Julie Benko,
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Actor, Funny Girl
Funny Girl is a tricky show to pull off. It helped make Barbra Streisand famous, but it’s tough to find singers who can carry the musical comedy. Julie Benko carries it once a week at least when the current star, Lea Michele, is off. Benko earned glowing reviews for leading the cast after the former star, Beanie Feldstein, abruptly left the show. Benko “gets closer to the dark heart of the comedy, backfilling its shtick with something like anger,” a New York Times reviewer wrote.
Benko learned to sing eight Fiddler on the Roof roles when she was a teenager in Connecticut, and she performed on the Les Miserables national tour. Her TikToks showing her preparing for work are a show in themselves. She recently recorded a jazz album with her husband, Jason Yeager. When curtains started to rise again, she sent recordings to producers everywhere because in-person auditions hadn’t resumed.
Benko said she learned about funny girls watching Sutton Foster’s breakthrough 2002 show, Thoroughly Modern Millie. She got to know the star while studying at New York University’s master’s program and said she will never forget the time Foster said she hoped they would work together. That hasn’t happened yet, but Foster is starring in another musical playing across the street from Funny Girl.
“I’m still blown away by that,” Benko said.
Next up for Benko? She reportedly signed on for Harmony, a musical by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman.