Jennifer Simard and Megan Hilty to Star in Reading of Death Becomes Her Musical
(© Tricia Baron / David Gordon)
Universal Theatrical Group will host a private reading in New York this week of the new musical comedy Death Becomes Her, based on the 1992 Universal Pictures film written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp and starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as bitter rivals who both discover the secret to eternal youth and beauty.
The reading will feature Megan Hilty as Madeline Ashton (the role played by Streep in the film), Jennifer Simard as Helen Sharp (originated by Hawn), Christopher Sieber as Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis), Nicole Scherzinger as Viola Van Horn (Isabella Rossellini), and Kevin Smith Kirkwood as Zander Medly. The cast of the reading will also include Marissa Rosen, Nikki Kimbrough, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Abigail Stephenson, Evan Harrington, Josh Lamon, Austin Ku, and Mike Millan.
Death Becomes Her features a book by Marco Pennette and a score by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey. It will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Mary-Mitchell Campbell serves as music supervisor and Ted Arthur is music director.
A production timeline has not been revealed, but UTG has been developing Death Becomes Her for the stage since at least 2017, when we reported that Kristen Chenoweth was attached to the project.
