Lea Michele’s lifelong dream has finally come true as she has landed the role of Fanny Brice in Broadway’s Funny Girl. However, her former Glee castmate Samantha Ware is one person who won’t be ringing in with the congratulations or clapping from the sidelines…
She’ll be taking over the role from Beanie Feldstein, who show producers announces in 2020 would be leaving the show this September alongside co-star Jane Lynch (also of Glee fame), who plays her mother .
More recently, Feldstein told fans on Instagram that she would leave the show even earlier, on July 31, following the production taking an alleged “change in direction.”
And Glee star Samantha appeared to take a swipe at the casting update as she tweeted “Broadway upholds whiteness”. Let’s take a look at a timeline of their turbulent relationship…
Lea Michele’s lifelong dream to land a Funny Girl role
Michele’s desire to play Brice on Broadway has been a longtime dream, both for both herself and her Glee character, Rachel Berry. In season 1, episode 13 of Glee, Michele first sang Funny Girl’s Don’t Rain on My Parade, and after that she covered a variety of songs from the musical over the show’s six seasons.
When Glee creator Ryan Murphy got the rights to bring Funny Girl back to Broadway in 2015, it gave Michele the perfect opportunity to make her dreams come true. However, her hopes were crushed when Broadway World reported that Murphy no longer held the rights to the show.
News later broke in August 2021 that Beanie Feldstein would star as Fanny in the Broadway Funny Girl revival. Michele maturely took the news on the chin and congratulated Feldstein on Instagram, writing: “YOU are the greatest star!”
However, on Monday, July 11, it was confirmed in an official announcement that Michele had finally landed the role. The actress took to her Instagram to share the news saying: “A dream come true is an understatement.”
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Lea Michele hit with bullying claims in 2020
In June 2020, Michele was accused of bullying by some of her fellow Glee cast members. The claims came after Michele tweeted about the death of George Floyd, and Ware hit back to accuse her of bullying behind the scenes.
Ware wrote: “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell?!?! Cause I’ll never forget,” she continued. “I believe you told everyone that, if you had the opportunity, you would ‘s**t in my wig!’ amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.”
And an even bigger stir was caused when another Glee cast member, Heather Morris, backed up the bullying claims, tweeting: “Let me be very clear, hate is a disease in America that we are trying to cure, so I would never wish for hate to be spread on anyone else. With that said, was she unpleasant to work with? Very much so; for Lea to treat others with the disrespect that she did for as long as she did, I believe she SHOULD be called out.”
Amber Riley, who was also their co-star on Glee touched on the drama during the podcast Real Quick With Danielle Young. Riley revealed that she knows a lot of other “actresses telling me their stories and letting me know they have dealt with the same things on set, being terrorized by the white girls that are the leads of the show.”
In response, Michele wrote an apology to Ware on Instagram which can be seen below.
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Samantha Ware responds to Lea Michele landing Funny Girl
An hour after the Funny Girl casting news was announced, Ware tweeted: “Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see y’all. Yes, I care. Yes, I’m affected. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I’m Black. Yes, I was abused.” She continued, “Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I’m loud. Yes, I’d do it again.”
Yes, I’m online today. Yes, I see y’all. Yes, I care. Yes, im affected. Yes, I’m human. Yes, I’m Black. Yes, I was abused. Yes, my dreams were tainted. Yes, Broadway upholds whiteness. Yes, Hollywood does the same. Yes, silence is complicity. Yes, I’m loud. Yes, I’d do it again.
— SAMEYA (@Sammie_Ware) July 11, 2022
Ware then tweeted: “Also. My name is not Amber Riley or Alex Newell. Their experience was not mine and mines was not theirs.” Her post appeared to address how her fellow cast-mates supported her following Ware’s initial claims against Michele.
In addition, Ware also retweeted a quote tweet about Michele’s casting which read: “this industry will reward bad behavior time and time again”. The user added: “its good to know that you all can only identify abusers when its a cis yt female getting abused. this industry cares not about black people and our experiences within it. Very sad.”
Lea Michele has not yet publicly responded to Samantha Ware’s comments at the time of writing. The Focus has reached out to Michele’s representatives for comment.
