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‘Funny Girl’ understudy Julie Benko set to star in ‘Harmony’
No one is raining on her parade.
“Funny Girl” understudy Julie Benko has joined the cast of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s new musical, “Harmony,” insiders exclusively tell Page Six.
Benko became an overnight sensation after taking on the lead role of Fanny Brice from Beanie Feldstein and has been filling in for Lea Michele while she battles COVID-19.
The Broadway star auditioned for Manilow, Sussman and the show’s director Warren Carlyle to secure the role of “Ruth” in the Broadway-bound show, which will debut early next year.
This week she joined Broadway veterans Chip Zien and Sierra Boggess for a two-week “Harmony” workshop following the show’s sold-out downtown run.
“Julie is doing ‘Harmony’ rehearsals from 10 to 6 and then going straight to ‘Funny Girl’ with Lea out with COVID,” our insider explains.
“Harmony” — which follows the true story of a German singing group and what became of them as the Nazis took power in their home country — first premiered in 1997 at La Jolla Playhouse. Manilow and Sussman have been trying to bring it to Broadway for 25 years.
Benko started getting plaudits when she filled in for Feldstein earlier this year. Feldstein was reportedly irked when Benko started posted videos on social media announcing when she was filling in.
“They were harmless posts, and it was fine until people started saying how amazing Julie was, which didn’t reflect well on Beanie after all the negative reviews,” a source claimed to Daily Beast, adding that she addressed the posts with producers.
“She said words to the effect of, ‘I don’t feel supported by you while I’m away,'” the source added. “This is not an uncommon problem. You want your understudy to be good, but you don’t want them to be better than the star, or seen to be so. That harms the show.”
The “Booksmart” star quit the show early via a bridge-burning Instagram post in which she announced that she was unhappy that “the production decided to take the show in a different direction.”
Page Six exclusively reported that Feldstein was “basically fired” and the “different direction” was hiring Michele.