Like the iconic 1992 surrealist black comedy on which it’s based, Death Becomes Her has been enjoying somewhat of a cult following on Broadway since premiering in November. When I arrived at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to pick up my tickets one night in early April, I overheard someone telling the box office agent that it was his third time seeing the show. One of my best friends, meanwhile, has also seen the musical multiple times.
The absurdist plot makes it easy to understand the appeal: Two frenemies — fading Hollywood actress Madeline Ashton (Megan Hilty) and her friend Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard), whose fiancé Madeline stole — take a potion that promises eternal youth and beauty, with darkly humorous results (as well as a twisted neck and hole in the stomach along the way). And the show’s timeless subject matter — the lose-lose situation in which women often find themselves as they age — is something nearly everybody can relate to.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people saying of women in the entertainment field, ‘Wow, she has really let herself go,’ and conversely, ‘Ooh wow, she’s had too much work done,’” Simard says. (The topic is also seeing a resurgence both on stage and screen: Two blocks from Death Becomes Her, Sunset Boulevard lays bare the realities of how Hollywood discards starlets viewed as past their prime, and Demi Moore recently earned an Oscar nod and a Golden Globe for the body horror film The Substance, in which she plays — yes — an aging actress who takes a drug in a quest to recapture her youth.)
In the show, whose cast album is out Thursday from Concord Theatricals, two-time Tony nominee Simard delivers Helen’s lines with a quiet, yet razor-sharp and deadpan manner. While preparing for the role, she says she knew better than to replicate Goldie Hawn’s portrayal in the original Robert Zemeckis film.
“It would be a disservice to myself and to Goldie Hawn and to the audience if I tried to replicate what she did because there’s only one Goldie Hawn and this is not Forbidden Broadway, this is not an impression, this is not Saturday Night Live, right?” she says. “What every actor, in my opinion, has to do is bring themselves to any part and themselves to any project.”
Here, Simard talks about not being ashamed of non-invasive beauty procedures, how Agatha Christie films help her unwind, and why she and co-star Hilty are astrological matches made in heaven.
On women aging in the public eye:
My thought process on it has always been, do what makes you happy. Do what makes you feel good to be the best version of yourself, whatever that is or isn’t. And anything else is actually nobody else’s business. As far as today’s audience is concerned, this is not a new tale. [But] we do have more accessibility to non-invasive beauty procedures perhaps than we did when the movie came out. You know, all the fillers and Botox and injections — but there was always a product, wasn’t there? So I think those references have made it into the show to some degree and are certainly something that a lot of women, I know myself included, have dabbled in — and proudly so. I make no apologies for it.
There are some themes in the movie that we did cut out. As successful as it was in the film, for example, we opted not to use an enlarging suit for Helen when she’s going down a depression spiral. So it’s just that dance of finding what is appropriate for today’s culture. You must update all material, no matter how good it is — and Death Becomes Her is wonderful source material.
On quiet time before showtime:
I’m inevitably the first one at the theater or one of the top three. I get there maybe three hours before curtain. It’s important for me to breathe and have quiet. I love frequencies, and sound frequency is very important to me. I have a speaker in my room and I’ll listen to healing DNA frequency, I think it’s 528. I’ll listen to angel frequency, then I’ll just say, “Hey Siri, play angel frequency. Hey Siri, play healing DNA,” depending on where I am. And it just sort of… Oh, you know what? I just said it, and now my computer might play it.
On the prop she’s taking from set:
When Helen starts the show in what I call her Diane Keaton look — the tan coat and cream turtleneck — I have a gold locket and I actually kissed it during my first song. It was really special for me on opening night to have this talisman, because when my late mother, Yvette, passed 10 years ago, I asked for a locket of her hair. So I took one of the hairs, and it’s inside the locket. Now, my mom is with me onstage every night, and that means a great deal to me. It’s part of the costume, but don’t think it won’t be mine. I’ll be stealing it.
On the fuel that keeps her going:
There’s a lot of maintenance to keep this machine going. I’ll always have dairy-free protein shakes in my fridge. I have a throat spray at the ready. I have those little nebulizers to breathe through if you need to moisten your voice. I have glycerin tablets, I have Ricola sugar-free lozenges, I have water immediately — I drink so much water in a day and in the show. The two most important things for doing the show are sleep and hydration. And I feel like I need to get a sponsorship with Liquid IV…specifically the sugar-free white peach helped me out — @Liquid I.V., jennlovesyou.com.
On unwinding with Agatha Christie:
Before bed, I love television. I make no apologies for it. I have studied psychology and forensic psychology, and courses in criminology, and that is my passion other than what I do for a living. So Dateline is probably my favorite and my go-to. I also like fake true crime. I like the British Britbox crime shows, and of course I know the Agatha Christie canon — sometimes when you’re in a grassy knoll of Great Britain, you really can escape your work life.
On being astrologically compatible with Megan Hilty:
She celebrated her birthday recently, and it occurred to me, I was like, “Oh, you’re an Aries.” I’m Leo. And those are two fire signs. And I think that’s why it works. I mean, we just get on great. We respect one another and listen to one another and want the other one to shine and want the other one to make the basket and want the other one to win and want the other to succeed. When you do that, everyone wins.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
