Broadway's Spring Bloodbath: Death Becomes Her, BOOP!, Redwood, and Real All Heading for the Exit
Broadway is thinning the herd. The musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her is set to close, joining a wave of casualties that includes BOOP!, Redwood, and Real, all facing closure notices or imminent shutdowns as of April 2025. The pattern suggests a market correction after an oversaturated season, with producers finally admitting which bets didn't land.
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Work
Death Becomes HerDeath Becomes Her is a contemporary musical comedy that adapts Robert Zemeckis's 1992 cult film for the stage, with music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey and a book by Marco Pennette. The work premiered at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago on May 19, 2024, and subsequently opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in October 2024, where it maintains a scheduled run through October 2026. The musical explores themes of vanity, mortality, and female rivalry through the story of two bitter rivals who discover an elixir of eternal youth, only to find that immortality proves far more complicated—and darkly comic—than anticipated. With its camp sensibility, sharp book, and orchestral sophistication, the work represents a successful translation of cinematic comedy to the musical stage, capitalizing on the source material's enduring cult appeal while expanding its thematic depth through song.
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