Show guide
Death Becomes Her
Death Becomes Her is a dark comedy musical based on the 1992 film about two rival women locked in an eternal, and increasingly undead, feud over beauty and youth.
- Broadway premiere
- 2024
- Music by
- Mattison & Carey
- Genre
- Comedy
- Setting
- 2020s
Death Becomes Her: quick answers
What is Death Becomes Her about?
- Death Becomes Her follows fading star Madeline Ashton and her lifelong rival Helen Sharp, who both drink a potion promising eternal youth, then discover that living forever is gruesome when their bodies keep breaking but refuse to die.
When did Death Becomes Her open on Broadway?
- Death Becomes Her opened on Broadway on November 21, 2024, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, after a Chicago tryout. It played 666 performances before closing on June 28, 2026.
What kind of musical is Death Becomes Her?
- Death Becomes Her is a campy dark musical comedy with an original score by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey and a book by Marco Pennette, adapted from the 1992 film. It won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical.
Where and when is Death Becomes Her set?
- Death Becomes Her opens with Madeline starring on Broadway, jumps ten years into her marriage to Ernest, and ends with an epilogue fifty years later.
Is there a Death Becomes Her movie?
- The musical is based on Robert Zemeckis's 1992 film Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini.
The story of Death Becomes Her
Death Becomes Her follows Madeline Ashton, a fading actress obsessed with youth and beauty, and her lifelong rival Helen Sharp, whose fiance Ernest Menville Madeline steals early in the first act. Desperate to reverse the effects of aging, both women separately seek out the mysterious Viola Van Horn, who offers them a potion that grants eternal life, with unforeseen and increasingly gruesome consequences.
As Madeline and Helen's bodies begin to fall apart while refusing to die, Ernest is caught between the two women, and the show mines dark comedy from vanity, jealousy, and the horror of a rivalry that literally cannot end. Its themes of aging, obsession with appearance, and toxic female rivalry are played for camp and gore rather than tragedy.
The music and the makers
The score was written by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, with a book by Marco Pennette adapting the 1992 film of the same name. Their songs favor bright, brassy, comedy forward numbers built for big personalities and bigger punchlines, in keeping with the show's campy horror comedy tone.
That comic, presentational style is what defines Death Becomes Her's sound on Broadway, prioritizing witty, character driven numbers for Madeline and Helen over conventional romantic ballads, with the show's visual gags and practical effects working hand in hand with the score's theatrical excess.
Death Becomes Her on Broadway
Death Becomes Her opened on Broadway in November 2024 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, starring Megan Hilty as Madeline Ashton, Jennifer Simard as Helen Sharp, Christopher Sieber as Ernest Menville, and Michelle Williams as Viola Van Horn. The production received multiple Tony Award nominations, including nods for Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard.
Adapted from a well known early 1990s film starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis, the musical has been noted for translating the movie's practical effects heavy body horror into live stagecraft, and for giving two veteran musical theatre comediennes a showcase built around rivalry, ego, and immortality.
Death Becomes Her: frequently asked questions
When did Death Becomes Her open on Broadway?
Death Becomes Her opened on Broadway in November 2024 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
Who composed Death Becomes Her?
Julia Mattison and Noel Carey wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by Marco Pennette.
What is Death Becomes Her about?
It follows two rival women, Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp, who both drink a potion granting eternal life and must contend with the gruesome consequences.
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