All the 'Death Becomes Her' movie moments we hope to see on stage
The 1992 film starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn has numerous iconic lines and terrifyingly funny, supernatural scenes fans will look out for in the musical.
Sempre viva! The words, uttered ominously in the 1992 movie Death Becomes Her, mean always alive. It’s fitting, as this hilarious cautionary tale about chasing eternal youth is getting revitalized on Broadway as a musical by Marco Pennette (book) and Julia Mattison and Noel Carey (music and lyrics).
Tony Award nominees Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard star as the age-obsessed actress Madeline Ashton and author Helen Sharp, characters originated on screen by Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. Christopher Sieber plays Bruce Willis's role, Ernest, who comes between the fractious frenemies. In for Isabella Rossellini, Destiny’s Child alum Michelle Williams stirs things up as a mysterious woman selling immortality in a bottle.
Director/choreographer Christopher Gattelli’s production, seen earlier this year in Chicago, begins performances October 23 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. We’re eager to see how the cult classic movie lives anew on stage — here are the iconic moments we’re hoping to see.
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Songbird! flaps its wings
Death Becomes Her filmmaker Robert Zemeckis establishes the anti-aging theme in the movie’s cheeky and cheesy opening moment. “I see me — actress, woman, star, and lover,” belts Madeline in a nutty number from Songbird!, an absurd, fictional Broadway musical flop based on Tennessee Willliams’s Sweet Bird of Youth.
The Death Becomes Her musical instead features Madeline performing a song called "For the Gaze" from her fictional Broadway revue Me! Me! Me! Phonetically, "For the Gaze" is a pun: Madeline lives for others' gaze, and her career thrives — as with the Death Becomes Her film itself — thanks to her gay fanbase.
As a more direct nod to Songbird!, however, Helen's book release party takes place at the Songbird Cafe in the musical.
The potion reveal
Madeline’s desperate need for youth leads her to the lavish lair of Viola Van Horn (Lisle Von Rhuman in the film), who possesses an elixir that stops the aging process dead in its tracks.
Madeline, mesmerized, locks her eyes on the ornate bottle as it casts an otherworldly glow. The moment foreshadows the drastic and unsettling changes to come while setting an alternately goofy and spooky tone.
A belated word of caution
Every Faustian bargain comes with a price and potential pitfalls, and immortality is no exception. After Madeline drinks the glowing potion, there’s an iconic exchange.
“Now, a warning,” Lisle tells Madeline. “Now, a warning?!” snaps Madeline, who doesn’t appreciate the too-little-too-late timing.
Pennette told New York Theatre Guide that while he made changes to the story, he also preserved lines “the audience has really responded to.” This moment, he said, “is a big one.”
Madeline’s stunning makeover
Death Becomes Her won an Oscar for its computer-generated visual effects, which were groundbreaking at the time. Madeline’s transformation is one of the film’s most memorable moments. After downing the potion, her face shines with youthful radiance and her figure is restored, well, top to bottom.
“I’m a girl,” she purrs as she gazes in a mirror. This moment captures the allure and peril of vanity.
Madeline’s head spins
Staircases are constant menaces. After Madeline falls down one, her body becomes mangled and misaligned to the point where her head faces backwards. Grotesque and comically absurd, the image is on the poster for the musical, so it’s a safe bet it made the cut for the show.
"I can see right through you!"
An equally iconic big-screen moment comes when Helen gets a shotgun blast through her belly. The incident leaves her with a gaping hole in her stomach — which, thanks to the potion, is non-fatal. This shocking twist balances horror and comedy perfectly.
“A close friend of mine knows this movie from top to bottom,” Williams told New York Theatre Guide, referring to her former Destiny's Child bandmate] Kelly Rowland. "She knows every line. She’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, are they going to do the hole in the stomach?’”
Judging, again, by the show poster, it appears that they are. How? Get tickets to Death Becomes Her on Broadway to find out.
Get Death Becomes Her tickets now.
Photo credit: Death Becomes Her in Chicago. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)
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