DEATH BECOMES HER Previews- Page 5

[Huss417]

Posted: 10/26/24 at 4:21pm

Looking at purchasing tickets but wanted to know if the stage is a high as it was for Sweeney? How far back in the orchestra would be ideal for this?

Thanks. :)

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 10/26/24 at 4:53pm

Heh. As soon as I saw the clips last night, I wondered how many people would be asking where Michelle was.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 10/26/24 at 4:58pm

MemorableUserName said: "On Wednesday, after Ernest repairedthe women but before they came out, Ernest fired the assistant, who sanga brief number about being free and cashing in once his NDA expires. Is that different from Chicago?"

This change makes me really happy! Talk about an actor taking a meaningless role and turning it into something! I’m so happy the production team noticed and expanded the role! Congrats to the assistant!!!

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/26/24 at 10:50pm

Was Megan back tonight?

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 10/26/24 at 11:49pm

ACL2006 said: "Was Megan back tonight?"

 Kaleigh Cronin played Madeline Saturday night.

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 10/27/24 at 12:52am

After seeing the show in Chicago a few times, it was a treat to see the numerous changes made to the show Saturday night.

There’s no way I can recall every change and in order.

1. Stepan’s harp was returned. It was only used in Chicago in the mansion set during the first days of tryouts. The harp has resurfaced in Madeline’s NY apartment.

2. In addition to Stepan’s new, brief exit number in Act 2, JOSH LAMON’s Elvis again tries to access Viola’s mansion, but is turned away at the door.

3. The unnecessary waltz has been removed. The tantalizing tango has been expanded.

4. I realize that not every costume can be immediately ready for understudy Kaleigh Cronin, but the first quick change in FOR THE GAZE was absent. A larger sprinkler headdress adorns the Victor, Victoria frock.

The understudy leopard outfit is a not-a-match attempt. In ALIVE FOREVER, the Chicago attire had been Helen in fire engine red and Madeline in blue. Saturday night had Helen in purple, and Madeline in what looked like darker purple.

The best costume update is Helen’s paratrooper red jumper. It’s been upgraded to a white wedding gown. White Claw sponsored the wedding. The Ensemble attendants remain in the scene until the doves are released.

5. A few of Michelle William’s lines have been smartly given to the Ensemble.

6. In the book signing scene, the club has been renamed from Meryl’s to Cafe Songbird. The 4 tall tables have been replaced by lower surfaces. 

7. Several songs have new passages - in both music and lyrics, as in THAT WAS THEN THIS IS NOW, and FALLING APART. There are new lyrics in the emergency room. HIT ME, too.

I miss Ernest’s GOODBYE FOREVER, removed from the Act 2 score, but Ernest has better lyrics in the short replacement. The closing song in the cemetery between Madeline and Helen doesn’t hit the mark as well as the Chicago ending.

8. Prop report: Madeline no longer opens her apartment wine with a sword. 

Ernest is no longer hit upside the head with 2 shovels. It’s now a lamp and a silver something from the drink table. The Andy Warhol-like painting is new.

An aquarium of youth has been added to Viola’s home.

9. Someone in the mezzanine loudly foreshadowed “NOW?” when Viola cautioned Madeline with a warning.

10. Great additions with the over-the-top body doubles in HIT ME.

11. “10 years later” and “50 years later” visual timelines have been added

12. The skin care commercial shoot has been moved into Madeline’s mansion.

Updated On: 10/27/24 at 12:52 AM

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/27/24 at 1:00am

Anyone remember Friday's wedding sponsor? Neither husband nor I can remember...

[rg7759]

Posted: 10/27/24 at 9:49am

Franks red hot s&#t

[bes888]

Posted: 10/27/24 at 1:04pm

Saw this Wednesday evening (first preview), and this is easily one of the best new musicals Broadway has seen in a long time. It has a the feel of a classic Broadway musical but it’s fresh and a reminder that these types of shows and performances can work in 2024 without needing a contemporary/pop heavy score or a catalog of music that wasn’t written for the stage. The songs achieve what they are supposed to do in a musical…push the story forward, act as an opportunity for storytelling, and there are plenty of earworms to leave the theatre humming. The orchestrations are a standout element that brings everything together and are chock full of motifs that remind me of some of the great musicals in the cannon.
 

