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Death Becomes Her Star Christopher Sieber Promises "Ridiculous Surprises" in New Broadway Musical
The Broadway star gives a sneak peek of all the bewitching details of the musical adaptation.
The secret recipe for the mystical set design and cast chemistry of Death Becomes Her on Broadway is practically magic for star Christopher Sieber.
The two-time Tony nominee spoke to NBC Insider about the show, including how it pays homage to the source material – it's an adaptation of the 1992 film starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis – and how the new music enhances the story on the stage.
Actress Madeline Ashton (Megan Hilty) and author Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard) are intertwined in a love triangle, on a quest for revenge, and both share a desire for everlasting beauty. Ernest Menville (played by Sieber) is the unlucky man caught between the frenemies. Though for the actor, the role is an absolute delight.
“I call it being sandwiched between two geniuses,” Sieber said happily. “I just get out of the way because they’re such unbelievable powerhouses and I’m grateful that I even get to be on stage with them."
Christopher Sieber on the “insane” talent of Death Becomes Her Broadway cast
Sieber, a Broadway veteran who has starred in The Prom, Shrek the Musical, and Spamalot, said he found his “show spouse” in Simard (Company, Disaster!)
“We’ve just gone from show to show to show,” Sieber said. The pair starred together in Company, Shrek the Musical, and Annie before signing onto to Death Becomes Her. “Working with her is incredible always because we know each other so well that it’s almost like … kind of a marriage where you kind of finish each other’s sentences.”
Still, Sieber thinks they are complete opposites when it comes to their acting styles.
“She is a scientist as far as comedy goes,” Sieber said. “I am a guy who throws spaghetti on the wall and hope something sticks.”
Sieber equates Broadway to a high school lunchroom, “but everyone’s at the cool kids table,” so while it’s his first official time working with Hilty (Wicked, Noises Off) on stage, they’ve known each other over the years.
"We hit it off right away immediately," Sieber said. "She's one of those people that is so easy to know because she is so available to you."
Several cast members have pre-show rituals to prepare for the show, including stretching.
“This is a really big, big show,” Sieber prefaced before adding jokingly: “It’s exhausting and I’m at a certain age now where I usually take a nap.”
Broadway's Death Becomes Her has nods to the original movie and cast
The show includes plenty of moments paying homage to the original film and cast.
“Some of them are blatant, that you will see,” Seiber teased, noting others you might have to come back a couple times to catch.
Before the curtain even rises, Sieber promises an “incredible tribute” to Isabella Rossellini, the original mystery woman Lisle Von Rhuman offering a potion promising eternal youth in the movie.
For the stage adaptation, Rosselini’s role became Viola Van Horn played by Grammy Winner Michelle Williams (Chicago). On and off stage, Sieber finds Williams to be “so lovely.”
“She’s absolutely just the best,” Sieber said of the former Destiny’s Child singer. “She’s so funny and she’s so charming and she’s absolutely part of us and I’m so grateful that’s she’s with us.”
Williams sings the opening number as Van Horn, which Sieber promises “blows the roof off.”
For any avid fans of the cult classic movie, Sieber says the must-see moments from the movie get their day on stage with illusions styled in the show’s humorous tone.
“Don’t worry, they’re there,” Sieber reassured. The visuals of horror-comedy are so iconic, the movie even inspired pop-star Sabrina Carpenter’s music video Taste and led to a sweet moment of Adele hugging Meryl Streep at a her concert while wearing a Death Becomes Her Halloween costume. “There are so many incredible, ridiculous surprises in this, in the show, that I haven’t told my own husband.”
You can stream the ‘90s movie now on Peacock. However, Sieber said seeing the film beforehand not a requirement to enjoy the musical.
“Fans are not gonna be disappointed,” Seiber said. The actor listed off well-known cinematic moments like one of the women getting shot or falling down the stairs. “Those are in there and there are lines that everybody likes to hear, they’re there, but the music also enhances the story rather than just a song that they shoved in the script.”
The show is currently in previews and premieres November 21 at the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre. Tickets are available here.
