Hilty & Simard to lead DEATH BECOMES HER in Chicago spring 2024; Broadway in the fall- Page 10

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 9:24pm

Interesting to see Universal is producing this one solo. Kind of taking the Disney approach. Is that a first for them? 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 11:34pm

I’m not with the show and I don’t work at the theatre, but it’s a hobby to see changes from one weeknight to other weeknights.

Wednesday night’s show already felt tighter, with a more confident Michelle Williams.

Act I ran 1 hour 19 minutes.

Act Il ran 50 minutes, including bows.

Elvis’s role has been lessened. He no longer knocks on the mansion door of Viola Van Horn but still inhabits the scene amongst the Ensemble.

In his place, Madeline and Helen knock on the door.

The cemetery scene in which the preacher speaks to the mourners has been moved from upstage to downstage.

The reference about KFC has been dropped.

Updated On: 5/1/24 at 11:34 PM

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 5/1/24 at 11:48pm

I'm sorry but i haven't seen the movie or know anything about this (dumb teenager here)

But the vial thing is reminding me of the dark crystal and i'm living for it (I will now go watch the movie immediately) 

 

 

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:08am

BalconyClub said: "I’m not with the show and I don’t work at the theatre, but it’s a hobby to see changes from oneweeknightto other weeknights.

Wednesday night’s show already felt tighter, with a more confident Michelle Williams.

Act I ran 1 hour 19 minutes.

Act Ilran 50 minutes, including bows.

Elvis’s role has been lessened. He no longer knocks on the mansion door of Viola Van Horn but still inhabitsthe scene amongst the Ensemble.

In his place, Madeline and Helen knock on the door.

The cemetery scene in which the preacher speaksto the mourners has been moved from upstage to downstage.

The referenceabout KFC has been dropped."

Ok. I'm not opposed to you working on the show or not but your attention to detail reeks of an intern reading production notes of all the daily changes. 

[Observation]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:10am

Bill Snibson said: "BalconyClub said: "I’m not with the show and I don’t work at the theatre, but it’s a hobby to see changes from oneweeknightto other weeknights.

Wednesday night’s show already felt tighter, with a more confident Michelle Williams.

Act I ran 1 hour 19 minutes.

Act Ilran 50 minutes, including bows.

Elvis’s role has been lessened. He no longer knocks on the mansion door of Viola Van Horn but still inhabitsthe scene amongst the Ensemble.

In his place, Madeline and Helen knock on the door.

The cemetery scene in which the preacher speaksto the mourners has been moved from upstage to downstage.

The referenceabout KFC has been dropped."

Ok. I'm not opposed to you working on the show or not but yourattention to detail reeks of an intern reading production notes of all the daily changes."

They literally said it was a hobby of theirs... why be so rude to someone's hobby? 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 5:53am

Bill Snibson said: "Ok. I'm not opposed to you working on the show or not but yourattention to detail reeks of an intern reading production notes of all the daily changes."

Wht are you so rude every single time you pop up it seems? They said they do this as a hobby and they’ve done this for other Chicago tryouts, notably Boop and the digests of changes were interesting to a good deal of posters. Maybe it’s time for you to log off.

 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 6:19am

I thought I remembered BalconyClub offering the same reports for The Devil Wears Prada so I checked the thread, and interestingly enough Bill Snibson didn't seem to have a problem with their attention to detail then, since s/he was commenting and responding to them throughout that thread.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1153172&page=11

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 7:00am

BalconyClub said: "I’m not with the show and I don’t work at the theatre, but it’s a hobby to see changes from oneweeknightto other weeknights.

Wednesday night’s show already felt tighter, with a more confident Michelle Williams.

Act I ran 1 hour 19 minutes.

Act Ilran 50 minutes, including bows.

Elvis’s role has been lessened. He no longer knocks on the mansion door of Viola Van Horn but still inhabitsthe scene amongst the Ensemble.

In his place, Madeline and Helen knock on the door.

The cemetery scene in which the preacher speaksto the mourners has been moved from upstage to downstage.

The referenceabout KFC has been dropped."

This is fascinating! The process for previews is so interesting, I can see why you love doing it! Please keep us updated on anymore changes. 

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 8:35am

I'm not a big fan of the movie. I've seen it maybe twice in 20 years and liked it fine but... don't know it well enough to know famous lines. So that's where I'm coming from. 

