Lea Michele Has the Last Laugh

It’s a good time to be Lea Michele, again. For those who haven’t followed her saga, the singer and actress broke through as a star of the original Broadway production of “Spring Awakening” in 2006 and then gained wider exposure on the television series “Glee.” Two years ago, she was declared toxic after a cast member on the latter program accused her of committing — wait for it — “traumatic microaggressions” in their working relationship.The inevitable pile-on followed, with others coming forward to speak their truths, in the modern parlance, about Ms. Michele’s supposedly diva-like behavior. By the time it was announced last year that the first-ever revival of “Funny Girl” would not star Ms. Michele — who had openly coveted the role of Fanny Brice, and on “Glee” had even been cast in a fictional Broadway production — the schadenfreude had metastasized to the point that social media addicts who had never been in the same room with the performer were doing virtual cartwheels. Alas, when the new “Funny Girl” had its premiere last April, the lucky gal chosen to play Fanny, Beanie Feldstein, found herself fielding abjuration — principally for not singing as well as the musical’s original star, Barbra Streisand, or as Ms. Michele. Thus, few were entirely surprised when unconfirmed reports emerged that Ms. Michele, who reaped positive publicity in May from an HBO documentary about “Awakening,” would be replacing Ms. Feldstein — or when Ms. Feldstein later disclosed on Instagram that she would be leaving earlier than expected, due to a decision “to take the show in a different direction.”No doubt some of Ms. Michele’s more rabid haters harbor their own theories about what evil machinations ensured her landing her dream role under such shady circumstances. Let them stew; the rest of us can now enjoy a performance that is every bit as good as this young veteran’s fans had reason to expect.As anyone who listened with honest ears to her renditions of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” and “People” on “Glee” could attest, Ms. Michele is not the vocal superpower Ms. Streisand was in her prime; very few non-classical singers have possessed that mix of bel canto clarity, dazzling polish, and sheer might. What Ms. Michele does have, aside from lovely tone and an impressive belt, is a natural singer’s instinctive musicality. In Ms. Feldstein’s resourceful, endearing performance, you could sense the sweat that went into each note and phrase; that effort was, perhaps ironically, part of what made her Fanny convincing — and made the audience’s support palpable and contagious. Ms. Michele, in contrast, can focus on what matters most: the synergy between Bob Merrill’s lyrics and Jule Styne’s music, which, at their best swing and sweetly sting, conveying tenderness, mischief, and longing. Where Ms. Feldstein was generally funniest when Fanny wasn’t singing, Ms. Michele mines humor in some of the same spots where Ms. Streisand found it; her “I’m the Greatest Star,” for example, injects elements of a standup routine into the classic I-want song.That’s not to say that Ms. Michele’s Fanny is an impersonation. At 36, she is a decade older than Ms. Streisand was when the film adaptation of “Funny Girl” had its premiere — more than four years after the original production’s Broadway bow — and yet she manages to project a more genuine innocence early on, which makes particularly affecting Fanny’s evolution into a feisty, self-sufficient young woman who is nonetheless vulnerable in matters of the heart. Her scenes with Ramin Karimloo, the dashing actor who plays Fanny’s proud, reckless husband, are by turns sexy, funny, and poignant.Ms. Michele also manages an engaging chemistry with another newcomer to the cast, Tovah Feldshuh, who as Fanny’s mother proves as witty as original co-star Jane Lynch and, to be frank, more authentically ethnic.I doubt that Broadway’s newest funny girl takes any of this for granted. It’s not often that a maligned artist gets to not only have the last laugh, but to give it back to the audience. Ms. Michele must feel like one of the luckiest people in the world.

Lea Michele Has the Last Laugh

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