No one was going to dampen Lea Michele's joyous moment. The Glee alumna shared a heartwarming story of how, at the age of just 8, she seized the opportunity to make her Broadway debut in 1995. "An open call was out for the Broadway show Les Misérables, and my friend wanted to audition," Lea revealed in an interview with Elle published on October 20. "The night before, her father suffered a heart attack, and her mother called my mom, pleading, 'Please, you have to take her to the audition.'"
Despite the emotional turmoil, the now-39-year-old saw a chance, even though her parents were unaware of her hidden talents. "I said, 'Well, I'm going to try out too. If they're taking her, I'm going too,'" Lea recalled. "My parents said, 'Well, you can't sing.' But they didn't know. I had never sung before."
She added, "I practiced in my room a song. I sang 'Angel of Music' from Phantom of the Opera." After the open call audition, the Spring Awakening star – who shares kids Ever Leo, 5, and Emery Sol, 14 months, with husband Zandy Reich – noted that the casting directors were impressed. "When we left, they asked my mom, 'Who are you? Does she have an agent?'" she explained. "I had no headshot or anything. And when we left, I said to my mom, 'I think I'm going to get this.' And she said, 'Things like this don't happen to people like us.'"
But they did happen for Lea, who added, "Two weeks later, I was performing on Broadway." Now, the Funny Girl actress is set to star in Chess, her sixth Broadway show – all happening in the same theater where she performed in Les Misérables. "I'm so grateful," Lea said. "I can't imagine being anywhere else in my life. This is where I feel like I am meant to be."
As for how her childhood friend fared since that 1995 audition? "She's OK," Lea shared with a laugh, noting that the two are still friends. "She's good."
