Lea Michele earned widespread praise for her first performance as Fanny Brice in the musical Funny Girl on Broadway Tuesday night,
according to multiple reports, after the Glee actress controversially took over the role from Beanie Feldstein after years of publicly angling for the part.
Audience members were “buzzing” over Michele’s first performance, according to accounts on Twitter and in multiple news reports,
with one eyewitness telling E! News, “The audience was losing their minds at pretty much anything Lea did.”
Michele received at least six standing ovations during the performance, according to People, including four in the first act of the show alone.
Glee creator Ryan Murphy and actor Jonathan Groff, Michele’s close friend, were among the celebrities present in the audience Tuesday,
Variety reports, adding Groff “looked positively ecstatic” when Michele was onstage and “[sobbed] at various points.”
Michele also reportedly received “laughter and gasps” from the audience when her character says at one point,
“I hadn’t read many books,” given the wild conspiracy theory alleging the actress can’t read.