‘Death Becomes Her’ gets a new life as a Broadway musical, opening in a world premiere in Chicago

NEW YORK — “So it must have been about 11 years ago and I was doing this interview,” says actress Megan Hilty, “and someone asked me, ‘If there was one movie you could turn into a musical, what would it be?’ ‘Death Becomes Her.’ Duh! That is the only movie I can think of that truly has the heightened experiences that warrant breaking into song.”

Hilty grins. “And it’s fabulous and everyone loves it.”

Breathless from rehearsing a big number, Hilty (bombshell star of the TV show “Smash”) sits with her co-star, Jennifer Simard, in a rehearsal studio at New York’s New 42nd Street studios, where musicals like “Death Becomes Her” are birthed — the show opens May 19 at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre following two weeks of previews. It’s a musical of modest scale (but that’s still a ton of money these days) and will be on a short list of double-female-lead Broadway musicals; the two stars can