AceShowbiz - Lea Michele believes it's "sad and unfortunate" that women are pitted against each other. The 36-year-old actress stars as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of "Funny Girl", and she's downplayed talk of any tension between herself and Beanie Feldstein, who headlined the musical when it opened earlier this year.

Lea, who is best known for playing Rachel Berry on the hit TV series "Glee", toldPEOPLE, "I saw the show. I wrote her and told her what an incredible job I thought that she did. I think that everybody just thinks everything is so drama-filled. I also think that people really love the excitement of pitting women against each other, which I think is really sad and unfortunate."

Lea also praised Beanie's performance in the musical. She shared, "I was so grateful to get to see the show. I thought she was hilarious and beautiful and so wonderful. This is not an easy role, and she took it on with such bravery. And I wrote her and told her that."

Meanwhile, Lea previously admitted to being overlooked for her dream role. The actress was desperate for a part in a Broadway production of "West Side Story", but she was overlooked for the role and Lea was instead cast in "Glee" shortly afterwards. She recalled, "I was gutted. I went home and I cried so hard. I'm friends with Idina Menzel, and I remember crying to her, being like, 'What am I going to do? Like, this was my dream role, I have to play this part.' Anyway, a couple weeks later, I end up getting cast on 'Glee', which was the best thing that ever happened to me."