Funny Girl Understudy-Turned-Star Julie Benko Is Expecting First Child

Julie Benko, the standby-turned-star of Funny Girl, is expecting her first child with her husband Jason Yeager.

The actress announced the pregnancy on July 8 on Instagram, with the caption: “A Broadway baby… for real this time!” The post itself was a video of Benko in the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, performing the pregnant bride number. The caption continued, “[Jason] and I cannot [wait] to meet you, baby, and start clowning around”.

(In the post, Benko joked that Daniel Beeman, a Funny Girl castmate, “is actually the father and baby will come out singing perfect high A’s,” before adding “JK JK.”)

Benko made her Broadway debut in 2014 as an ensemble member and understudy for Cosette in Les Misérables. She gained recognition in 2022 when she temporarily replaced Beanie Feldstein in the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, staying on as the Fanny Brice alternate after Lea Michele took on the role. In 2023, she played Ruth in the Barry Manilow-Bruce Sussman musical Harmony.

Benko has released the albums Introducing Julie Benko (2017) and, with Yeager, Hand in Hand (2022) and the EP Christmas With You (2023). In 2020, she wrote and directed the short film The Newlywed's Guide to Physical Intimacy.

Benko and Yeager, a musician, married in 2021.