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Friday, July 1, 2022

"Oh What Tangled Webs Are Weaved......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


                                     The whole "Funny Girl" revival experience has been a debacle and a deception.  And I am not certain, at this time, that Lea Michele can save it.



                                        Yes, the word is out Michele will assume the role on September 30.  However, she will only do six shows a week, while the phenomenal Julie Benko will cover for two.  Need I remind everyone, BARBRA did eight??????????????????????



                                             Not even I am surprised by this, even though I would have preferred Jessie Mueller or Lindsay Mendez.  But art has all but gone from theater; it is all about the almighty dollar.  You know, like Ayn Rand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Lea may have the pipes, but she still killed Naya Rivera--probably for this role--and no one can convince me otherwise.



                                                But what may not be as known, according to my sources, is the contentious atmosphere backstage.  Beanie came this close to being fired.  Essentially, she is, but there were probably talks, negotiations, and a done deal, where Beanie would leave quietly with Jane Lynch, as the producers and director Michael Mayer--whose future careers are crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--made a big mistake when caving into Daddy Richard Feldstein when he bought daughter Beanie the part!!!!!!!!!!!!! 



                                                     This reminds me less of the Madeline Kahn/Judy Kaye debacle back in 1978, and more like back in 1964 when Carol Burnett appeared in "Fade Out-Fade In," which opened on May 26, 1964, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.  Just two months after BARBRA!!!!!!!!!!  Now, the show, and Burnett, did not garner raves, so she started missing performances.  I don't know if she was replaced, but the show closed, and it took more than twenty years for Burnett and the theater to come to terms with each other.  Thank, largely in part, to her phenomenally successful TV show.



                                                         Whether Beanie will have such luck, remains to be seen.  Bye, Bye, Beanie, you are washed up on Broadway, and will never see a stage again, except as a patron.  I don't see her as the comic genius Burnett was, just a spoiled brat who caves in when things do not go her own way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                                              But then, Lea comes with her own weight of baggage, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                                              I personally feel more dramas will follow!  So, stay tuned!

3 comments:

Victoria said...

Funny you should mention Judy Kaye, I was just listening to “Never”
That play should have Opened with Judy.
A fellow Belter!!

The Raving Queen said...

Victoria,

I saw Judy Kaye in "The Pajama Game."
She was great. What was "Never?" I am not
familiar with it.

Victoria said...

That’s a song she sang in On The Twentieth Century
NEVER is the word I seek!!
NEVER is the word I shriek!!!