Megan Hilty always knew “Death Becomes Her” would make a great musical — and now she’s headlining the show on Broadway.
Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:
The fan-favorite stage and screen actress (“Smash,” “9 to 5”) is starring with Broadway scene-stealer Jennifer Simard (“Once Upon a One More Time,” “Company”) in Universal Theatrical Group’s new stage adaptation of the 1992 movie comedy, which is now on Broadway after a well-received run in Chicago earlier this year. In a conversation with Hilty and Simard on “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast, Hilty — also currently appearing on the smallscreen in Prime Video’s “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” — explained why she knew “Death Becomes Her” could be an exemplary a musical even before it actually became one.
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“The camp and the general over-the-topness of everything just lends itself to breaking into song,” she said. “That can be a really difficult thing to justify when you’re making something that was originally not a musical into a musical, but you can watch this movie and go: ‘Yeah, it would make sense if they burst out into song. Nobody would question it.’ On top of it being just a cult classic that has a built-in audience that would love and adore it.”
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Playing roles originally portrayed in the movie by Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, Hilty and Simard play frenemies whose quest to stay youthful — and to one-up each other at every opportunity — takes a surreal turn when the magic potion they both drink leads to unexpected complications. Simard said she appreciated the contemporary POV the musical brings to a story about society’s obsession with staying young.
The show, for instance, eschews the fat suit that Hawn wore in the film. And Simard added that she can bring a nuanced perspective to the interludes in which her character is institutionalized for mental health issues — because she herself has experience with such issues and has always made it a point to raise awareness. “The comedy that I have to bring to that moment is very broad, but it’s okay, because I can speak to that,” she said. “I have this line: ‘I’m on new medication.’ Well, guess what? So am I!”
Hilty noted that she feels a personal connection to the societal pressures felt by her character, the vain actress Madeline Ashton. “I do very much connect with the idea that Madeline is an actress in a certain period of her life, questioning her physicality and her relevance because of it, and what I’m willing to do and not do to try to achieve a level of perfection and youth and beauty that is frankly unachievable,” she revealed. “These are all things that I deal with on a very personal level.”
On the latest “Stagecraft” episode, the duo also discussed their ongoing affection for Broadway — it’s Hilty’s first time back in eight years, whereas Simard has been in three shows in the last three years — and took listeners behind the scenes of the comical special effects that are used to achieve the film’s famous bodily contortions.
“There are a lot of departments involved — prosthetics, electrical, the dance department. It’s a very delicate dance that takes great care and time,” Simard said of the effects. Then she added with a laugh, “And if you’re not careful, you can start to feel like an animatronic at the Hall of Presidents!”
To hear the entire conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Broadway Podcast Network. New episodes of “Stagecraft” are released every other week.
