Star of Funny Girl on Broadway, Beanie Feldstein, has announced on social media that she will leave the production on 31 July, nearly eight weeks sooner than originally planned, due to producers taking “the show in a different direction.”

Her statement said: "Playing Fanny Brice on Broadway has been a lifelong dream of mine, and doing so for the last few months has been a great joy and true honor. Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.

"I will never forget this experience and from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank every single person who came to the August Wilson for the love and support you have shown me and our amazing cast and crew. The people I have had the great joy of bringing Funny Girl to life with every night, both on and off the stage, are all remarkably talented and exceptional humans and I hope you continue to join them on Henry Street after I depart on July 31st."

New casting for Fanny Brice is expected later on today.