Barbra Streisand Pens "Beautiful" Letter to Lea Michele About Funny Girl Role

Lea Michele explained the letter she received from Barbra Streisand on her Funny Girl role and how she worried that it was all an elaborate prank. Keep reading to find out what she said.

By Amy Lamare Dec 06, 2022 9:13 PMTags
Watch: Barbra Streisand Wrote to Lea Michele About Her Funny Girl Role

With this praise, there's no raining on Lea Michele's parade.

The Glee alum, who is currently starring as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, recently revealed that she got the ultimate seal of approval: a note from the original Fanny Brice herself, Barbra Streisand.

"I got to work the other day, and my dresser Alyssa had this gold envelope," Lea shared on the Dec. 5 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. "It was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, like getting invited. I would think it would arrive on doves, like a special carrier."

And as Lea explains, the letter from Barbra contained a particular sentiment close to the Scream Queens actress' heart, given she's long called Fanny Brice a dream role—and even sang several Funny Girl songs on Glee.

"It was very sweet," she continued. "She wrote me this beautiful letter. But one thing she said in was ‘It's really wonderful when your dreams come true, isn't it?' I just fell to my knees and I called Ryan Murphy, my mom, Jonathan Groff and Michael Mayer. Like, these are the people who need to know. It was great."

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However, given the surreal nature of receiving a letter from the legendary entertainer, Lea noted that there was an element of disbelief.

"I was like ‘wait a second," she added. "How do I know this is not fake? That some person is playing the worst prank on me in the entire world."

Host Seth Meyers chimed in, "You would have to be a sociopath to write that ‘dreams come true' line as a prank."

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But Lea had an ingenious idea of how she could prove the letter was from Barbra. 

"For a second I was like ‘wait a minute' And then I knew that my co-star Ramin [Karimloo], had gotten a letter from her when the show first opened because he knows her, he's performed with her before," she revealed. "So I snuck into his room, found his copy of his letter, and then made sure that the writing was the same. And it was. So that was all I needed."

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