Hilty & Simard to lead DEATH BECOMES HER in Chicago spring 2024; Broadway in the fall- Page 11

[Marlothom]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 1:43am

t the third night of the DEATH tryout,the televised wedding between Madeline Ashtonand Ernest Medville had a brief sponsorship message by Popeye's Chicken. What is happening?On night one, the wedding hada verbalad for KFC - the sponsorship line is delivered by Madeline. On night 2, the line was Get In the Zone, Autozone.How often is this line going to change? Is it an on-the-spot lineonly known by Megan Hilty? Are they testing different lines?"

it's so odd that they keep playing with this as the original KFC joke got a fairly good laugh.   I wish they would try to "jazz up" Act 2 with proper number with the dead celebrities but I worry they're only going to have Elvis - I wonder if this is a copyright/clearance issue.  Is Elvis now in the public domain? 

[RevolutionaryCostume]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 4:04am

Thank you so much BalconyClub!  I look forward to your posts.

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 9:49am

Those curtain and morgue mishaps and the responses got some of the biggest laughs of the night. Megan and Jennifer are comic genius. And apparently great with the ad libs. 
 

Seems to me that wedding sponsorship might change nightly, just for fun, and might also be an ad lib from Megan. 
 

The cast, including Michelle Williams, seemed much more comfortable and having more fun than the first preview. 

[SrMrtn]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 5:55pm

Did they have an understudy list?

[Menken Fan]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 6:05pm

SrMrtn said: "Did they have an understudy list?"

For Madeline Ashton, Helen Sharp, and Viola Van Horn: Kaleigh Cronin

For Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp: Natalie Charle Ellis

For Viola Van Horn: Johanna Moise

For Ernest Menville: Bud Weber, Ryan Worsing

 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 6:22pm

Oh, yay, I love BalconyClub updates. I'll be following this closely. Hearing about all the little changes is fascinating to me.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 12:28am

Went back tonight.  They now have smoke coming out of Helen's "hole" which adds to the effect.  The wedding promotion tonight was Skittles, Taste the Rainbow.  I sat really close up front and noticed they add some make up to Megan's jaw as "time progresses" in Act 1 to make her skin look saggy - the transformation is still kinda hard to read, though I noticed Megan has wires in her boobs so after she takes the potion and stand in front of the mirror, two ensemble members pull on the wires to make her boobs perk up.  My main discovery today was in the basement scene, seeing an Emerson College diploma for Ernest, which made me smile- that has to be an inside joke from someone in production - I don't think Emerson has a reputable pre-med program (there is also a Tufts diploma in the back).  Go Lions! 

[Observation]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 1:33am

I saw the show again this evening after winning the lottery. 
 

The crowd was not as enthusiastic as they were opening night, but there to be expected, I guess. 
 

I noticed some changes but definitely cannot remember enough to give a detailed analysis like BalconyClub, but some of the scene transitions are clunky to me, some of the dialogue has changed just slightly enough that it appears they’re aware and working on it. I’m also not sure what I think about Madeline’s song in act one after seeing Helen’s book signing. She is having a breakdown on an empty set except for a stand that says “Valet” on it. The song also sounds like 4 different songs mashed into one. Megan does what she can with it, but I just didn't care for it. 
 

I agree with others who are saying Michelle felt less nervous, but my conclusion is that she brings great vocals and looks beautiful, an actress, she ain’t. After the show I was discussing with a friend who was seeing it for the first time (I did not tell them a single thing about my opinions on seeing it Tuesday so they could walk in with a blind eye!) and someone mentioned it appears as if she doesn’t know what to do with her arms/hands when in the book scenes… and that explained a lot to me. She also had some dropped lyrics in “Siempre Viva” but recovered beautifully and moved on. 
 

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this show, I’ve never really been a multiple viewer of anything, but I must admit, I’ve enjoyed watching the creative process evolve in just the most subtle ways. 

Updated On: 5/4/24 at 01:33 AM

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 2:13am

Menken Fan said: "SrMrtn said: "Did they have an understudy list?"

For Madeline Ashton, Helen Sharp, and Viola Van Horn: Kaleigh Cronin

For Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp: Natalie Charle Ellis

For Viola Van Horn: Johanna Moise

For Ernest Menville: Bud Weber, Ryan Worsing

"

Ah! Natalie is awesome. Would love to see her play one of the ladies.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 1:41pm

Received a post-show survey link and they also provided a discount code on a pair of tickets to any performance. 

