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'Death Becomes Her' Story and Characters | Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  spoiler warning, we will be talking about both the Broadway show of Death Becomes Her and the film
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  which only one of us has seen.
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  So that's already a travesty.
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  So if you have not seen either one of those and you want to go into it blind, keep scrolling, save our videos and come back to them and we will continue this conversation
• 0:20
  with you then.
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  That being said, RJ, why the hell have you not seen Death Becomes Her, the film?
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  question.
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  Don't know.
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  Still don't know.
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  We're talking about Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn trying to kill each other.
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  What else do need?
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  Yeah, like I literally might need to watch it tonight.
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  I just keep forgetting.
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  it's totally fine.
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  Before we went to New York, I rewatched this.
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  Believe it or not, so I have deep roots with Death Becomes Her, and I'm going take you back.
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  So let's go back to when Brian was 13.
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  Follow with me.
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  Brian hated the holiday of Halloween.
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  He did not like getting dressed up.
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  He did not like going to get candy.
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  He did not like scary movies.
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  And so when he turned 13,
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  I don't know I'm talking to the third person.
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  When I turned 13, my mom was like, hey, do you want us to just stay home?
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  We can invite your older sister over.
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  We can get some pizza and maybe we can find some kind of Halloween movie to watch.
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  And I was like, that's great.
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  Maybe we can watch my first scary movie.
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  That's not scary.
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  And so my sister got two movies from Blockbuster.
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  And for those who are young, Blockbuster was a place you used to go and get videos at VHS DVDs.
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  Sometimes they had video games.
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  You probably don't know what it is, but
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  It's cool.
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  It was a great place.
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  And so my first two horror films were the comedy fantasy film that was Death Becomes Her and Nicole Kidman in The Others.
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  And so I have so much love for Death Becomes Her because even though it is not a horror film at all, it was my first entry to the forary of horror.
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  Which explains a lot.
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  I mean, I haven't seen it, so I can't really say, but.
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  Well, so the thing about the film is that it's great, is that it's pretty much the stage adaptation, the musical adaptation is pretty much straightforward with one big difference,
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  which I will get into when we talk about the story because it's still, it doesn't bother me, but I haven't stopped thinking about it, which I'm petty and gay.
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  So like, what else am I supposed to do here?
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  But let's set the stage of what Death Becomes Her Is.
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  And I want to start with that first moment.
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  What was like for you, not knowing what this film was about, having Michelle Williams come up in that gown, singing about the potion, what was like, like how did that set the scene
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  for you?
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  I immediately was like, this is going to be a lot.
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  A lot.
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  That's...
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  I mean, it's true.
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  It is a lot.
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  The glitz and the glam.
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  Yeah.
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  I'm sure many of you who have seen this on social media have seen her.
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  She's in like a full like headdress, like fanning around her head.
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  Everything's rhinestone and she's singing about how you could live forever.
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  Basically, she has a secret you could die for.
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  And the secret that people would die for is a potion that grants immortality, but at a cost.
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  And while that is an important
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  aspect of the show, it's actually not like the show.
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  The show is actually about Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp, which so after we see the potion, she sings that she disappears, we get introduced to our two characters.
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  What was like the stark differences between Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp?
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  What struck you about that?
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  Madeline was at like exactly what I anticipated but Helen I was like, where's this good like the initial introduction to her I was like Confused I was like Where is this going?
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  How does this go anywhere?
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  Outside of this one scene because of of course just like what seems to be happening in that opening scene or like maybe a scene two technically but
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  for sure.
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  Um, but then once I, once it alludes to kind of fast forwarding, I'm like, Oh, okay.
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  Okay.
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  We're still, we're going somewhere.
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  Mm-hmm because when we first meet them they're like they're like the like the epitome of frenemies, know, they're like they Love to hate each other and they hate to love each
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  other Madeline Ashton being the really big like movie star I guess I'm the verge being like a washed-up movie star, you know, because she's in that Broadway show It's not
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  getting great reviews and Helen Sharp is coming there to basically rub it
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  to Ash, a medal in Ashen's face that she got a fiance.
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  Which anybody who again who's on social media knows the song Dear Ernest, Tell Me Ernest.
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  because that is like the quintessential death becomes her song.
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  And it's really the moment where the story changes and Madeline kind of wins over Ernest and steals him from Helen, which is like, to me, one of the best parts of the whole show.
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  And it starts off so early, like sets the tone for me, like so far in advance.
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  Well, and now that I'm thinking about it, of course it makes sense to me that this, and we'll dive more into this, but the fact that it is technically kind of considered like a
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  gay cult classic.
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  At first I was like, okay, I mean, I kind of get it, but I don't really get it.
