“Why don’t you and others who cover NY theatre just spit it out about Beanie Feldstein bailing out of Funny Girl eight weeks before the scheduled end of the run?

“Why the kid gloves? She wasn’t Streisandy enough, right? Which basically means she wasn’t quite knockout enough (a pretty but thin voice, couldn’t belt the songs like Streisand), which means that the producers made a mistake in hiring her.

“Plus she didn’t feel good about the reactions (no Tony nom) plus she kept missing shows, which indicates she wasn’t feeling a great deal of confidence, and so she either quit or was nudged aside. I’m presuming that nudged is closer to the truth.

“What’s this weird omerta I’m sensing from everyone? You all seem to be saying ‘we need to handle this story with kid gloves in order to let Beanie down easy.’ New York theatre is a tough realm, and sometimes shows and performances don’t work out.”

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July 11, 2022by Jeffrey Wells51 Comments