I have to admit that from the first time I saw Glee, I loved Lea Michele. The character of Rachel Berry, that "determined to be a star and I don't care who knows it" attitude appealed to me. I recognized that feeling, too, because I remember watching Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl in the movies and having the same feeling of identification. When Streisand finished singing "I'm the Greatest Star" as Fanny Brice, I was convinced. Well, Lea feels it, too. She's a major Streisand fan and she loved singing a Barbra song on Glee.

Every time Lea Michele has had a chance to go diva -- like "Maybe This Time" and "Defying Gravity" -- she's displayed that Streisandesque musical power.

So when the winter finale had the New Directions show choir at sectionals and Rachel stepped up to sing "Don't Rain on My Parade," I was on the edge of my seat. I wondered if Lea would pull it off. I say that because it's a very hard song to do, everything is on the offbeat and it's a driving melody that requires a big voice and a lot of stamina.

In my estimation, Lea Michele's version was fantastic. The best I've heard since Barbra Streisand! I wondered if Lea was worried about singing it and it turns out that she was. First, Funny Girl is her favorite movie of all time and, second, Barbra is her idol.

"She is one of the greatest performers in the entire world. And that song is such a legendary song. But I knew I had it somewhere in me. The fact that Ryan Murphy trusted me and gave me that opportunity is so incredible. And once I went in the recording studio and I sang it once through, it was really the first time I knew that I could do it. I had never sung the song before."

Now, of course, begins the speculation. Perhaps in her hiatus from Glee next spring Broadway should do a revival of Funny Girl with Lea Michele as Fanny Brice? I'd pay for tickets to see that. Do you know that since Streisand, there has never been another production of Funny Girl? Composer Jule Styne, who wrote the score with Bob Merrill, tried for years to get it back on Broadway, but they never found the right actress.

Hmm...maybe Lea's the right actress. And maybe Streisand should come back to Broadway to direct it -- after all, who knows the material better?