I thought this was mostly great. The performances and timing were REALLY spectacular for a second preview. The book is really, really, really funny. I think it could better integrate moments of pathos but it definitely isn't necessary if that's not what they're going for. There still is a touch of emotion but they could lean in a bit more. It's already in good shape structurally and has so much humor that the leads really make a meal of. 

The set is swell. Hilty's Mansion and Michele William's Mansion are highlights, look expensive and lavish. The various other locations are fine if not as memorable or lush. 

Christopher Sieber and Jennifer Simard are giving, like, perfect performances. They're just so fleshed out, so funny, perfect timing and GREAT singing. Megan Hilty is also terrific but could add a slightly stronger spine to the arc of her character. She also does not have great material to sing and the material she does have often sits where her voice is nasal-y. She's hilarious, though, and does make the a gorgon of a character mostly human. It's so great to see these three performers get spectacular lead roles that allow them to show us everything they can do. Michele Williams is stiff but sounds and looks terrific. A different performer could find more (or any) humor in the role but honestly everyone else is so funny I don't know if we need that. She gets the job done fine.

About the music... unfortunately that's were the show hits a snag. The music isn't great. Many of the songs feel like intros to much better songs that never start. They rarely have buttons, they don't build, and they never soar. I think with a lot of the songs they have now, they could re-arrange or just add a build to... the songs that are there ARE funny and do their job... they're just not musical theater songs. They are the kind of songs you'd encounter in a Second City comedy revue. Funny but immediately forgettable. If they could somehow whip up 2 or 3 earworms in the next month... they'd really have something. Williams has two songs that best emerge above the pack, ones that folks might leave the theater humming. Simard and Seiber have a duet that is workmanlike but funny and satisfying. Sieber has a TERRIFIC comedy number that he sells like a real musical comedy hero (and is staged delightfully) but even that's not a great tune. The 11 o'clock belty duet does deliver but even that isn't quite good enough to make you forgive the mostly meh music that's come before. 

It's weird to say the musical staging is also a let-down, given who is directing. The few chorus numbers are not exciting and do not climax. A chase sequence that could be a REAL dance showstopper is messy and confused. The big numbers just don't feel like big numbers in a musical. Shoot me before I finish this sentence but I longed for a touch of Casey Nicholaw or Jerry Mitchell's ability to blandly get the job done. 

As it is, it's a great time. It's unfortunately not a great musical. It IS fixable though, I think. We need just a few better songs and some straightening out and jazzing up of the musical numbers and I think this COULD be a really great show.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:30am

Reports of this being campy, big, broad and pandering make me nervous. The movie is a comedy, sure, the performances are big (especially Bruce Willis, in what I think is one of his best) but everything is grounded and taken very seriously. It's satire, not out and out parody. I think that's why it works. Intentional camp is probably one of the hardest things to pull off and one of the hardest things to sit through when it's not pulled off. I don't want to be winked and nudged at for 2.5 hours. That said, I'm still hoping this is a success. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:38am

How does Williams keep getting jobs? She was horrendous in Aida and Chicago and she left Once On This Island after a week.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:42am

ACL2006 said: "How does Williams keep getting jobs? She was horrendous in Aida and Chicago and she left Once On This Island after a week."

She puts butts in the seats, has a great voice, and a devoted fanbase. I'm not necessarily a fan, but the number of people there JUST for her was surprising, in a good way. They probably would not have seen the show otherwise.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:47am

Reports of this being campy, big, broad and pandering make me nervous. The movie is a comedy, sure, the performances are big (especially Bruce Willis, in what I think is one of his best) but everything is grounded and taken very seriously.

Sadly, most overuse the word "camp" and truly don't understand the definition of what the word means. Words like "satire" and "dark comedy" evade their vernacular.  In the 80s the overkill word of the day was "avant garde" for just about anything. Today it's the word "iconic."  EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is iconic these days.  

[Kad]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:56am

I can think of many words to describe the movie, and “campy, big, and broad” are three of them. It opens with a  Broadway musical adaptation of Sweet Bird of Youth that features a disco dance break. Goldie Hawn wears a fat suit and eats frosting from a can while losing her mind. Streep’s tongue-waggling delivery of the word “flaccid.”  Any of the iconic lines. It is an extremely over the top movie. The only understated performance is Isabella Rossellini, but even that becomes a strange ethereality when compared to everything around her. The only reality it’s grounded in is its own made-up one. 

