26, spoke to TIME about her experiences playing Fanny Brice, what she’s learned from the character, and how she’s managed to stay away from the show’s behind-the-scenes drama. The actor, who is also releasing the album Hand in Hand with her husband Jason Yeager on Aug. Now, in the spotlight for the rest of the month and with a dedicated weekly performance to follow, Benko gets to explore new sides of the character and make it her own. On the platform, she shares lighthearted and funny content about working on Broadway and has gained over 22,000 followers so far. ![]() Throughout all of this, Benko began to amass a following, particularly through her TikToks, which she began posting in March. ![]() The casting drama inspired a wave of TikToks (#funnygirl has over 889.6M views on the app) and has been covered by several outlets including the New York Times, Slate, Vox, and CNN. In July, Feldstein then shared that she’d be leaving at the end of that month, stating that “the production decided to take the show in a different direction.” Days later, The Daily Beast delved into the creative team’s decision-making process, and reported that after the April reviews, “a minority of the producers wanted to eject Feldstein from the role quickly.” Instead, the team stood by her, but things devolved into chaos after Gawker leaked that Michele had been cast. Upon opening night in April, Feldstein faced harsh reviews from critics, and announced in June that she’d be leaving the production in September. While cast changes are common for Broadway, the situation at Funny Girl became something of an Internet spectacle. Once Michele joins the cast, Benko will continue to play the role on Thursdays. Benko has been preparing for this moment since March, when she started as a cover for Beanie Feldstein, and now has top billing since Feldstein left the production at the end of July. Even though it’s Benko’s second consecutive week in the role, she’s very familiar with it. “She worked on the road and worked her way up in the chorus when she was a teenager, and that really resonates with me because I’ve spent a lot of my life on a similar trajectory,” Benko, 33, tells TIME in a phone interview ahead of her second week playing Brice in a month-long stint before former Glee star Lea Michele takes over the role Sept. In the musical, Brice is a larger-than-life presence who sings and dances her way to the top of the entertainment industry. ![]() As famously portrayed by Barbra Streisand in the musical’s original 1964 production and 1968 film adaptation, Brice was an unknown talent who, after years of dedication to her craft and comedy, became a star. In the latest Broadway revival of Funny Girl, Benko stars as Fanny Brice, a real-life actor and comedian who rose to fame in the first half of the 20th century. Julie Benko has a lot in common with the person she’s currently playing on Broadway.
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