Booksmart‘s Beanie Feldstein was supposedly “basically fired” from the Broadway production of Funny Girl, before being replaced by Lea Michele.
According to a source via Page Six, the celeb gossip mule previously reported the production’s producers were “blindsided” by Feldstein’s public exit on Twitter. Feldstein said in a tweet she made before deleting her account that production “decided to take the show in a different direction”.
“Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.”
Her comments made it seem like she voluntarily left Funny Girl. But a new source appears to put this in a new light. They told the publication on Tuesday the producers turned on Feldstein after seeing negative reviews of her performance and tanking ticket sales.
“Producers basically fired her,” the source said.
Feldstein reportedly signed a year-long contract that was said to last through to April. But a spokesperson for the show said on social media in June viewers only had 14 weeks left to see Feldstein and Jane Lynch perform.
A separate source told Page Six that production believed it made sense to end Feldstein’s run at the six-month mark because Lynch would also be leaving.
Lynch’s Glee co-star Lea Michele was announced as the Ladybird star’s replacement on Tuesday. One of Michele’s Glee co-stars called out Broadway for platforming someone who had allegedly made a series of micro-aggressions against her and other members of the cast.
Neither Feldstein nor Michelle have responded to the claims made by these sources.
