Funny Girl fans are outraged over Lea Michele’s sexy costume after she replaced Beanie Feldstein

Fans of the Broadway musical Funny Girl are in an uproar over Lea Michele being given a sexier finale costume after she replaced Beanie Feldstein as Fanny Brice in the revival show. 

When Michele, 36, took the stage at the end of her first performance on Tuesday, she was modeling a slinky red beaded dress that bared her arms. The design was completely different than the modest billowy-sleeved version worn by Feldstein, 29. 

TikTok user Alaina Noelle compared the two looks in a viral video, prompting viewers to accuse the show’s producers of ‘fatphobia’ in the comments. 

‘It took no more than three seconds to remove the sleeves for Fanny’s final dress after Beanie left,’ she said. ‘And you can say whatever you want about it, but as a bigger-bodied person, it was noticed, felt, and noted.’

Fans of the Broadway musical Funny Girl were quick to notice that Lea Michele (left) was given a sexier Fanny Brice costume after she replaced Beanie Feldstein (right)

Feldstein, who left the production in July, wore a billowy-sleeved dress for the finale 

At the end of Michele’s first performance on Tuesday, she stepped on stage wearing a skimpier, sleeveless version of the look 

Alaina’s video has been viewed more than 270,000 times since it was posted on Wednesday, and a number of commenters agreed with her.

‘Holy… I went back and looked at Beanie’s dress and it isn’t even in the same concept. That’s a whole other dress. Oh my god,’ one person wrote. 

‘OKAY THIS I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO BRING THIS UP. Beanie deserves so much and deserved SO MUCH BETTER,’ someone else shared. 

‘[Producers] immediately changed the wardrobe after she left to make it more [conventionally] pretty. Might as well tweeted out that they need to cover plus size people,’ Alaina responded. 

TikTok user Alaina Noelle pointed out the difference in a viral video, saying: ‘It took no more than three seconds to remove the sleeves for Fanny’s final dress’

 Other critics have accused the show’s producers of ‘fatphobia’ over the costume change

Feldstein left the production in July, and her understudy July Benko took over until Michele’s return to Broadway this week. Some people pointed out that the sleeves of Benko’s dress were also removed. 

‘My heart goes out to you. As a costume professional I noticed immediately and was livid,’ one person noted. ‘They removed the sleeves a week ago for Julie and I knew….’

Others argued that it was possible Michele and Feldstein has requested their specific costumes, but not everyone was buying that theory. 

Another TikTok user named Lily went viral after duetting Alaina’s video about Michele’s costume upgrade.

Another TikTok user named Lily went viral after duetting Alaina’s video. ‘Shorten the sleeves, shorten the dress, because bodies are meant to be celebrated, right?’ she captioned the clip

The conversation continued on Twitter where critics slammed production over the noticeable difference in costumes

‘Shorten the sleeves, shorten the dress, because bodies are meant to be celebrated, right?’ she captioned the clip, which has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. 

The conversation continued on Twitter where critics shared their outrage over the noticeable difference in costumes. 

‘I know there’s a lot of talk about Funny Girl, but there’s something that I think might be seen as a small detail to some but is an important discussion; Fanny’s finale dress,’ Los Angeles Times journalist Carolyn Burt tweeted. ‘After Beanie left the production, so did the sleeves. And with Lea’s debut comes a new cut as well.’

‘It’s fatphobic to me that Lea’s version of the final costume is so much better than Beanie’s,’ another griped. 

Someone else had a message for the show’s costume designers, writing: ‘I see you putting sleeves on a plus size Fanny and removing them for a straight size Fanny…we see what you’re doing.’