To answer a previous posters question: you can absolutely see the money on stage. There are bold choices in support of the story rather than simply for the glitz and glam.
 

The show knows exactly what it is — pure camp (I’d argue with more substance than one might expect). This is a rare occasion where the musical far surpasses the movie. It is not a carbon copy, and it stands well on its own. This is the first time I walked out of a movie to stage adaptation and immediately thought that the piece was justified and deserved to be told onstage.
 

The show probably won’t be for those “high brow” theatre folks that can’t allow themselves to buy into a show of this style/tone — but not every show aligns with everyone’s tastes. I hope those audience members can at least have fun and feel entertained for 2.5 hours, because there’s a lot to appreciate when you don’t walk into a theatre and leave behind the mentality that you’re only there to rip a piece of art to shreds.
 

My only criticism (keeping in mind I saw first preview): I will say, the vogue number has to go. It comes out of nowhere, and hijacks the tone of the piece for 90 seconds — Kinda cheapens it. I do hope that is reworked or cut by opening.


Overall, this is the show I’ll be recommending to folks this season. Can’t wait to go back myself!

[AlmostFamous3]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 10:47am

Any news if Megan is back tonight?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 10:54am

AlmostFamous3 said: "Any news ifMegan is back tonight?"

Over on Reddit, there's word of a COVID outbreak within the show. Curious to see what happens tonight.

[rburton66]

Posted: 10/28/24 at 11:26pm

No understudies at tonight’s performance. I’m sure people will be divided on their favorites, but I thought Jennifer Simard did a brilliant job of bringing her own comic sensibilities to the role while paying homage to Goldie Hawn.
 

For those keeping track, the wedding this time was sponsored by Chili’s. 

[hayden6]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 1:25am

So glad Megan was back in this evening! She and Jennifer both have some fantastic moments to shine and the audience was loving both of them tonight. They bring so much to their roles — stellar casting.

Michelle looks incredible (entrance applause every time she appeared) and her singing lives up to the hype. Christopher is hilarious and a good sport about being the butt of many jokes — I think he knows that the audience is there for the women. I enjoyed how Madeline’s assistant was fleshed out a bit and loved his new moment in Act 2. There were several moments in the second half that were cleaned up since Chicago, and all very much for the better. The song for the ball was giving RuPaul a bit, but I loved the new dance moments. Overall an incredibly satisfying production and well worth a ticket.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 12:49pm

ACL2006 said: "AlmostFamous3 said: "Any news ifMegan is back tonight?"

Over on Reddit, there's word of a COVID outbreak within the show. Curious to see what happens tonight."

 

So wait a minute -- you mean to say that something on Reddit was GASP.....untrue???

Fetch me my smelling salts!

 

[mridley2]

Posted: 10/29/24 at 8:41pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I will always advise people to never ever ever sit in the rear orchestra (or even do standing room) at the Lunt. The entire show all you hear is the staff running around talking LOUDLY to each other, like there isn't a show going on. It's been like that ever since I can remember and I'll never understand."

Boy at that the truth. I recall standing room at the Lunt for Sweeney Todd with Groban and I literally shushed the ushers more than once. They are running around like rats looking for cheese. folding their chairs, moving their chairs, talking to each other.  I think this all leads to the house manager. A good house manager would not allow this crap to occur.

[the.hard.part]

Posted: 10/31/24 at 8:58pm

How long has the show been running? Thank you!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/31/24 at 9:36pm

the.hard.part said: "How long has the show been running? Thank you!"

Going on 4 months now. 

[the.hard.part]

Posted: 10/31/24 at 10:06pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "the.hard.part said: "How long has the show been running? Thank you!"

Going on 4 months now."

I meant is the 2:30 run time pretty accurate not how many days/months but thanks anyway.

