Death Becomes Her star Megan Hilty dropped in on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon January 27 to do it all "For the Gaze." See the Broadway favorite perform the new musical's opening number as Madeline Ashton above.
The musical, currently running at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, is based on the 1992 film of the same name that starred Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. Hilty is joined in the cast by Jennifer Simard as Helen Sharp, Ashton's rival who joins her to gain eternal youth via a magic potion with some dirty side effects. Christopher Sieber and Michelle Williams are co-starring as Ernest Menville and Viola Van Horn, respectively. All four are reprising their performances from the musical's Chicago pre-Broadway tryout last year.
Joining them are Taurean Everett as Chagall, Josh Lamon as Stefan; and Marija Abney, Lauren Celentano, Sarita Colón, Kaleigh Cronin, Natalie Charle Ellis, Michael Graceffa, Neil Haskell, Kolton Krouse, Sarah Meahl, Ximone Rose, Sir Brock Warren, Bud Weber, Ryan Worsing, and Warren Yang. Swings Kyle Brown, Lakota Knuckle, Johanna Moise, and Amy Quanbeck round out the company. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting.
Christopher Gattelli is directing and choreographing. The work features a book by Marco Pennette, adapted from the screenplay by Martin Donovan and David Koepp; and songs by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey.
The production also features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Justin Townsend, sound design by Peter Hylenski, hair and wig design by Charles J. LaPointe, makeup design by Joe Dulude II, fight direction by Cha Ramos, music supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, music direction by Ben Cohn, orchestrations by Doug Besterman, and dance and incidental music arrangements by Sam Davis. Rachel Sterner is production stage manager.
The film, directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis, was noted for its relatively early use of CGI to achieve effects like star Meryl Streep's head turned completely backwards and a gaping hole going through her co-star Goldie Hawn. This musical version has been kicking around since at least 2017, when Kristin Chenoweth was attached to star, then with a separate creative team.
Universal Theatrical Group—overseen by Jimmy Horowitz and led by Lowe Cunningham—is producing.
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