LOS ANGELES—Lea Michele’s Rachel Berry character may have bagged the plum Maria role in her high school’s production of “West Side Story,” but in real life, the “Glee” actress lost in her bid to play Fanny Brice in a Broadway-bound revival of the musical “Funny Girl.”
She would have loved to portray Fanny Brice, Lea told us in a recent interview. “But that’s not what they (the producers) wanted. It will happen though, one day. I will make sure of it and it will be great.”
Lea feels a special affinity to the role since it was first played by her idol, Barbra Streisand in both the original Broadway and movie versions of “Funny Girl.” Crediting Barbra for inspiring her, Lea belted the musical’s best-known song, “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” at the 2010 Tony Awards.
Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”)— who won the role over Lea and reportedly other actresses such as Kelli O’Hara, Laura Benanti, Leslie Kritzer and Stephanie J. Block—gets to sing the show-stopping number in the “Funny Girl” revival which opens in LA in January and moves to New York in April.
But Lea is buoyed by memories of her encounters with Barbra. It all began when she performed ahead of the legendary singer at the Grammy Awards’ MusiCares gala last February. “I sang ‘My Man.’ I still get the chills when I think about it. At the end of the night, she was being whisked away past me. There were so many people. I was reaching for her but she was gone. I didn’t get to meet her. Everybody was like, ‘Go, run after her.’ I was like, ‘It’s okay.’ When it’s meant to be, it will be.”
A week later, Lea was at the Grammys waiting for her car service at the valet. “Someone tapped me on the shoulder and it was Barbra! She said, ‘Thank you so much for introducing me to your generation.’ I was like, ‘Thank you so much. You’ve changed my life. I love you.’ She walked away and I collapsed, crying like a crazy person.”Lea said, “Barbra tweeted that she was going to send me a Barbra Streisand Barbie Doll. I can’t believe it.”
The Barbra connection got more engaging recently when reports surfaced that Lea received an interesting response when she tweeted, “Currently watching ‘Hoarders’ and this man has a Barbra Streisand Barbie! Where is this man and how can I get my hands on that doll?”
Back to Ryan, Lea said: “He is incredible in allowing us time outside ‘Glee’ to do things that we might be passionate about. I just did my first movie, Garry Marshall’s ‘New Year’s Eve,’ which is coming out in December. I had the best time. I want to do more films for sure when I have the opportunity. I also want to go back to Broadway. But as far as doing more television, I don’t think that will be something I’ll do unless it were some sort of continuation of playing Rachel Berry, because I think she’s the greatest character ever.”
Lea is in good company in “New Year’s Eve,” which boasts of a star-studded cast: Halle Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Sofia Vergara and more. “I thought that being part of an ensemble would take the pressure off me, like leading a film,” Lea explained why she chose the project.
VIA: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/17303/lea-michele-recalls-encounter-with-idol-barbra-streisand
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