More than $1.6M on opening weekend? That’s music to ‘Funny Girl’ Lea Michele’s ears
Lea Michele recently debuted as “Funny Girl’s” Fanny Brice and she’s already bringing in the big bucks.
With Michele officially in Fanny Brice’s shoes as of last Tuesday, the August Wilson Theatre’s revival of “Funny Girl” grossed more than $1.6 million in the “Glee” alum’s opening weekend, according to the Broadway League. It’s the biggest weekend since the revival opened in April with Beanie Feldstein in the title role.
Michele debuted to multiple standing ovations and support from “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy, “Glee” co-star Jonathan Groff and other television friends.
Former ‘Glee’ showrunner Ryan Murphy, ‘Spring Awakening’ star Jonathan Groff and others showed up for Lea Michele’s ‘Funny Girl’ debut on Broadway.
The weekend box office revenue shot up from the previous weekend’s gross of $659,874.
However, on Saturday, Michele revealed that she had “officially tested positive” for COVID-19 and will be out of commission for 10 days. Like Feldstein, Michele’s “Funny Girl” run will take a brief pause as she recovers from COVID.
Lea Michele was ‘devastated’ to miss Saturday’s ‘Funny Girl’ performances on Broadway after exhibiting ‘early signs and symptoms’ of COVID-19.
“Thankfully staying home today and catching this early protected so many members of our company from being exposed,” Michele said in a statement shared on her Instagram Story.
The “Scream Queens” actor brought her Instagram followers along on her COVID care journey, sharing pics of soup, juice and her latest TV binge (Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies”) to her Instagram story.
Michele was announced to take on the role of Fanny Brice — “a dream come true” — in July. Feldstein’s debut show April 24 brought in $1.1 million and averaged $1.3 million in the “Booksmart” actor’s early weeks, Deadline reported. Feldstein’s final “Funny Girl” show was on July 31, nearly two months before her initially announced exit date of Sept. 25.
With Beanie Feldstein’s ‘Funny Girl’ run over, Lea Michele is gearing up for her Broadway debut as Fanny Brice and shared a video of her preparations.
“Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated,” Feldstein said in a statement in July.
Times staff writer Christi Carras contributed to this report.
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