Jason Merritt/Getty Images; Gregg DeGuire/PictureGroup via AP IMAGESMove over, Barbra Streisand—there's a new Funny Girl coming to town.
And she's not Lea Michele!
While reports have speculated that the Glee star was the top choice to star in the upcoming revival of Babs' star-making 1964 musical about Fanny Brice, sources now tell me that...
Producers are hot for Lauren Ambrose! Yes, the redheaded beauty best known for her work on Six Feet Under. She's currently playing publicist Jilly Kitzinger in Starz' Torchwood: Miracle Day.
I'm told negotiations are currently underway.
Ambrose is a singer? She certainly is. She's not only a trained opera singer, but the 33-year-old mom of one also fronts her own band, Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class. She also worked with the revival's director, Bartlett Sher, when she made her Broadway debut five years ago in his revival of Clifford Odets' 1935 hit drama, Awake and Sing!
Streisand was only 21 years old when she starred in Funny Girl. The show picked up eight Tony nominations, but was shut out on awards night by Hello, Dolly!
Michele, often compared to Ms. Streisand (especially after belting out one of Funny Girl's signature songs, "Don't Rain On My Parade," on Glee), performed a jawdropping rendition of the show's "My Man" in front of the diva herself when she was honored in February at the MusiCares Person of the Year gala.
The two actually didn't meet until the following day at the Grammys. "As if this night at the Grammys wasn't amazing enough...waiting at the valet... Mrs Barbra Streisand came up to me. I can barely breathe," Michele tweeted. "She was so wonderful, kind and beyond nice. I can't believe I just met my idol. I feel so blessed and thankful right now..."
Funny Girl is set to have a pre-Broadway run at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre from Jan. 15 to Feb. 26, 2012. Ambrose's rep did not immediately comment.
Call us crazy, but maybe it's a good thing Michele won't be the new Funny Girl. Perhaps her inevitbale return to Broadway should be an original show she can call her own.
What do you think? Sound off below.