the role. Now, why is this such a big deal? Let’s take a look.
Back to Glee
In Glee, Rachel makes it clear early on that she has three dream roles: Evita, Laurie in Oklahoma, and Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. She performs ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade’ more than once, although the song is first sung by the character halfway through season one. When the New Directions were forced to completely scrap their set list at Sectionals, they must come up with new songs to perform, including a ballad. It’s Rachel’s moment, and she seizes it by performing a musically flawless version of Streisand’s hit.
During her audition in front of stoney-faced Carmen Tibideaux (played by Whoopie Goldberg) for NYADA, the prestigious performing arts school she and Kurt are desperate to get into, Rachel whips out Don’t Rain On My Parade, deeming it a safe bet. Alas, this time, she messes up, apparently buckling under the pressure. In tears, she begs Tibideaux for another chance at the song, insisting that she has sung it a million times without a single mistake.
Rachel loves Streisand
Barbra Streisand herself is Rachel’s idol. When she struggles with her appearance (more specifically, her nose), Kurt organised a flash mob to the song ‘Barbra Streisand’ to remind Rachel that the legendary Broadway performer had a similar nose.
When auditioning in season two for the role of star performer in New Directions, Rachel faces off against Kurt, Mercedes, and Santana. She picks ‘My Man,’ another song from Funny Girl, and blows her competition away. In fact, Kurt says ‘she may be difficult, but boy can she sing.’
Much of Rachel’s storyline in seasons four and five focuses on her drive to play Fanny Brice when a Broadway revival of Funny Girl is announced. She eventually secures the role (viewers could see this coming from a mile away) and undergoes her Fanny-ification. In order to dedicate herself to the role, Rachel drops out of NYADA. Yes, despite her and Kurt spending a painful amount of time discussing the school, and Rachel undergoing immense anguish after messing up her initial audition, she gives it all up. Fanny Brice is more important. Except, we soon find out, it isn’t. But we’ll get to that in a second.
A spat with Santana soon ensues (Kurt, Rachel, and Santana are living together at this point) after Santana auditions for the role of Rachel’s understudy with Don’t Rain on my Parade. Furious, Rachel accuses Santana of stealing her song and the two engage in an ongoing fight which lasts several episodes. Santana backs down (after a talking to from Britney) and Rachel prepares for opening night. The morning of, she refuses to take to the stage, after having stayed up all night reading bad reviews and press about herself. However, of course, she performs.
Glee viewers have already seen Lea as Fanny Brice
After watching the divisive Rachel bang on about Funny Girl for five seasons, we finally get to watch her in what is essentially a shortened version of the musical. With her friends (and Sue Sylvester for some reason) in the audience, Rachel performs I’m The Greatest Star, and Who Am I Now. We’ve also seen her sing People, and You Are Woman, I Am Man in rehearsals
Ironically, during Rachel’s opening night performance, Sue walks out midway through her first song, in true Sue style. With Jane Lynch as part of the current revival cast (although her run has now come to an end), the connections to Glee just keep rolling.
Rachel’s decision, therefore, to give up Funny Girl for an obviously dud TV show makes no sense. Let’s be real here, a lot of the Glee plots don’t make much sense, but Rachel’s behaviour has always been somewhat predictable. She would do anything to be on Broadway, and she would do anything to play Fanny Brice. Being the star on stage meant so much to Rachel that she sent Sunshine to a crack house to keep her from stealing the spotlight. Her giving up Fanny was out of character. Although, I suppose, so soon after losing the love of her life (Finn) it isn’t completely crazy to assume that her judgement would be altered.
We’ve seen Lea perform the majority of the numbers in Funny Girl, we know she can hit the notes, nail the accent, and embody the character. We also know she can deliver the emotion. If Lea delivers Fanny with the same zeal and youthful passion as Rachel did, audiences have a lot to look forward to. In Glee, the producers worry initially about casting Rachel due to her perceived lack of maturity and her young age. However, this, in my view, is what made her the perfect Fanny. Fanny isn’t wise, let’s remember, she’s young and naive, she makes mistakes, and she loves hard.
While no one can top Streisand (I am sure Lea herself would agree), if anyone can come close and do this revival justice, it is her.