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  But the underlying themes even of what you were just talking about, like I recently was rewatching
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  modern family.
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  And I just am thinking of the Mitch and Cam's friendship with their gay couple friends, or even some single gay friends, where the interactions are like, we love them, but we hate
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  them.
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  And so this very much is the epitome of like, like love that for you.
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  Yes!
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  we?
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  It's interesting because I remember being like 13 years old and watching the film and thinking that like there was a lot of lesbian undertones and the fact of like they were
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  competing so hard with each other because they wanted the other person to respect them so much, which in 1992 when the film came out was probably as close to lesbian undertones as
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  you could possibly get without being very overt.
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  And they did keep that very true in the story.
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  Yeah, that, like bless your heart.
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  Yes.
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  And some of these things, like you get it in really, I've listened to the soundtrack, the four songs that are out over and over and over again since we've seen the show.
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  And one of the things that you don't always get in soundtracks is you don't get like the intonations.
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  You don't always get like the inflections that they have.
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  And one of the ones that always sticks out is during Dear Ernest, which this is talking about the story and not the music.
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  Don't worry.
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  The music's coming in part two, people, I promise.
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  but when she's like, I haven't seen Helen this happy in years and she like licks the frosting and then hands her a cupcake.
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  And then Helen's very much like, wow, you're so sincere.
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  And like, it's the middle of the song and you're like, almost like you're laughing, but you're just watching like how much they truly.
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  Like they, there's like the, there's that connection, but they truly hate each other because they're just like, so nasty to each other.
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  They're, they, they both can't stand the other person.
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  Um,
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  But yeah, they keep circling each other.
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  Almost like Mean Girl -esque.
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  Yeah, it's giving me like first episode of Grace and Frankie vibes.
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  Like, hate each other for obvious like reasons, but like we don't really tell each other that we, I mean, we kind of do, but we're so different and we don't, but also like we
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  can't because we're kind of experiencing similar things, which in this case would be like,
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  aging and being concerned about the way that you look or the way that you feel or the way that people perceive you.
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  think perception being the biggest thing because Helen's more worried really about how Madeline looks at her and Madeline's concerned about the way everybody looks at her.
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  for sure.
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  It kind of reminds me, again, I think Dear Ernest is a really good example of this, and I think that's why I keep going back to this, but like the, how Madeline asks about like,
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  how is she in bed?
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  And Helen gets so affronted, but Madeline's just so worried about trying to get Ernest's attention that she doesn't really care about stepping on Helen to get there, you know?
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  And just like the...
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  They're like, they played off very catty there is like a, they're both fighting to get each other's respect, but they're doing it the wrong way.
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  Which ends up leading to Madeline eventually ends up getting earnest.
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  They get married.
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  They jump.
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  There's a time jump where Helen ends up going into a psychiatric facility comes out and is like an absolute bomb, a bombshell.
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  And Madeline starts to worry about her appearance.
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  and it starts to take a toll, which eventually leads her to the potion, which is how you get the first scene and you finally work your way back.
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  And in fact, that potion doesn't even come into play until very late in Act 1 again.
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  We have a huge amount of setup.
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  Did you like that?
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  I was like, that's why once again, having not seen the film, I was like, where are like, when is the plane landing?
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  Because I knew that a potion had to come into play at some point, just based on like the PR and the marketing for the show.
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  But I was like, how?
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  What?
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  When are we getting there?
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  Because all I'm seeing right now are two friends being bitter and bitching.
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  Truly, which is half of the fun of the film.
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  I'm not gonna lie.
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  Like, I think that's part of the reason why people watch this is like, there's like, the people love the drama and the cattiness of Meryl Streep, who is, you know, Hollywood's
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  goddess.
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  And, my gosh, I just had her name a second ago.
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  Goldie Hawn, and seeing that.
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  And getting to see someone like Bruce Willis, who in this show, Ernest is played by, I can't think of his name, but he's quite big as well.
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  And he was hilarious as well.
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  But there's this, the cattiness is kind of what drives this, this story.
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  Ultimately leading to them destroying each other.
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  I think that's the interesting part is what happens when you try to, you're so driven by revenge, because that's what kind of drives the story, is that Helen just wants to see
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  Madeline Pay.
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  She wants to see Madeline hurt for causing so much hurt throughout her life.
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  And that's kind of the turning point.
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  She gets the potion so that she can become hot so that she can go kill Madeline.
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  It goes back to that cattiness.
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  Yeah, and that portion of it is interesting because you're like, okay, you went to become quote unquote hot and that wasn't enough.
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  It almost seems backwards now that I'm thinking about it because you're becoming hot and then you're just gonna kill her and she isn't gonna feel the true wrath of you being hot.
