Feldstein announced that she would step away from the role earlier than anticipated.
Beanie Feldstein has bowed out. On Sunday, the 29-year-old actress ended her run as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. Feldstein marked the end of her run with a call out to the role and the musical in an Instagram post.
“But now it’s just another show And you leave ‘em laughing when you go,” the actress captioned her Instagram post, which featured a series of pictures including a shot of her posing on the stage with the rest of the cast. The post also included photos of Feldstein with various castmates, like Jane Lynch, Jared Grimes and Ramin Karimloo, as well as her vocal coach. Feldstein ended the post with a picture of her in costume on stage snapped from behind the curtain.
The American Crime Story actress also re-shared tribute posts from her friends, including former Impeachment: American Crime Story co-star, Sarah Paulson.
“The one and only @beaniefeldstein,” Paulson captioned a video posted to her Instagram Stories. “She was a thrilling, wildly moving Fanny. That's just the fu***ing truth @beaniefeldstein.”
Ben Platt gave his longtime friend and fellow Broadway star a special shoutout. “Wishing my 15 year ride or die a wonderful last performance today. She’s one of a kind, a queen of grace, strength and talent, and her audiences have been incredibly lucky. We can’t wait to see what you do next @beaniefledstein.”
The official Funny Girl Instagram account shared a video with the cast and crew sending well-wishes to the star on her last day. “Happy Trails, @beaniefeldstein! - Love, your Funny Fam ❤️,” the caption read.
Jane Lynch, who starred as Fanny Brice's mother in the show, took to the comments to share her love. “Love you, Beans!!,” the Glee star wrote.
Feldstein’s final show came more than three weeks after she announced she was exiting the role. Feldstein took to Instagram to explain why she made the “extremely difficult decision” to step down as Fanny Brice, which she previously told ET was a “dream” role of hers growing up. In her statement, Feldstein cited the production team moving “in a different direction” as the catalyst for her departure.
“Playing Fanny Brice on Broadway has been a lifelong dream of mine, and doing so for the last few months has been a great joy and true honor. Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated,” Feldstein wrote.
A day later, it was announced that Lea Michele was cast as Feldstein's replacement. The Glee star will formally take over the role beginning Sept. 6, while current standby Julie Benko will assume the part from Aug. 2 to Sept. 4 and on Thursdays beginning Sept. 8.
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