In 1965, the original musical “Funny Girl” was playing at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, starring someone who knew her way around a song. That same year, a guy named Joe Allen opened a place a few blocks away. It was the place to be for Broadway stars like Al Pacino and a host of others. Plus, they served a mean cheeseburger.

The cheeseburgers are still there, and so are Broadway’s elite. Lea Michele has been coming here since her Broadway debut in the 1990s. “I just love this place so much,” she said.

And what would she eat? “A burger. I mean, it’s always so good, so good here, oh my God,” she said.

But when we met her at Joe Allen’s, she wasn’t in a burger mood, because she had a show to do. Lea Michele is currently starring in the musical “Chess.” In the show, she plays a brilliant strategist for two world champion chess players (played by Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher). 

“Chess” is a love triangle, a spectacle, and a chance for the stars to raise the roof at the Imperial Theatre – the same place where Michele made her Broadway debut in 1995 in “Les Miserables,” at the age of eight. 

Her parents weren’t show biz people – Dad owned a deli – and before she auditioned, they had no clue their daughter could sing. “And as we were leaving, I turned to my Mom and I was like, ‘I’m gonna get this. I think I’m gonna get this,'” Michele recalled. “And she said, ‘Things like that don’t happen to people like us.'”

In this case, Mom was wrong: Michele got the part, and went on to even greater heights in the musical “Spring Awakening,” and later became a household name in the hit TV show “Glee.”

She hit a few bumps along the way, among them a difficult pregnancy with her first child in 2020, and flak on social media that she acted like a diva back in the “Glee” days. But things looked up in 2023, when she was asked to step into the shoes of her idol Barbra Streisand, and take over a struggling revival of “Funny Girl.”

She said, “I think that we all grow as we get older. It’s hard being in an industry where there is such a spotlight on these phases and times in your life.”

And what was the pressure like to take over “Funny Girl”? It was the first time that I was really sort of in the spotlight after everything that had happened to me personally,” Michele said. “I wanted to finally show everyone that I could play this part, and play her really well.”

Long story short, Michele killed it, and turned a sinking show into a hit, despite suffering a miscarriage during her run. And when she was approached about doing “Chess,” she told producers that having another baby came first.  “And so my husband and I ended up doing IVF, which was in its own right very intense and challenging,” she said. “But you know, we got pregnant and had our daughter, who is wonderful and wild. And then they, you know, said, ‘Would you like to do the show?’ ‘Absolutely!'”

Now, the 39-year-old mother of two is back at the Imperial Theatre, where it all began, serving up another knockout performance with a side of gratitude.

I asked, “What do you think that eight-year-old girl would think, back in that same theatre?”

“I think that she’d be so proud, and she would just say, ‘Thank you,’ ’cause that’s all she wanted,” Michele said. “And it’s still what I want. My love for what I do was definitely reignited during ‘Funny Girl.’ And I’m very grateful for that. But I’m so happy to be here, and to be home.”

To hear Lea Michele perform “Someone Else’s Story,” from “Chess: The Musical,” click on the video player below:

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Lea Michele (Video)

For more info:

     
Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler. 

An Australian man who rushed film star Ariana Grande during the Singapore premiere for “Wicked: For Good” has been deported after completing a nine-day jail term, local media reported.

The man, Johnson Wen, was sent back to Australia and “has been barred from re-entering Singapore,” the city-state’s immigration authority said in a statement quoted by broadcaster CNA.

Grande and other stars were attending the opening night of the highly anticipated film at Universal Studios in Singapore when 26-year-old Wen jumped a barricade and rushed the actor. He put his arm around Grande.

Viral clips showed Grande’s co-star, Cynthia Erivo, rushing to her defense, getting in between the two of them and shoving him away. Wen was then grabbed by security guards and dumped back over the barricade.

Footage shows Erivo and others on the red carpet comforting Grande.

Wen was arrested hours later and charged with “being a public nuisance.” Last week, a court sentenced him to nine days in jail.

After the incident, Wen shared a video on Instagram and thanked Grande for “letting (him) jump on the Yellow Carpet” with her. 

Singapore District Judge Christopher Goh, who issued the jail sentence, called the Australian “attention seeking.”

Wen, who is alleged to have disrupted other global sports events and concerts, “showed a pattern of behaviour” which suggested that he will do it again, the judge had said before last week’s ruling.
The jail term was far below the maximum penalty afforded by law: three months in jail, a fine of $1,500, or both.

Wen has told the court he was “wrong” to think his actions would bear no consequences and promised not to repeat the act.

“Wicked: For Good” was released in the United States on Friday. 

Grande and Erivo have been inseparable during the movie musical’s press tours. In December 2024, Erivo told “CBS Mornings” that the duo made a pact early in production to take care of and support each other. 

“Before we started shooting, both of us had a conversation about making sure that we would take care of each other and make the space that we needed for each other, and take, you know, give each other what we needed, be generous with each other in this thing, because we knew it was a big undertaking,” Erivo said. “We knew we had a big responsibility, but we knew neither of us could really do that alone.”