With ten Tony nominations including for best original score, "Death Becomes Her" is earning praise for its music by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey.

New York

“Death Becomes Her,” the Broadway musical based on the 1992 film, has received ten Tony Award nominations, including one for best original score. The musical features music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, who developed the score with a focus on character-driven storytelling and comedic elements. The show's book is written by Marco Panett.

The story centers on two rivals, actress Madeline and author Helen, as they vie for the same man and struggle with their desire to maintain their youth. After taking a potion that promises eternal youth, they encounter unforeseen consequences, forming the central conflict of the musical.

Mattison and Carey emphasized a collaborative and improvisational approach to writing, often acting out scenes and using musical improvisation to shape their songs. They noted that storytelling and plot development are integrated into the music, resulting in seamless transitions between dialogue and song.

The musical score draws inspiration from the original film's composer, Alan Silvestri, to create a cinematic experience. Some songs from the show, notably the "Hit Me" number, have also gained popularity on social media platforms.

“Death Becomes Her” is currently being performed at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The 78th Annual Tony Awards, where the show is nominated, will be broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.



"Death Becomes Her" hits high note with 10 Tony nominations

If you want perfection, take a sip and drink it. Kill your own complexion. That, of course, is Michelle Williams from the blockbuster new Broadway musical, Death Becomes Her. It is the latest show that we're featuring here in our Road to the Tonys series, counting down to Broadway's biggest night right here on CBS and Paramount+. This show got 10 nominations. It tells the story of actress Madeline and author Helen, frenemies vying for the same man while dealing with their own fading beauty. And everything changes after they take a potion that promises to keep them young forever. Complications ensue. Julia Madison and Noel Carey are the composers and lyricists behind it all. It's so memorable. It's so original. It's so funny. And it's so great to have you guys here. So great to be here. I am so fascinated by how the writing process works. And you guys have been working together for a long time. You know each other for a long time. Does it start with the tune, and then the words come? Just take me into it. It's honestly character first. We both met as actors in a musical theater program at Emerson. Freshman year. Yeah, freshman year. Freshman year, right? Just making each other laugh in the back, not paying attention. And then we're like, this is going to be good. We're going to hang out. Yeah, right from the jump. But we like to jump into the characters and kind of act them out and just play and improvise and kind of see where that takes us, whether it's music or lyrics. Yeah, a lot of musical improv is involved. And Noel will jump to the piano. We'll be running around. We're in motion a lot of the time. But it depends. We kind of talk an idea to death before we start musicalizing it, because we really want to make sure that there's a lot for the actor to play and the story moves forward with our music. So we want to know how that character is different by the end of the song than how when they jump in. That's what I noticed. So while watching, I was like, there's so much storytelling that happens in the song. And there are so many jokes that happen in the song. You have to lean in to pay attention to the song, because that's where a lot of the stuff happens, the plot development. And then the punchlines are in the music. Normally, you're like, sing, sing, sing. Joke, joke, joke. It's separate. How deliberate was that for you guys? And how important was it to the telling of this story? Extremely. It was such a joy to work with our book writer, Marco Panett. We really wanted to make sure that it bled together and felt like one person wrote the whole thing, I think, to make that more seamless was such a goal. So there are moments of dialogue that are actually technically songs in the score, because we're musicalizing and underscoring. And I think we also wanted to underscore it like a film, kind of nod to the Alan Silvestri 1992 score of the film and make it feel very cinematic as well. It was a really fun goal of ours to do that. It must be so thrilling to be working on something and to be at a crossroads moment and then to have a breakthrough. And they'd be like, no, no, what if we do it like this? And then you write it out, and it's like, yes! Those are the best days. And if we can record a demo, we will go home and listen to it on repeat. Because for years, there was no cast album. It was just us and our voice memos. And that's kind of how we just kept that love of the show alive. So if you're walking around in your regular life and you have a thought, you just make you do a voice memo to your phone? All voice memos. 100%. Yeah, we send it to each other. Yeah, I believe it. Please don't steal our phones, because you would have the entire show logged. The entire process. All the IP. I listened to the soundtrack on my way home after seeing the show, which I have never done before. I just loved how the music was just so primary to it. I didn't know what this was about. I thought it was going to be a serious show, Death Becomes Her. It is. I was shocked. It's incredibly serious. Yes. You laughed. But I loved how it makes fun of this idea of aging and a lot of the obsession around aging. Yeah. By the way, are you aware that the Hit Me song that begins that was rude is now a social media phenomenon? Yes. It's under a lot of videos. It's pretty wild. It's insane. It's a really a lot of a dark comedy trend going with them, but I love it. We're so shocked. We feel very cool. We feel very young. You are very young. That's our secret potion to stay young. Speaking of popular on TikTok. Julia Madison and Noel Carey, congratulations again. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Can't wait to see what you do next. Appreciate it. Good luck at the Tonys. Death Becomes Her is playing at the, oh gosh, what's the name of the theater? Lunt-Fontaine. A block away. Lunt-Fontaine and the 78th Annual Tony Awards will air June 8th, CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

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