‘Funny Girl,’ Starring Lea Michele, Recoups $16.5M Capitalization
Funny Girl has recouped its capitalization costs on Broadway, producers said Monday.
The musical, which originally opened at the August Wilson Theatre in April 2022, was capitalized for $16.5 million. The production, starring Lea Michele, is set to close on Broadway on Sept. 3. A North American tour, starring Katerina McCrimmon, will follow.
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The production started with Beanie Feldstein in the leading role, but after she received mixed reviews, grosses and attendance began to fall. Feldstein was then replaced with Michele, who had already performed several of the songs on Glee and thus was a draw for audience members. However, Michele had to fight back against allegations of on-set bullying while on the television show as well as the controversy of taking over the role from Feldstein. She came into the production on Sept. 6, 2022, and was well-received in the role, and the box office began trending upward.
Since then, Funny Girl has set several box office records at the August Wilson Theatre, with the most recent happening in the week ended Jan. 8, 2023, when it recorded $8.07 million for an eight show week. Grosses have remained fairly strong as the production approaches the end of its run, with the musical grossing $1.7 million in the week ended July 30 (the most recent week of grosses available).
The revival is produced by Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis and David Babani. The musical features an original book by Isobel Lennart, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill. The revival features a revised book by Harvey Fierstein, direction by Michael Mayer and choreography by Ellenore Scott; and tap choreography by Ayodele Casel.
In addition to Michele, starring as Fanny Brice, the musical stars Ramin Karimloo as Nick Arnstein, Jared Grimes as Eddie Ryan and Tovah Feldshuh as Mrs. Rosie Brice. Julie Benko, the Fanny Brice alternate, has been playing the role every Thursday.
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