Revisiting ‘Death Becomes Her’ Before It Was Transformed Into A Musical Comedy on Broadway
Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, came out in 1992 from director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future trilogy). Bruce Willis is also considered a star of the movie, and no offense to him, but he’s entirely beside the point. Literally, anyone could have played him. The powerhouses of this movie are Streep and Hawn. Madeline (Streep) and Helen (Hawn) have been frenemies for years. Thanks to petty revenge and magical intervention, they get to be frenemies for all eternity, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
With the arrival of Death Becomes Her on Broadway as the newest musical at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York, which previously housed the revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, now felt like the perfect time to revisit this classic film! This new musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her stars Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard as Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp, respectively. There’s no time like the present to rewind time and look at the movie that inspired it all!
[Warning: My review of Death Becomes Her contains some spoilers!]
Death Becomes Her has a very dark premise
Madeline and Helen have known each other a long time, and Madeline has always needed to take what Helen had as a form of validation. But when Madeline steals Helen’s fiancé, it’s more than Helen can take. She lets herself go, becoming an overweight, shut-in cat lady who has to be forcefully committed by the police. She’s obsessed with Madeline and wants nothing more than to kill her. Therapy isn’t helping; can anything save her?
Meanwhile, Madeline is obsessed with staying young and beautiful. She feels that her career as an actress demands it, and let’s face it, in Hollywood in the 90s, it did. Her husband, Helen’s old fiancé, was the best plastic surgeon in LA and helped keep her looking good. Until her mental abuse caused him to drink so much that he lost his license. Now, the only thing he can work on is cadavers as an undertaker to the rich and famous.
Then, one day, Madeline receives an invitation to a book signing. It appears that Helen has written a book. Madeline goes to rub it in her face how much better she looks. But lo and behold, Helen looks amazing. She’s not a crazy, fat cat lady anymore. She’s thin, she’s young, and she looks fantastic. Madeline is insanely jealous. She’ll do anything to look that good. She is even taking a magic potion that costs an obscene amount of money. The woman who gives her the potion warns her, “Take care of your body; you’re going to be together a long time.” It was a good warning… if only Madeline had listened.
When Madeline gets home, she berates her husband, and he kills her! But then comes the first big plot twist. When the sorceress told her that she’d be with her body for a long time, she meant it. Madeline didn’t actually die. Then Helen shows up, and Madeline kills her! Except she doesn’t die either! Helen had also taken the potion. So the two undead women keep attacking each other in increasingly funny ways until they realize the futility of it all and decide to come to a reconciliation. They’re not exactly friends, but as the only people they know who can relate to their new problems, they decide to stick it out, their own sort of family. It’s not a mushy, touchy-feeling ending, but the right one for the movie.
This classic comedy has more set-up than I remember, but with plenty of laughs and surprisingly good special effects
So, with all the things I wasn’t allowed to watch as a kid, I find it rather funny that this was one of my favorite movies when I was about eight or nine. I found all the antics Madeline and Helen go through trying to kill each other hilarious (I was a special kid). Rewatching it as an adult, first, I am amazed my mom actually let me watch it; second, I don’t know how I got through all the setup as a kid. The excellent stuff doesn’t start until about 50 minutes into the movie. Before that, it’s mostly set up. There are some good jokes and situational humor that I’m pretty sure eight-year-old me didn’t get and should have found boring. But apparently, the magic and humor of the second half was enough to keep me watching.
Of course, the best part is after Madeline and Helen die. The way they react to becoming the undead, their ultra-violent catfight, and their frenemy truce are all hilarious. Streep and Hawn give outstanding performances. Their comedic chops really are on display in Death Becomes Her. As a kid, I just focused on all the obvious body humor of two people trying to kill each other who can’t be killed. As an adult, I caught on to all the other humorous aspects of their situation and the things they said to each other. I found myself laughing almost the whole time.
One thing that surprised me when I rewatched Death Becomes Her is how good the special effects still looked. Often, when I rewatch old movies, the effects look cheesy or poorly done. But I really didn’t feel like that when I watched Death Becomes Her. When Madeline’s head is on backward, her face doesn’t look out of place. When Helen has a giant hole in her stomach, the illusion still feels real. I’m not sure how the crew achieved the special effects over thirty years ago, but they’ve held up, and it made rewatching the movie that much better.
Translating the Death Becomes Her movie to the stage
Death Becomes Her is a fantastic movie. A considerable part of what makes it so good is the performances of Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. I’m not sure how a stage production without them will do. They absolutely have to find two women who have similar chemistry if they want any hope of pulling off a good production. Bruce Willis’ character, Ernest, is much less important. He does have some great lines, but he’s barely more important than the furniture compared to Helen and Madeline. I sincerely hope that the stage production keeps the focus on the two proud, flawed, powerful women who the story is really all about.
The other part of what makes Death Becomes Her so good is the special effects. I’m not entirely sure how they’re going to pull off some of the more spectacular effects off on stage. Honestly, I think they’ll have to change some of the effects quite a bit to make them work in a live production. I just hope that whatever changes they make allow the humor of the situation to come through still.
Death Becomes Her is still worth watching
Sometimes, when we rewatch beloved childhood movies, we’re disappointed. What we’ve remembered doesn’t quite match up with reality. Luckily for me, Death Becomes Her still left me feeling happy. Sure, it wasn’t exactly like I remembered, but it was funny and smart, with strong female characters to enjoy. Some people might say that because Madeline and Helen are fighting over a man, they’re not really as strong as all that.
But if you really watch the movie, it’s not actually Ernest they’re fighting over. They’re fighting for respect. Helen is looking for Madeline to respect her and not steal what she has. Madeline is trying to gain Helen’s respect by showing her she is good enough to have anything that Helen does. Sadly, they spend so much energy hurting each other to try and gain that respect. And it’s sad that even in the end, they never truly manage to gain that respect.
The movie ends with them still as frenemies. They’re forced together by circumstances, but they don’t really like each other or want to be together. Modern sensibilities might argue that they deserve better endings, but the humor of the story would be entirely ruined if they had better endings. And let’s face it, sometimes funny is better than happy. So I sincerely hope that the stage production doesn’t change the ending. I am eager to find out what Broadway does with Death Becomes Her. I hope they do it well.
Death Becomes Her the musical comedy is currently at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in NY, so get your tickets and witness an exciting night of theater! Have you seen this movie before? Do you plan to catch this Broadway musical? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or @boxseatbabes and @CosmicCircusBroadway.com on Bluesky!
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