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  You're right.
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  we know that also that Madeline goes and does the same thing.
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  So.
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  Sure.
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  Right, because they end up trying to just back and forth kill each other because they're so...
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  And the interesting part about it, I think, is later in the show, they end up realizing that they're each other's person.
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  They don't have anybody else because they are just two sides of the same coin that just keep flipping, and they keep hurting each other.
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  But really, they love each other, which I think is a turning point that...
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  You don't see necessarily in the film.
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  Like they kind of address it.
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  the film's more focused on trying to get Ernest to take the potion at that point.
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  And granted, the film's only like 90 minutes.
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  It's a fast film.
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  But I think you did get a little bit more of the Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp trajectory of like, we actually are for each other.
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  And that second act, which I thought made the story a little more cohesive.
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  But as we're going into the second act, did you think of that?
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  What did you think of their trajectories?
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  Because I think they're the most important of the two.
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  Yeah, I-
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  I, once again, I was still like kind of...
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  You're like, what's going on?
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  Yeah, yeah, I wasn't sure like how much how long can you elongate something like that and I can't even remember how long this the showtime actually ran but it
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  was interesting.
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  I would say that the pace was okay though.
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  Like I don't remember being like, this is particularly slow moving or, and it wasn't like fast.
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  but we, got enough set up and I think there was enough development happening that you were like, the train is moving.
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  Like it never felt like it was standing still.
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  Yeah, because the show ran for two hours and 30 minutes.
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  That does include the 15 minute intermission, which is about 45 minutes longer than the actual film.
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  So I think there's enough room there to really move and to kind of explore what's going on.
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  But yeah, there was there was times even I was just like, how are we getting to and like, where's act act one going to end?
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  How are we getting there?
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  and what does that kind of entail for the story?
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  And then once we got to the end of Act One, was like, of course that's exactly where they stopped.
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  But then also, where do you go from here when you still have an hour left?
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  Because that's very late in the film.
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  They spent a lot more time with the buildup of Act One than they necessarily do in the movie.
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  I I thought it was a good adaptation of it.
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  It's just like the story was just...
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  It was the same but different, you know?
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  What did you think of as they enter into like...
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  I guess, why do you feel like this show would maybe, why do they lean so much into the campiness?
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  Or do you think that it was, you had mentioned about modern family, you were making that comparison.
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  Do you feel like they leaned too much into it?
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  Do you feel like it was a good amount of camp?
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  Because this was actually referred to, I saw somewhere, as high camp, high gay camp.
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  And I was just like, really?
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  That's so interesting that they leaned so hard into that.
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  Granted, this is now 2024, 2025.
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  So perhaps that's it.
• 15:23
  Yeah, I mean, I'd say that we've seen shows that are equally as campy and maybe they are also considered high camp, quote unquote.
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  there were some obvious, like, the sexual humor, I think, in like old-timey...
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  I mean, the 90s, like, what have been geared towards, you know, gay...
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  like satirical gay alignment.
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  And so maybe that's like they just needed.
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  They needed to label it campy because God forbid anything be like outright gay.
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  Specifically, yeah, like you mentioned earlier about like licking the cupcake and just like these
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  really really old kind of maybe tropes and and just things that maybe you and i don't even consider gay or you know what i mean like it just like over the top
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  Almost like an homage to like drag queens.
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  Honestly is how much of I think even just act two felt and of course the entire kind of
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  the whole ensemble and that whole those like big scenes with the very like chic leotard like costumes or like the bedazzled costumes.
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  Obviously we know that there's a song that's you know for the gays but
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  which is G-A-Z-E, I did not know that until I was listening to it.
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  Which again is it's playing on the word play, right?
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  Like even though it's felt that way, you know who it's for.
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  Right.
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  So once again, we have this unspoken, God forbid we use the word G A Y S.
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  So we're going to use the word G A Z E.
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  Um,
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  while having, you know.
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  clearly
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  basically practically nude male dancers on stage, right?
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  So.
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  Yeah.
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  like, she's, granted, we'll talk more about it when we talk about the music, but like, she's parading in, you know, gay flags, trans flags.
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  She's talking about Liza Minnelli and, you know, like things that were very clearly gay.
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  And so when I actually listened to the song, when I saw it on my, like, on my car display and I was like, did, was like, am I disappointed?
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  Am I...
• 18:12
  annoyed is this this genius.
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  think again, it speaks to that campiness of the show and how they they took what the campiness was and they decided like, let's just embrace it.
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  And in a way, they almost do become like you said, you know, I think it was interesting, said drag queen, because like, yeah, by the end, they were basically kind of drag -esque
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  and they were kind of a couple, you know, they were kind of together forever.
