Why Lea Michele is not nominated for a 2023 Tony Award for Funny Girl
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Hey, Tony Awards, here Lea Michele is...but only as a performer, not a nominee.
On Sunday night, the former Glee star will take to the Tony Awards stage to perform as Fanny Brice with the company of Funny Girl. But Michele isn't nominated for a Tony, nor was she eligible.
This is because Michele did not originate the role of Fanny Brice in the first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl (as audiences should remember, she replaced original star Beanie Feldstein, who also didn't receive a nomination at the 2022 awards).
In the Tony Awards' 76-year existence, only one cast replacement has ever received a nomination for a competitive award. Larry Kert was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical in 1971 for his portrayal of Bobby in Company after replacing the original star Dean Jones. Jones left the show barely a month after it opened on Broadway and the Tony Awards committee made an exception for Kert, naming him eligible. Kert was nominated but did not win (although Company did win Best Musical that year).
In order for a replacement to be considered Tony eligible, the producing team would have to petition the committee to make an exception. Because Michele did not take over for Feldstein until some five months after Funny Girl opened, they did not request such an exception. (This may also be partly due to the fact that producers drew ire for the way they reportedly handled Feldstein's lackluster critical reception and her subsequent exit).
Bruce Glikas/WireImage Lea Michele in Broadway's 'Funny Girl'
Michele, however, does perform as Brice on the new Broadway cast recording made for the revival, which is itself rare (indeed, Dean Jones can be heard on the Company cast album, not Larry Kert). She also announced this year's nominees alongside MJ star, Myles Frost.
Back in 2005, the Tony Awards did make an attempt to recognize replacement cast members due to a number of high profile stars treading the boards as replacements at the time. They named the award "Best Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Recreated Role," but it was never actually bestowed. The committee created the category, but no one performer received the necessary votes to secure a nomination and they opted not to give the award at all.
Funnily enough, this won't mark the first time Michele performs as Fanny Brice on the Tony Awards. In 2010, amidst the success of Glee, she sang "Don't Rain on My Parade," Fanny Brice's Act I closer and a song that became closely associated with Michele due to her performance of it on Glee.
It's unclear whether Michele will reprise the show-stopping number or whether she and her cast will take on another one of the tracks from the revival.
Funny Girl is playing on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre through Sept. 3.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards will air live from the United Palace in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood on Sunday, June 11, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+. Ahead of the event, CBS and Pluto TV will present The Tony Awards: Act One, a live pre-show that begins at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Check out the full list of nominees.
Related content:
