A campy, effects-heavy movie from 1992, Death Becomes Her, gets a stage musical makeover and looks likely to have a healthy run if the audience response at the final Wednesday matinee preview is any indication.
Megan Hilty (TV’s Smash) and Jennifer Simard (Company revival) inherit the roles from Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as a fading film star and a plain-jane novelist — longtime rivals who tug-of-war over a celebrated plastic surgeon (Christopher Sieber) and sell their souls for eternal youth and immortality. The score by Broadway first-timers Julia Mattison and Noel Carey doesn’t leave much of an impression, but Marco Pennette’s book is full of delicious one-liners.
Credit director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli with some eye-popping, head-turning effects including a sly, spry fall down a stage-long staircase. An entertaining ending to a week of theatergoing.