What’s that? An earthquake? No, it’s the theatre rumblings of Lea Michele’s most recent night on Broadway—but it sure did cause some seismic activity.

The evening of Sept. 6, 2022, actress/singer Lea Michele made her long-awaited debut as Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” on Broadway.  

To theatre fans (and those familiar with the iconic 2010s TV show “Glee”), this night was revolutionary. We’ve been talking about it for weeks. In order to fully understand the importance of that fateful Tuesday, we need to time travel back a good 27 years.

*Cue time-warp sound effect*

In 1995, a young eight-year-old Michele booked her first Broadway show as Young Cosette in “Les Misérables.” This skyrocketed her Broadway career, subsequently appearing in “Ragtime,” “Fiddler On The Roof, ” and originating the role of Wendla in the cast of “Spring Awakening” in the mid to-late-2000s.

During her run of “Spring Awakening,” Michele became very close friends with her co-star, Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,””Frozen,” “Mindhunter”), who would introduce her to writer/director/producer Ryan Murphy. Murphy (referenced as the creator of “Glee”) cast Lea Michele in the role of Rachel Berry, an ambitious high school teenager who aspired to be on Broadway.

Though extremely frustrating and egotistical at times, Rachel Berry was the life of the show. A major plotline from the start was Rachel’s obsession with all things Barbara Streisand and “Funny Girl.” Throughout its six seasons, she would sing “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “My Man,” “I Am The Greatest Star,” and “People,” all from either the musical or movie.

In Season Five—spoiler alert—Rachel Berry was cast in the first revival of “Funny Girl” as her dream role—Fanny Brice. All of her closest friends were at her opening night, which was met with raving reviews. “Glee” and Rachel Berry brought a new life to the iconic role, and when Ryan Murphy acquired the rights to the stage version of in 2014, fans were naturally curious if Michele would soon step into the role herself. Jumping back to the present, when actress Beanie Feldstein was announced to star in the revival, rumors of Michele’s casting were shut down (for a while).

In June 2022, Rosary and Servite’s very own Trinitas Arts Conservatory traveled to New York and saw Funny Girl—prior to Michele joining the cast. Junior Makayla Palos Rodriguez shares her experience and thoughts on the casting decision:

“When I saw the Broadway production of ‘Funny Girl’ in New York, my mind was blown. It truly was a very surreal experience for me because I’d always loved that show and its music! So, later, when I heard that Lea Michele would be joining the cast, I was honestly both fascinated and excited! You cannot deny that she is extremely talented, and having seen the rest of the extraordinary cast already during the performance I attended, I knew that her talents would just add to the magic that this production already had!”

In July of 2022, Feldstein announced that she would be leaving the company and Michele’s casting rumors grew rampant again. I honestly thought that they were just rumors at first, but when the “Funny Girl” Instagram posted Lea Michele’s casting announcement, I was proven wrong.

Fast-forward two months, and it’s Tuesday, Sept. 6: the day the theatre-world has been waiting for. During our break in rehearsals for Trinitas’ fall play, “Sense and Sensibility” (which you should come see, by the way), I opened Twitter to get the first round of audience reviews, and all I remember reading (before I presumably blacked out from shock), was this: “It is currently intermission. Lea Michele has already received four standing ovations.”

Four ovations. At your opening night on Broadway. A gal can only dream—but it seems that Lea Michele made it her reality.

The rest of the night was a blur, scrolling through initial reviews and deep-sea-diving to find the inevitable illegal audio recordings of the show. When I stumbled upon an audio recording for “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” I put on my headphones, closed my eyes, and just listened.

As I mentioned before, I am an intense “Glee” fan. I have heard Lea Michele as Rachel Berry perform “Don’t Rain On My Parade” an embarrassing amount of times. But I was not prepared for the full-body-chills that I had while listening to this new poorly-recorded audio. There was something special about it that immediately stood out. I wasn’t listening to Rachel Berry: it was pure Lea Michele; and you can feel the absolute magic of fulfilling a lifelong dream through this audio clip.

Maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but I love seeing people’s dreams come true, and you can feel Michele’s excitement just from listening to her voice. If somebody wants to Venmo me a couple thousand dollars to fly to New York and get tickets to the show, I wouldn’t be opposed. In fact, I’d be happy to write an exclusive song-by-song review for our very own Royal Reporter.