[magicfingers]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 2:15pm

I’d love to see the survey! Do you have a link?

[MatthewS1]

Posted: 5/4/24 at 5:34pm

Any reports of people getting moved up like past Chicago out of town tryouts? I got $25 tix on the 25th for tomorrow night and our seats are really far back in the mezz, but there are many fully empty rows in front of us. 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 1:05am

MatthewS1 said: "Any reports of people getting moved up like past Chicago out of town tryouts? ..."

Though the production staffs of tryouts Paradise Square and Boop routinely upgraded balcony seat buyers to lower seats, the perk has not happened during the Death tryout.

But the back of the mezzanine is fine for this show. The show plays big. Speakers are mounted above each exit door beyond top row T. There are also 3 speakers mounted along each outer wall.

Earlier in the week, when Madeline's assistant Stephan announces that Helen Sharp is on her way back to Madeline's Palace Theatre dressing room, he offered to set out Madeline's photo cutout to save Madeline from having to meet up with Helen.  

But Stephan's line in the last two performances has changed to "I could tell her you ate some bad clams." Once in the dressing room, writer Helen's line about "almost getting into the New Yorker" has been axed.

Madeline and Ernest are up to five different wedding sponsors over 5 nights.  Saturday night's ad was for Frosted Flakes, They're Great!

At the end of the wedding scene, Stephan helps the continuity of the book when he says "release the doves."

The biggest change tonight was the first appearance of Madeline's mansion. Instead of Ernest casually coasting in with the furniture, we get a better stage picture with diva Madeline posturing mid staircase. Stephan enters after feeding the swans, and Ernest enters thru the front door.

Madeline's putdown regarding men's scrotums is now directed to both Ernest and Stephan, to good effect, but the very funny $200 haircut line was cut. Though Madeline previously kvetched about her recent Dogstronaut movie being a "technicolor turd", she now bragged that there is not a poop bag big enough to pick up that turd.

There were new lines for Ernest covering man boob consultations and Doctors without Borders.

During one production number Saturday, when Viola Van Horn boasts "look at my ass", the Ensemble did not echo with 'ass' as was done Friday.

Christopher Sieber's ERNEST MENVILLE basement number ends with him falling into a chair. But the chair fell back Saturday night, and slowly tipped ALL the way over. Sieber rolled out of the chair towards the audience and continued the scene. He soon returned the chair to its upright position. The stage right exit of the basement wall began as the scene shifted to the staircase of the mansion, with Madeline and Helen flowing downstairs in their ALIVE FOREVER gowns. 

But then the basement wall stopped exiting. Half of the wall was still visible as the women came down the steps. When the women realized what was happening, they quietly exited the stage behind the basement wall.

STAY WITH US AS WE UNTWIST A SMALL TECHNICAL ISSUE - a woman's voice calmly filled the house. Maybe only 1 minute and a few seconds passed. Once the basement rolled off, the women returned to the stage, with the passive aggressive laughing heard in the show's ads. Madeline adlibbed about that genius Menville.

Updated On: 5/5/24 at 01:05 AM

[Ke3]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 8:18am

While it's true the film is going for a certain over the top humour, the film carries the tone largely because it understands itself as a genre piece. It was not trying to be for the gays it was trying to be a B-Movie sci-fi homage. And at the end of the day the poster a few pages back was correct. Intentional camp is incredibly hard to do. And frankly, musicals are the worst at trying to do it in my experience.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 9:27am

XANADU did it quite successfully in 2007. 

[DaveyG]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 10:07am

BrodyFosse123 said: "XANADU did it quite successfully in 2007."

Tone-wise, you are absolutely right. But business-wise, Death Becomes Her has such a steep hill to climb in order to succeed. Xanadu played a 600 seat theatre on Broadway with a small cast and band. Death Becomes Her is going to a 1500 seat theatre with a huge cast, orchestra, and set. 

It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 10:59am

Seeing this in a few days and can’t wait. I am a bit worried with the “THIS IS FOR THE GAYS (GAZE)” mood of it. The original didn’t open in 1992 for gay men to enjoy or advertising to them. Hell, I’m sure it becoming a Queer classic wasn’t even in their radar when filming. But we pick up on these things and “claim them” and turn them into classics. Like “Mommie Dearest” and so many others before and after, and the thing is they’re never once trying to vie for our love. It just happens organically. 

