EPISODE 723: FUNNY, GIRL?
A Normal Conversation
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
THE INEXORABILITY OF MS. LEA MICHELE
Last week there was big news on Broadway. The actress Lea Michele, who spent six years of her life on television saying she wanted to play Fanny Brice in the first ever revival of Funny Girl on Broadway since Barbra “Her Voice is Butter” Streisand originated the role—the second to last season in fact had her on Broadway in the role (yes, there was another season after that, and no, I don’t understand how that’s possible either AND I WATCHED ALL OF IT AND LOVED IT)—was just announced as the taking over the role come September.
And all along her run on Glee Michele was constantly being asked, Do You Lea Michele want to do this, too, because you seem really perfect, and her saying Why yes, yes I would. But by the end of Glee she was like, But maybe not now.
And honestly, Broadway producers also seemed to be showing some upper lip at the idea of casting Michele. The very-talented Lauren Ambrose of Six Feet Under fame was cast way back in 2011, while Glee was still on the air, but then a number of producers backed out, saying they didn’t think she had enough prominence to fill the theater for months and months. Then, almost a decade later, they went with Beanie Feldstein, a brilliant TV and film actress with just one Broadway credit to her name, originating the role of Minnie Fay the shopgirl in the “Hello, Dolly!” revival from 2018. Had they considered Michele but considered her too damaged after stories came out during the pandemic about the way she had treated other castmates on “Glee,” particularly people of color? Perhaps.
But in the end, she got it anyway. And the whole thing feels incredibly Glee in its plotting; she didn’t get the part right away, and now not only does she have to prove she was worth the risk the producers took, she has to Save The Show. The show has been a total disaster. Feldstein apparently can’t quite hit the notes, which ends up meaning not only that her big numbers don’t land but that she’s unable to actually be you know, funny, girl, because her brain is all caught up in the music. But the book of the show, which has been revised by Harvey Fierstein, has also not gone over well. Neither has the set design, or much of anything else.
And this was clearly a “Can’t Lose—No Really, We Mean It, This CANNOT LOSE” venture for the producers involved. So they’re desperate to try anything that might enable the show to survive.
Will it work? I don’t know. Performing songs from Funny Girl on a highly-edited TV show in your 20s is real different than performing the whole show every night in your 30s. But to her credit, Michele has a lot of stage experience, including co-lead of the show Spring Awakening (speaking of which, there’s a great documentary about that show on HBO Max right now; I knew the show not at all, and still I found the whole thing really moving). And at this point, really, who else were they going to get that might actually draw a crowd?
Some people are sad for Beanie, who seems very sweet. In some cases I want to say, don’t patronize the lady. She’s worked in Hollywood. She knows how this all goes. And at some point, probably before opening, she undoubtedly knew that this was not going well. It happens.
Some reactions are more of the “Lea Michele Our Lord and Savior” variety:
I mean, maybe? It certainly couldn’t make it worse, could it?
And then there’s a lot of this:
And also a lot of jokes about how Lea Michele will learn the script when she can’t read, which is a whole truly insane rabbit hole of its own.
So the next time you think some childhood dream of yours won’t ever come true, well, yeah, probably you should accept that because this story is so totally improbable that it gives credence to the theory that actually we are living in a matrix.
YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN FUNNY GIRL WHEN…
People start asking you which character you played on GLEE.
You have to check Instagram to know who's playing Fanny today.
You have never been so excited about Thursday nights.
You spend hours in front of the mirror rehearsing your lines for the press outside.
The first letter of each sentence in your program bio spells out “Help Me Please, I Am Being Held Against My Will.”
WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET POCKET ON YOUR NOTES APP?
Last week I saw this tweet and it got me thinking.
I use the Notes apps on both my phone and computer a lot. And just looking at my phone, I found what’s on there to be kind of wild.
Here’s what I found. And I’m going to list them pretty much without much explanation, because I have a cold that seems to have been sent down from Heaven to smite me, and it is freaking killing me.
Lists of names of people I've met—often just writing the name down helps me to remember them.
How many subway trips I took this week. (It’s a money thing. It’s totally unnecessary, I don’t know. Stop looking at me like that.)
Ideas for future episodes of a pilot I’ve written.
The Proper Way to Do Laundry, according to a friend of mine; there’s a story.
Notes on a play that I Intended to write about but then didn't.
A note that I don't remember writing that is for some reason filled with facts about Judy Garland.
Another titled "Angela" that contains random terms like “Center,” “Sad,” "The great wave off Kanagawa" and "Incredible sponge bin jaynailent big Nepture shreknluxu Cookie monster" (sic).
A List of Manga titles my nephew and nieces told me I have to read. (I have started Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen. They are crazy.)
A list of life lessons I want to remember, like "Remember David Lynch: Go slower. There's more there;” "Failure is a gift. Let it in;” and "Let your Counterpart live." Ironically I forgot this list was here.
A list of TV types that I looked at when I moved here a year ago.
Ongoing FYIs: This is a list of stuff I only need to know very intermittently. So for instance, Comic-Con is this coming week. If I look to my FYIs I’ll find some wisdom that I’ve gained from past years about volunteering. It also tells me the name of the two pills I take, one of which has a name that I can never remember; where you can find free parking for Universal Studios in Hollywood; which section of the Hollywood Bowl is close enough; and a password for something that I cannot currently remember.
What does any of this mean? I don’t know, I’m currently delirious. Probably something good, right?
…Right?
I BET IT’S GOOD THOUGH
This week in my new segment where I recommend to you a random article on my reading list which I really want to read but haven’t as a form of self-shaming, Ryan Broderick, with the best damn title for a newsletter entry ever: “‘Hamlet’ is actually about doomscrolling.” That’s gotta be good, right?
I actually did read the Will Arnett profile from last week; so maybe this is working?
Worst stock photo of Shakespeare absolutely ever.
I should have three tweets to end this with, but I can hear a COVID test calling, so let me end with a great music video, which I saw last week.
People have Bill Nighy do lots of things. This is definitely one of my favorite of them.
And, if you’re interested in the kinds of crazy stuff I’ve been up to lately, here’s a couple places to start:
I’m a Catholic Priest, but Please Don’t Call Me Father: My editors asked me to write this as part of America’s brand campaign in the spring—basically we want to feature some articles that are big, well reasoned swings in some direction. It has definitely generated some responses.
“Ms. Marvel” is a truly great TV show: I can be really hard on Disney these days, but their new show about a Pakistani-American teenager from Jersey City who gets super powers is just the absolute best of what Disney has to offer, far less a super hero story at all than it is a story about kids, family, community. I cannot recommend it enough.
Thoughts on the Webb Telescope Photo: This started as kind of a poison pill about that blurry first photo everyone was raving about, and turned into a little personal reflection on our place in the universe, the kind of thing I love to write.
Will Byers’ Coming Out on Stranger Things Reminds Me of Myself: Popverse is a new website that does a lot of pop culture content, and I was thrilled to be able to write something for them about one of the most awkward (and I think moving) scenes in the new season of Stranger Things. Honest to God, if Will Byers is not a central character in the last season I’m going to lose my mind.
Finally, here’s one tweet. And it’s a good one.
Have a good week. Stay healthy!