Death Becomes Her Musical Creeps Closer to Broadway in First-Look at Show's Official Artwork (Exclusive)

The stage adaptation of the 1992 cult classic begins performances at New York City's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Oct. 23

Death Becomes Her Musical
Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in 'Death Becomes Her'. Photo:

Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2024

Broadway's Death Becomes Her has some deadly new artwork, and PEOPLE has the exclusive debut.

The stage adaptation of the 1992 cult classic — about two frenemies with a grudge that lasts forever after they take a magical potion that gives them eternal beauty — embraces the film's iconic moments in the imagery, with an illustration of stars Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard standing in two killer poses.

If the image looks familiar, that could be because it's a twist on the art from the movie, which featured Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.

Streep played Madeline Ashton, a beauty-obsessed actress who steals away Ernest (Willis), the plastic surgeon fiancé of her childhood friend and longtime rival Helen Sharp (Hawn). As Madeline uses Ernest to cling to her rapidly fading stardom and Helen plots her revenge, the two separately take a chance on a potion from Viola Van Horn (Isabella Rossellini), a mysterious woman with a secret that’s to die for.

On stage, Hilty and Simard are stepping into the roles created by Streep and Hawn, respectively. The two Tony Award nominees are joined by fellow Tony nominee Christopher Sieber (Ernest) and Grammy winner Michelle Williams, the Destiny's Child singer who will play Viola.

Death Becomes Her Musical Poster
Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her'.

Franz Szony

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Death Becomes Her won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. The film is currently streaming free with ads on Freevee.

The musical is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli. It features a book by Marco Pennette, and an original score by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey. The musical is produced by the Universal Theatrical Group.

Preview performances begin Wednesday, Oct. 23 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City, ahead of an opening on Thursday, Nov. 21.

In addition to Hilty, Simard, Sieber and Williams, the rest of the Death Becomes Her cast will include Marija Abney, Lauren Celentano, Sarita Colon, Kaleigh Cronin, Natalie Charle Ellis, Taurean Everett, Michael Graceffa, Neil Haskell, Kolton Krouse, Josh Lamon, Sarah Meahl, Ximone Rose, Sir Brock Warren, Bud Weber, Ryan Worsing and Warren Yang.

The show will also feature Kyle Brown, Lakota Knuckle, Johanna Moise and Amy Quanbeck as swings.

Death Becomes Her had an out-of-town tryout this past spring at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago, where it opened up to rave reviews.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Back in December, Hilty, 43, opened up to PEOPLE about the musical, the mother of two insisting that the show is "good enough to uproot my entire family and move them across the country for a year."

"Madeline Ashton is such a delightful part, and they've written such incredible songs for me to sing," she said. "What I love is that in general, not just for my character, but for everything, they made such smart changes in adapting it to the stage. They didn't just pluck it from the movie and set it on stage. It really is crafted for the theater, and there's such wonderful Easter eggs in it for people who love the film."

Hilty adds: "It's just enough that it gives everybody what they want and remember from the film, but it also breathes a whole new, different kind of life into the story."

Tickets to Death Becomes Her are now on sale.

Comments
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. PEOPLE does not endorse the opinions and views shared by readers in our comment sections.

Related Articles