Lea Michele Performing With The Cast Of ‘Funny Girl’ At Tony Awards Despite Ineligibility Status
etcanada.comLea Michele has enjoyed monumental success since formally joining the cast of the Broadway hit Funny Girlin September 2022. But while she’s earned praise for deftly portraying the coveted role of the beloved character Fanny Brice, there’s a simple reason why she’s not eligible for a Tony Award.
According to the Tony Awards’ rules and regulations under eligibility requirements, “in order to be eligible, an actor or actress must perform in the role on the production’s opening night and must perform in the minimum number of performances to which the producer of such production must invite and make tickets available to Tony voters as required by Rule 2(a)vi).” And therein lies the issue — the original actress who performed Funny Girl on opening night was Beanie Feldstein, who left in the wake of the show being at risk of closing due to poor reviews and lackluster ticket sales.
That all changed after Michele formally replaced Feldstein in September. Michele and the cast of Funny Girl are still set to take the stage during Sunday night’s ceremony as one of the evening’s running list of performers.
The move, which goes against the Tony’s tradition of having only nominated shows perform, is a sign of the show’s new direction.
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