In 1965, Broadway's Winter Garden Theater played the original musical Funny Girl, starring a woman who knew songs. That same year, a guy named Joe Allen opened a place a few blocks away. It was the home of Broadway stars such as Al Pacino and many others. Plus, they served a terrible cheeseburger.
Cheeseburgers are still here, and so are Broadway's elite. Lea Michele has been coming here since her Broadway debut in the 1990s. “I just really love this place,” she said.
And what will she eat? “Burger. I mean, it's always so good here, so good, oh my God,” she said.
But when we met her at Joe Allen's, she wasn't in the mood for a hamburger because she had a show to do. Lea Michele is currently filming the musical Chess. In the series, she plays a brilliant strategist for two world chess champions (played by Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher).
“Chess: The Musical”
“Chess” is a love triangle, a spectacle and a chance for stars to raise the roof of the Imperial Theater – the same place where Michelle made her Broadway debut in 1995 in “Les Miserables” at the age of eight.
Her parents weren't show business people—her dad owned a grocery store—and before she auditioned, they had no idea their daughter could sing. “And as we were leaving, I turned to my mom and said, ‘I’m going to get it. I think I'll get it,' Michelle recalls. “And she said, 'Things like this don't happen to people like us.'
In this case, Mom was wrong: Michel got the role and achieved even greater heights in the musical Spring Awakening, and later became a household name on the popular TV show Glee.
She's faced several challenges along the way, including a difficult pregnancy with her first child in 2020 and criticism on social media that she acted like a diva during her Glee days. But things picked up in 2023 when she was asked to step into the shoes of her idol Barbra Streisand and take over the reins. a difficult revival of Funny Girl.
She said: “I think we all mature as we get older. It's difficult to work in an industry where these stages and periods of life are the focus.”
And what was the pressure like to take over Funny Girl? It was the first time I was really in the spotlight after everything that had happened to me personally,” Michel said. “I wanted to finally show everyone that I could play this role and play it very well.”
Theo Vargo/Getty Images 
Long story short, Michelle killed it and turned a flop show into a hit, despite having a miscarriage while running. And when she was offered to play in “Chess,” she told the producers that another child came first. “And my husband and I ended up doing IVF, which in itself was very stressful and challenging,” she said. “But you know, we got pregnant and had a daughter, wonderful and wild. And then they, you know, said, “Would you like to be on the show?” 'Absolutely!'”
Now the 39-year-old mother of two has returned to the Imperial Theater where it all began and, with a tinge of gratitude, has delivered another stunning performance.
I asked, “What do you think that eight-year-old girl would think if she went back to that same theater?”
“I think she would be so proud and just say, ‘Thank you,’ because that’s all she wanted,” Michelle said. “And I still want it. My love for what I do was definitely rekindled during Funny Girl. And I'm very grateful for that. But I’m so happy to be here and to be home.”
To listen to Lea Michele perform “Someone Else's Story” from Chess: The Musical, click on the video player below:
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch the extended interview with Lea Michele (Video)
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The story was produced by John D'Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.