[NiceWork2]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 12:16am

The curtain call started right at 1030. And the show started kinda late because it was such a big Halloween crowd tonight. And it would've ended at 

10

29 were it not for the never ending e. Applause for m. Williams. I'm not a fan of big time singers and celebrities coming to broadway.  She does have a great voice

[choclatechip45]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 1:16am

Tonight's wedding sponsor was Grindr.

[Wick3]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 2:00am

They also placed cards in each playbill (mine had Christopher Sieber). Not sure if they’ve been doing this before or only tonight.

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 7:04am

Wick3 said: "They also placed cards in each playbill (mine had Christopher Sieber). Not sure if they’ve been doing this before or only tonight."

It seemed to be a tonight only special. I managed to get all 4 and then some dropped spares. At the stage door, Sieber signed mine and was surprised to see it (he thought I made them). And he said “Wow! I didn’t even get one of these”. So I gave him one of my spares that I found and he was thankful.

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 7:33am

I went last night and, Halloween hype aside, I thought the show was fine, but didn’t really knock my socks off like I was hoping. As I’ve been saying to my friends, much like the leading ladies themselves, the show has some clunky parts that seemed cobbled together by glue and a prayer.

Performances: Uniformly high quality as to be expected from this caliber of talent. Hilty is making a Broadway grand return for the ages. Simard is reliably deadpan. Sieber does very well with a character who is a hapless simp of a man. And notably, Michelle Williams really just swoops in and commands the stage as Viola when she’s on. My only quibble with her is that her line delivery is somewhat stilted at times, but I think it’s something that she will work on over time. Special shoutout to Taurean Everett for making an absolute meal of his role as Viola’s assistant while also being a lithe and sexy and standout in the ensemble.

Book/Score: Definitely stuffed to the gills with some of the quickest zingers I’ve ever heard on a Broadway stage, and I admittedly cackled quite a bit. However, I did miss some of the more iconic lines (particularly the “Flaccid Clown” bit). The score never really fully gelled for me. This is where I feel like the show seemed to strain and feel artificial and cobbled together. At times, it felt like it was going from one song directly into the next with no breathing room, and since the songs mostly have the same generic, Broadway-style quality, it started to blend together after a while. As others have cited, the Rejuvenation Ball scene/song “Live To Serve” can definitely be truncated or cut entirely as it doesn’t contribute anything other than artificial padding.

Sets/Costumes: The set is definitely where a good chunk of money went, between projection design, pillars, and grand staircases - nobody could accuse this show of not looking as glamorous as it can be. Same thing with the costumes and makeup design. That team seemed to really outdo themselves and make everyone look fabulous (aside from Josh Lamon’s unfortunate “Fat B*stard man bun wig”) My only issue is that:

 

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They need to either pick more fitting ensemblists or add some additional makeup/padding during the fight scene since, from the rear of the orchestra, I could clearly see it was two men who were body doubling for Megan and Jennifer and that cheapened the overall effect.

One very annoying TikTok “influencer” at the stage door kept raving about how this is the show that’s going to be Best Musical and also workshopping catchy lines (“NOW…a BeSt MuSiCaL?!) for his eventual review. I think it definitely will mop the floor with design categories, but there are too many new shows coming in to already call anything (some with far superior books/scores). This would be a show I would wait a bit to see if they tighten up (no pun intended) in previews and have the cast more settled.

[NiceWork2]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 3:06pm

For anyone who saw the shows that Megan Hilty missed - meaning last friday and last Saturday, can anyone inform me if Kaleigh Cronin did the death staircase scene herself?    I saw just enough of her face in last night's scene to identify the s. double as being her.     But when she went on as madeline, did she just do the scene herself?   It was a great scene.   Also, kudos to the Lunt ushers for being on the ball and confronting those trying to record the show, and there were many.   It's obvious the ushers were constantly scanning for offenders, and they found them alright.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/1/24 at 3:13pm

Kaleigh is the stunt double? In Chicago it was Warren Yang. Anyway, I would presume Kaleigh wouldn’t be able to be her own stunt double because that’s when Megan normally gets the twisted neck prosthetic put on. 

Updated On: 11/1/24 at 03:13 PM