After becoming a cult hit, the musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her proves that it is not immortal after all.
Based on the 1992 film starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis, Death Becomes Her officially opened on Broadway November 21, 2024 after a successful preview season at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York. The production began its Broadway run nearly 30 days after previews began.
Originally starring Megan Hilty (Wicked, Smash), Jennifer Simard (Shrek The Musical, Hello, Dolly!), Christopher Sieber (Shrek The Musical, Two of a Kind), and Michelle Williams (Originally of Destiny’s Child fame). Death Becomes Her took off at full speed garnering 10 Tony nominations in the 2025 season and eventually winning for Best Costume Design, with Paul Tazewell of Wicked film costume designing fame taking away the prize.
That was not the only notable event for the musical at the 2025 awards. One of the—if not THE—most intensive performances of the evening’s performances was given by Hilty leading the cast performing “For the Gaze” featuring several quick changes, most notably Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz into daughter Liza Minelli. The strain of doing these immersive performances eventually caused Hilty to need to take a leave of absence. She says in a statement on her Instagram, “I love my job. Madeline Ashton is by far the most challenging and rewarding role I have ever taken on. The lengths to which I have gone to make sure I can physically do the show is a job in itself—the regimen is too long for this post—but I do it joyfully because, as I mentioned before, I LOVE what I do. Which is why it is so painful to say that I will be stepping away from my beloved DBH family for 3-4 weeks while I recover from a vocal injury that only time can heal.”
Hilty handed over the reigns of Madeline Ashton on Sunday, January 11.
Now the show is set to close its doors within the next month and without recouping its initial investment, per Deadline. Though, this can be attributed to any number of factors—for one, the ever-increasing price of show tickets after the COVID shutdown in 2020. Often linked to notable names, Leslie Odom Jr. performance Hamilton tickets were reported to go for between $450 and $1,500 per person when the original Aaron Burr portrayer returned to the Richard Rogers theater for a limited engagement in 2025, per Facebook page Musicals Daily.
However, this author suspects that the culprit for Death Becomes Her specifically was down to its extreme special effects, costume changes and makeup.
Death Becomes Her becomes the latest in a stream of 2025 musicals that have shuttered before their time. It is in the company of such productions as Smash (loosely based on the 2012 NBC show starring Hilty and Katharine McPhee), Redwood, Suffs, Floyd Collins and The Queen of Versailles.
It plays its final Broadway performance on Sunday, June 28.
However, all hope is not lost. Death Becomes Her is set to embark on a North American tour beginning in fall 2026. Presale/membership tickets are available now through the Denver Center of The Performing Arts. Running May 25 through June 6, 2027, tickets go on sale to the public Tuesday, November 10.
Photo courtesy of social media
