Lea Michele is feeling all the love for her “Funny Girl” performance, and now she’s surprising fans with a newly recorded album featuring her and her castmates. The actor announced the news on Nov. 16 during the show’s curtain call. “We’re all so, so, so proud to announce that we’re going to be releasing our original cast album,” Michele shared excitedly, per an Instagram video she posted. “As the biggest ‘Funny Girl’ fan my whole life, I am so proud and it’s so, so, so great!”
According to Deadline, the cast album features Michele as Fanny Brice, Ramin Karimloo as Nick Arnstein, Jared Grimes as Eddie Ryan, and Tovah Feldshuh as Mrs. Rosie Brice. Also joining the project are Peter Francis James as Florenz Ziegfeld, Ephie Aardema as Emma/Mrs. Nadler, Debra Cardona as Mrs. Meeker, Toni DiBuono as Mrs. Strakosh, and Martin Moran as Tom Keeney. The album will release digitally on Nov. 18, while a physical CD will arrive on Jan. 20.
Audiences have been raving about Michele and the newly casted “Funny Girl” revival ever since the actor made her highly anticipated debut on Sept. 6. People reported that the actor’s Fanny Brice portrayal received multiple standing ovations (at least four) — including one before she even said a word on stage — in Act I of the show. Michele had friends and family present in the audience that night as she took her first cheerful bow.
Michele’s lead role was one previously held by Beanie Feldstein, who played the titular character from April to July of this year. On July 10, Feldstein announced she would be leaving “Funny Girl” earlier than originally planned. In a statement shared on Instagram, she revealed her last day would be July 31, almost two months earlier than her and castmate Jane Lynch’s previously announced final performance, Sept. 25.
“Playing Fanny Brice on Broadway has been a lifelong dream of mine, and doing so for the last few months has been a great joy and a true honor,” she wrote. “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 continued, “I will never forget this experience and from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank very single person who came to the August Wilson for the love and support you have shown me and our amazing cast and crew. The people I have had the great joy of bringing ‘Funny Girl’ to life with every night, both on and off the stage, are all remarkably talented and exceptional humans and I hope you continue to join them on Henry Street after I depart on July 31st.”
Feldstein, indeed, concluded her time as Fanny Brice at the end of July and said her goodbyes to her castmates as the first original cast member to depart from the show. The same day, Feldstein shared some last words about her Broadway performance via Instagram and captioned a photo series of her time on set, “‘But now it’s just another show. And you leave ’em laughing when you go.'”
Feldstein, who also starred in the 2017 revival of “Hello, Dolly!,” hasn’t announced what’s next for her. In June, she got engaged to her girlfriend, Bonnie Chance Roberts.