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  And that really is quite
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  It made for an interesting dynamic, and I love that part of the show.
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  I think we do need to talk about, if we're talking about the cast, we have to talk about the fact that we missed out on our girl.
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  We did not get to see Megan Hilty in the role of Madeline Ashton.
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  Was that a disappointment?
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  Are you disappointed?
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  mean, I think that the actress did an incredible job.
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  think, I mean, always it's, I've been following Megan's career for some time.
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  So yeah, in that way, it was a little bit disappointing just because you know she's going to be absolutely stunning.
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  And when you're following someone, it's exciting to be able to actually see them do the work.
• 19:34
  But I was still equally as excited to see the show in general.
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  I would, of course, be interested in seeing the differences in what she brings to the role, especially obviously having originated it.
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  But you win some, lose some.
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  I mean, as you know, I'm going back to see this again.
• 19:59
  So I will be able to let you know just how great she is if you're not there with me.
• 20:05
  Ooh, don't say that.
• 20:06
  Don't say that.
• 20:07
  That's mean Of the roles, though, who was a standout to you?
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  Actually, I'm going go ahead if I can start first.
• 20:16
  I was, so we had an understudy from Madeline.
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  She was excellent.
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  Jennifer Simard for.
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  Helen was like she originated the role.
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  She was fantastic.
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  I thought she would stand up, but I really thought Ernest was hilarious.
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  I thought Ernest was just so like he's a bumbling idiot in the film and he did the role of kind of like the bumbling idiot so well that I couldn't help but be very enamored.
• 20:50
  Christopher Sieber.
• 20:52
  I was so enamored with him being this bumbling idiot that I was just like, he's so endearing.
• 20:59
  And so I 100 % loved to, I loved his role.
• 21:04
  I loved Ernest in the show.
• 21:05
  Yeah, mean, he, that character in that role, I didn't expect to be as big as it was, just based on, again, the things that I had seen, uh, previous to the show.
• 21:25
  but then there's Michelle Williams who, you know, she comes like in and out.
• 21:31
  Um,
• 21:33
  I really, I don't think she's in that many scenes, but she just every time, she brings down the house every time.
• 21:41
  And with her costumes, you're just like, she's on stage and you're blown away.
• 21:46
  Her vocals, you're blown away.
• 21:50
  Yeah.
• 21:50
  was just insane.
• 21:53
  Viola Van Horn is one of those roles that is just crazy in the fact of like, cause you're almost other worldly, you know, like you don't really know a lot about Viola other than
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  she has this potion.
• 22:04
  You don't really know where she comes from.
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  She kind of floats in and floats out.
• 22:07
  And she's just like this very powerful woman that makes even Madeline Ashton kind of quake in her boots.
• 22:14
  And I mean, Michelle Williams is literally a child of destiny.
• 22:18
  like we are.
• 22:21
  Like what else, well who else were you gonna have to play that role and just like own that role?
• 22:27
  It's she brought a lot of star power to who Viola is as a character and I thought that was brilliant.
• 22:33
  Also, Tareen Everett, plays Viola Van Horn's right-hand man.
• 22:40
  Comedic timing, looked great, danced their heart out.
• 22:46
  I I also just loved that as well.
• 22:49
  mean, this whole cast, this whole show was cast so well that I almost like, I need to go see Meghan Hilty because I just need to know what her perspective on Madeleine is because
• 23:01
  even
• 23:02
  Kayleigh Cronin was fantastic as a battle in.
• 23:05
  She was great.
• 23:06
  Yeah, I mean, and then Josh Lamon as Stefan, the comedic timing on that.
• 23:18
  And just once again, when we talk about campy, we talk about the gayness, like the clear queer of the show, even though everybody's a little bit queer, just the...
• 23:33
  When you needed a good laugh out loud moment, the timing was just too good.
• 23:41
  absolutely.
• 23:42
  think they absolutely captured the energy of these characters to the point that I almost am worried to see who else could take it up.
• 23:52
  I'm having just like, these people are these characters.
• 23:56
  The show needs to end when it's done.
• 23:57
  And I know it's going to tour, and I know that I'm very excited to see it tour.
• 24:00
  I'm excited to see life come to death becomes her.
• 24:06
  But they embodied these roles so good.
• 24:11
  I just, I'm excited to kind of see what happens next for the show.
• 24:15
  And with that, we are done with part one of our Death Becomes Her discussion.
• 24:21
  So stay tuned for part two, where we'll be talking about some of the musical aspects and technical marvels that is Death Becomes Her.
• 24:30
  So thank you again for joining us here in our box seats.
• 24:32
  Till next curtain call.