There’s a wondrous elixir in the campy musical “Death Becomes Her,” which opened Thursday night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
I don’t mean the nuclear-pink liquid that grants eternal youth in exchange for becoming the walking dead, but the comedy starring stars Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard.
Simply put, they kill it.
Originally played by Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as a pair of jealous, vindictive, neurotic and ultimately dead narcissists, the actresses write jokes from every letter and semicolon of Marco Penette’s Katy Book.
No moment is wasted – and Simard and Hilti are such no-holds-barred risk-takers that they may very well be wasted themselves.
His twisted protagonists from Robert Zemeckis’ cult 1992 film are glamorous actress Madeline Ashton (Hilty) and adventurous writer Helen Sharp (Simard), competitive frenemies obsessed with brutally outwitting each other.
So, it appears, there are Simard and Hilti. The game pair joked and the crowd took verbal and actual jabs, as if it was a WWE match. (Although a quick scan around the house reveals that no one has accidentally turned on a WWE match in “Death Becomes Her”).
The audience’s screams, especially during the vastly superior first act, help distract from the slippery conditions for a largely new musical: the songs by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey are mediocre at best. And their number is very high.
The lyrics are often clever and mischievous, but the music is sidelined in favor of vocal acrobatics. The only memorable tune, the main theme, is only hummable as it is a dead ringer for the darker title song “Kiss of the Spider Woman”.
The most entertaining number of the show, Razzmatazz, is the second one. Helen and her doctor fiancé Ernest (Christopher Sieber, good as always, but underutilized) attend the Broadway show “Me!” I go to meet Madeline. Me! Me!” and Hilty sings a silly song called “For the Gaze”, as in, “I do it for the gaze.”
If I need to tell you why it’s funny, “Death Becomes Her” is definitely not the show for you.
Soon, the mean Madeline steals Ernest from Helen and sends him to a mental ward.
Ten years later, the spurned ex-girlfriend has mysteriously blossomed into a bombshell who graces red carpets, while the former actress has let herself go and is trapped in a loveless, alcohol-filled marriage.
At a party, a smooth-talking gentleman spots Madeline wandering by and hands her the business card of Viola Van Horn (Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams, deliciously dry). He says that Viola can solve all his problems.
Hilty, bubbly and savage, blasts out with “Rose Turns” called “Falling Apart” and then Madeline goes to Viola’s mansion to drink her magic potion. Abracadabra! With luscious hair, tight skin and a radiant glow of youth, she suddenly looks 20 years younger.
Too bad she’s also a corpse with no pulse – just like the hysterical Simard’s mad Helen, hell-bent on destroying her best friend.
Zemeckis’ film, like many of his films, was largely created to push the boundaries of technology. Streep and Hawn’s body contortions and serious injuries won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
Director Christopher Gattelli finds great ways to acknowledge that legacy on stage. Using dance, drag-queen-style body doubles and illusions, the appropriately over-the-top production recreates head decapitation, stomping and, most famously, a 360-degree head turn caused by a firearm. Makes.
Since Act 2 doesn’t narratively have as much drive or emotion as the first, and the songs still suck, Gattelli should have included even more body horror schtick. Demi Moore movie “The Substance” It’s a lesson in how building too much excitement can freshen up a story.
But whenever the material sags, like aging skin, its sensational stars breathe new life into the show.
Even though the music may not have a clear heartbeat, Hilty and Simard ensure that “Death Becomes Her” remains fun and great.