So taking something that a whole generation might not know now and turning it into an almost parody of itself as a “wink wink nudge nudge” to gays takes away from what made it so great and so camp. A wink here and there would be fine probably but turning the whole thing into that, I fear takes away from what made it work in the first place. I’m excited but also really worried because of all that. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 11:15am

Great point, Jordan. It’s right along the lines of letting the audience come to you and not the other way around. SUNSET BLVD has countless camp moments but never once plays them up. They are what they are and are played honestly. Hopefully they tone it down and focus on playing the comedy aspects instead of “camping” up the obvious for the gay’s whooping and shouting in their seats. This shouldn’t be a live-action Tex Avery cartoon. 

[BETTY22]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 11:24am

This was a rough first draft. I'm sure they will do the work to make it better. 

[BJR]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 11:28am

Jordan Catalano said: "Seeing this in a few days and can’t wait. I am a bit worried with the “THIS IS FOR THE GAYS (GAZE)” mood of it. The original didn’t open in 1992 for gay men to enjoy or advertising to them. Hell, I’m sure it becoming a Queer classic wasn’t even in their radar when filming. But we pick up on these things and “claim them” and turn them into classics. Like “Mommie Dearest” and so many others before and after, and the thing is they’re never once trying to vie for our love. It just happens organically.

So taking something that a whole generation might not know now and turning it into an almost parody of itself as a “wink wink nudge nudge” to gays takes away from what made it so great and so camp. A wink here and there would be fine probably but turning the whole thing into that, I fear takes away from what made it work in the first place. I’m excited but also really worried because of all that."

Well put. It also misunderstand camp. Camp takes itself seriously. Yes, the original is a comedy, but Meryl and Goldie play it borderline melodrama, which makes it both fun and its over-the-top extremes, camp.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 11:36am

Goldie Hawn barely cracked a smile in the film. She was so serious and it was SO delicious. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 12:06pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Seeing this in a few days and can’t wait. I am a bit worried with the “THIS IS FOR THE GAYS (GAZE)” mood of it. The original didn’t open in 1992 for gay men to enjoy or advertising to them. Hell, I’m sure it becoming a Queer classic wasn’t even in their radar when filming. But we pick up on these things and “claim them” and turn them into classics. Like “Mommie Dearest” and so many others before and after, and the thing is they’re never once trying to vie for our love. It just happens organically.

So taking something that a whole generation might not know now and turning it into an almost parody of itself as a “wink wink nudge nudge” to gays takes away from what made it so great and so camp. A wink here and there would be fine probably but turning the whole thing into that, I fear takes away from what made it work in the first place. I’m excited but also really worried because of all that."

This. I’ll be curious what your thoughts are on the staircase fall based on the way you greatly described the parody/camp nature of what’s going on. 

But we also need to consider, they’re trying to find a balance of staying true to the original story without playing it as if today was 1992 and this is high melodrama. There’s over 30 years of nostalgia and devotion to the source material and its camp status… and there can surely be some give and take that the team takes to their advantage on playing to that.

For many, it worked (at least based on over enthusiastic audience response at a first preview) and for many it won’t. I believe opening night is on or around May 19, so I’ll be curious to how this continues to develop, even as they look ahead to their Broadway transfer. I hope they take advantage of the time and try to open in the spring, but I’m sure it’ll be the fall. Then I’ll have to arrange a show weekend for this, Sunset, and Tammy Faye. I’m going “camping” that weekend. 😉 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 12:12pm

Thanks Jordan, Ke3, Brody, BJR for articulating what I was trying to get at with my initial post. And, also, yes, Xanadu found this balance perfectly, so let’s hope DBH lands more in that direction. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 12:25pm

As a giant fan of the movie I'm sad I won't get to see this in Chicago, but the early reports about tone and content don't exactly bode well for a large-scale musical with a $20 million+ pricetag.

What's being described sounds incredibly niche.

XANADU limping to 500 performances at the Helen Hayes in 2007-08 is quite a different scale of show than something playing the Cadillac Palace or the Lunt.

[itsahopi]

Posted: 5/5/24 at 1:38pm

Not that this board allows much time for things to settle, but this stars three beloved staples of Broadway who’ve all been Tony nominated for comedic performances so I’m gonna give it more than five minutes with an audience. There’s a reason standup comedians tryout material before filming specials.