Updated On: 5/2/24 at 11:56 AM

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 11:59am

Kad said: "I can think of many words to describe the movie, and “campy, big, and broad” are three of them. It opens with a Broadway musicaladaptation of Sweet Bird of Youth that features a disco dance break. Goldie Hawn wears a fat suit and eats frosting from a can while losing her mind. Streep’s tongue-waggling delivery of the word “flaccid.” Any of the iconic lines. It is an extremelyover the topmovie. The only reality it’s grounded in is its own made-up one."


Yes. Thank you. Some of the takes on this thread are bizarre. Even for Broadwayworld.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:02pm

Does Simard eat frosting from the can? 

[inception]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:05pm

Is Williams the Isabella Rossellini character from the film?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:10pm

inception said: "Is Williams the Isabella Rossellini character from the film?"

Yes

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:11pm

No frosting from a can. They find other ways to express that tho. 

Williams is that character, tho the character is more present though still mysterious.

[Observation]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:16pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Does Simard eat frosting from the can?"

In the first preview she did not eat frosting from a can, but she did eat what I *think* were coconut bon-bons. I couldn't tell exactly what it was from where I was sitting, but she stuffed her face and said something about "coconuts are fruit so it's healthy." 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:40pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Does Simard eat frosting from the can?"

The fat suit Helen is no longer involved in the plot and instead:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Helen crashes Mad and Ernest's wedding in a parachute (shown on a projection, then Hel having an entrance from offstage in a full jumpsuit) and after some hysterics is whisked away to an institution where she later has an "at one" style number/bit with a nurse about how Mad must be eliminated (from her mind).

 

[Kad]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 12:51pm

Frankly, I fully expected the fat Helen stuff to be heavily revised. It’s really the one part of the movie that doesn’t play well today, since it’s just “fat people are gross but funny” tropes. 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 5/2/24 at 3:56pm

Kad said: "I can think of many words to describe the movie, and “campy, big, and broad” are three of them. It opens with a Broadway musicaladaptation of Sweet Bird of Youth that features a disco dance break. Goldie Hawn wears a fat suit and eats frosting from a can while losing her mind. Streep’s tongue-waggling delivery of the word “flaccid.” Any of the iconic lines. It is an extremelyover the topmovie. The only understated performance is Isabella Rossellini, but even that becomes a strangeethereality when compared to everything around her.The only reality it’s grounded in is its own made-up one."

It’s funny, I don’t disagree with anything you say here. I must not be articulating what I mean very well. I guess it’s just that the movie still feels grounded in some sort of reality and there isn’t a ton of, like, winking at the audience. There’s a trust in the audience that sometimes musical adaptations seem to elide. 

[BalconyClub]

Posted: 5/3/24 at 1:07am

Helen Sharp tasted the wedding cake on nights 1 and 2, but not on night 3.

Tonight, Elvis was spotted in the Opening Ensemble number, a bit hidden. He was slithering upright, upstage.

I finally got the brief Victor, Victoria reference in EVERYTHING I DO IS FOR THE GAZE/GAYS.  One of Madeline's costumes mimics Julie Andrews's Le Jazz Hot outfit with it's tiny water sprinkler headdress.  At the end of the number, there were a few colorful streamers shot over guests in orchestra. I may have missed the very few streamers in previous viewings.

I also realize that the Palace Theatre entryway set piece likely does double duty. The reverse side is the morgue.

The harp has been removed from Madeline's mansion, and the sound of a car alarm has been added during Madeline's shotgun scene.

There were a few technical hiccups. The audience howled when Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard ad-libbed to cover the boo boos.

The first hiccup happened when Madeline first entered the mansion of Viola Van Horn. The tiffany drapery got caught on the mansion door. A stagehand appeared and quickly fixed the issue, yet Hilty added a few remarks and funny, entry hesitation to acknowledge the blip.

In Act 2, the morgue tray did not roll out promptly. "Is there an orderly?" asked Helen. A stagehand appeared and quickly fixed this few-second issue as well.

Later, when Madeline and Helen entered the Van Horn mansion together, the curtain again got caught on the door. One of the ladies cracked  "have you seen my good friend, the orderly?"

After bows, Hilty playfully stooped down, pretending to miss the lowering curtain.

At the third night of the DEATH tryout, the televised wedding between Madeline Ashton and Ernest Medville had a brief sponsorship message by Popeye's Chicken. What is happening? On night one, the wedding had a verbal ad 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 line only known by Megan Hilty? Are they testing different lines? 

Updated On: 5/3/24 at 01:07 AM

[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?