Even before making it big on Fox’s hit Glee, Lea Michele was already a bona fide Broadway star, thanks to 2006′s Spring Awakening. No wonder the theater world is anxious to get her back on the boards. One non-profit theater company in New York has gone so far as to create a show with Michele in mind, the New York Post reports. Reed Prescott, executive director of the New York Theatre Barn, confirms that the brunette belter helped inspire their new musical “Speargrove Presents,” based on a real-life incident in which a town blocked a high school production of “Rent.” He chatted with EW’s Simon Vozick-Levinson about the about the project — and explained why Michele is the best woman for the job:
EW: What can you tell us about the role?
Prescott: It’s the role of Caroline Bonds. It’s a role that’s similar to what she plays on Glee — the queen bee of the high school drama club…. People from the community rewrite the show and take her song out, so she quits the show, which gets misconstrued as a big political move…. At this big school board meeting, she speaks up for herself, and they end up doing a concert of the show at a different location.”
EW: Why Lea?
Prescott: Well, because she has Broadway chops, clearly. She’s actually attended some of our events in the past. We just always had it in mind.
EW: Have you reached out to Lea yet?
Prescott: We haven’t done any hardcore reaching out yet. We’re in the first stage, putting it together a reading.
There is, of course, the little matter of Michele’s insane schedule, as she continues to shoot and promote Glee. Isn’t she way too busy to take on a stage role? Her rep did not return requests for comment. Prescott, meanwhile, remains optimistic. If she says no, “we’ll reach out to someone else,” he says. “But ultimately, we would love Lea Michele.”
Unless she quits the show, there’s no way she could do this. Plus I doubt she would want to tear herself away from all of the red carpet photo ops she likes to take advantage of.
Her and every other celeb in the world?
You mean those events in which either she or the show she’s on is nominated for an award? What a publicity wh$#@ The nerve! :::please note sarcasm:::
Please you don’t see her in the tabloids or anything. she has gone to some events mostly ones dealing with glee.
Don’t make stuff up you know nothng about.
If she started out on Broadway, especially in a show as controversial as Spring Awakening, I could understand if she still had a soft spot for the live stage. I doubt she’d quit Glee, but I can imagine it’ll be a hard decision for her.
Uh the first season of Glee was shot like months before it was picked up by fox… theyve had plenty of rest.. im sure theyr already done with the second season too..
Actually they didn’t even start filming the second season until earlier this month. They didn’t know they had been picked up for another round of episodes and hadn’t prepared.
Actually, They haven’t started filming second season yet because they are in the process of casting 3 new characters in Glee.
Actually, they haven’t started filming the second season yet because they aren’t even done filming the back nine of the first season…so yeah.
Actually, I just wanted to start a sentence with “actually.”
People are confusing the back 9 episodes with the second season. They’re currently shooting the back 9 episodes. They haven’t even cast for the 3 new roles for season 2 yet.
Lol, sounds like someone got slapped down by the pretty girl at school and now harbors a resentment for ‘girls like that’. Grow up, she’s a professional doing her job to promote the show and herself.
She does it for the show, she doesn’t have a choice.
Well, there is the summer…didn’t David Hyde Pearce (first guy I thought of) do lots of things on Broadway during Frasier?
Spamalot was right after Frasier, and Curtains ended its run just a few years ago. So nope, he might have been in rehearsals for Spamalot, maybe, but most likely not. I don’t see how Lea Michele would be able to do both a GLEE filming and a live musical, no doubt she loves both, but she’ll have to stick to Glee, she is already committed to it.
I believe Fox is mandating the cast to go on a live tour. These poor kids won’t get much of a rest anytime soon.
They’re not kids. They’re all in their 20s (the one that plays Finn is 27), excepting the young man who plays Kurt who is 19. Besides, this is their job. They chose it. I wouldn’t get defensive about people who’ve been ready for show business since they were 10 anyway.
excepting? speak english much?
Sorry, Glee Fan, but “excepting” is a legitimate preposition. Please check a dictionary before making a snide comment.
Lea Michele should only do Glee. No other projects.
kevin, lea michele can do what she want.
Actually this makes me sad, that they are being whored out for live performances. In about 10 years the cast will be writing books about how they were cheated out of concert and record sales and royalties, etc.
Unlebievbale how well-written and informative this was.
Well, I was hoping we’d get pictures of the hotty. To bad, no pictures means the story sucks.
Google Images, if you’re so desperate.
Free PR for the troubled NY Theatre Barn by inferring they’re creating a musical whereby they can offer a typecast part to Lea Michelle that she would most certainly refuse due to their lack of ingenuity.
This reeks.
My thoughts exactly
Yes!!!! There is something fishy going on…
My thoughts too!
I would love to see Leah Michele on Broadway, but not as an almost-Rachel. That’d be a little odd. She should try something new!
No wonder she is soooo good. as soon as she started singing “don’t stop believing”, it was so moving, such a voice!
i hope that lea doesn’t accept this. if she did more roles similar to rachel, she’d keep getting type cast. i’d like to see rachel take on a drama. i know she already did one on broadway, but it’d be neat to see her play the lead in a dramatic movie.
Yeah, Doris Day was pretty much typecast all over the place, as was Julie Andrews. And look at the dud careers those two had!
I doubt she’d take this. Maybe for a temporary run if she wants a small break from the screen
Lea IS amazing, I just don’t think she would have time for something like this with Glee being SOO popular and all.
actually in a lot of shows when main actors leave for a while, the writers make a storyline that the character goes on vacation or something like that. they could do that with lea and have another girl take her place for a while while she’s away and then when rachel comes back maybe people forget about her or something. another show did something similar for ashley tisdale.
when ashley tisdale was in the high school musical movies and on the suite life of zack and cody.
Ouch! this just sounds like a really poor attempt by this theater company to piggy back off of the popularity of Glee. But EW.com has really sunk to new lows recycling this pathetic story from the New York Post and passing it along as newsworthy. This site must be struggling to reach the quota of “hits” this month?
New York Theatre Barn is actually a really awesome company. They have this great series that showcases new composers and lyricists every month. They always seem to find the most talented up and coming writers.
I’m glad Lea’s a hit, but it doesn’t seem like she’d want to do a show in which she’s essentially playing someone who’s playing Idina Menzel (because she’d obviously be cast as the Maureen character in RENT)… I assume Lea wants to carve out a career path of her own, instead of playing up the fact that she looks like Idina.
I doubt that they would base the musical OFF the whole situation of RENT, just do something similar. I agree with the Lea/Idina thing though.
@Kate: DHP did a few shows while he was on Frasier, but nothing on Broadway. I remember he did Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks with Uta Hagen, but that was in California. His Broadway career didn’t take off until Spamalot, and that was after Frasier ended. I think Kelsey Grammer did Macbeth on Broadway during Frasier’s run, though (and tanked hardcore — he got awful reviews and the run lasted three weeks). But Frasier was a much less stressful show for the performers than Glee, and there was a lot less off-season promotion. I don’t see Michele having the time or energy for a Broadway show while Glee is running.