Ramin Karimloo, Jane Lynch and Jared Grimes to Join Beanie Feldstein in Funny Girl on Broadway

Hey, Mr. Arnstein! Tony and Olivier Award nominee Ramin Karimloo, five-time Emmy winner Jane Lynch and quadruple threat Jared Grimes are set to star in the first-ever Broadway revival of Funny Girl alongside the previously announced Beanie Feldstein, who will lead the musical as Fanny Brice. The production, directed by Michael Mayer, will begin performances on March 26, 2022 and officially open on April 24, 2022 at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.

Karimloo, who will play Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl, is a Tony nominee for his leading turn as Jean Valjean in the 2014 production of Les Misérables. He originated the role of Gleb in Broadway's Anastasia and The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies. In the West End he has appeared in The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Murder Ballad. He is set to star in a one-night-only London concert of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Camelot and the world premiere of Rumi: The Musical. As previously announced, Karimloo will star in Tomorrow Morning, a new movie musical adapted from Laurence Mark Wythe's 2006 stage work and directed by Nick Winston. His most recent screen credit is starring for the past two seasons as Kian Madani in the BBC One medical drama, Holby City.

Lynch will portray Mrs. Rosie Brice, Fanny's mother, in Funny Girl. "I am thrilled beyond words to be playing Fanny’s mother on Broadway. And somewhere in Heaven my Mom is asking, ‘Who taught her everything she knows?’”

Lynch currently appears on the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as well as hosting the NBC game show The Weakest Link. She is well known for her Emmy-winning role as host of Hollywood Game Night and her Emmy and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Sue Sylvester on Glee. Lynch made her her Broadway debut in the 2013 production of Annie. Her additional stage work includes Oh Sister, My Sister at the Tamarind Theatre and Love, Loss and What I Wore at off-Broadway's Westside Theatre. Her numerous screen credits include the films Wreck It Ralph I and II, The Three Stooges, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Role Models, Julie & Julia, A Mighty Wind, Best In Show and For Your Consideration, and television roles on Manifesto, Space Force, Only Murders in the Building, Criminal Minds, The Good Fight and more.

Grimes, who is well-known for his singing, dancing, acting and choreographing, is taking on the role of Eddie Ryan in the musical revival. His most recent Broadway appearance was in the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier’s Play. His other theater credits include After Midnight on Broadway, Twist, directed by Debbie Allen, Babes in Arms at the Goodspeed Opera House, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and more. He is known for his recurring role on NBC’s Manifest. His other screen credits include Swing Kids, The Marc Pease Experience, Little Manhattan, First Born and more. He made his choreography debut in Cirque Du Soleil's Banana Shpeel and served as a choreographer of After Midnight on Broadway and associate choreographer of Broadway's Holler If You Hear Me.

Funny Girl features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and a book by Isobel Lennart and a revised book by Harvey Fierstein. The new production features choreography by Ellenore Scott, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel and scenic design by David Zinn.

The bittersweet comedy follows the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she'd never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

This marks the first time Funny Girl will return to Broadway since its debut 58 years ago. The original production of Funny Girl premiered on Broadway in 1964 and famously starred Barbra Streisand. It was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Streisand reprised her leading turn as Fanny Brice in the film adaptation of the musical in 1968, for which she won an Academy Award.

Additional casting and the complete creative team will be announced shortly.