Because of her iconic role on the short-lived television series Smash, it only seems like Megan Hilty is a permanent mainstay on Broadway. She actually hasn’t trod the boards on Broadway since a production of Noises Off back in 2016. This fall, after a long absence, she returned to New York in a musical version of the 1992 movie Death Becomes Her in the role of Madeline Ashton, originally played by Meryl Streep.
It’s a welcome return for Hilty, a one-time Glinda from Wicked and mother of two. The last few years have been challenging for the 43-year-old actress, after she tragically lost her sister and brother-in-law and their son in a plane crash in 2022. After a hiatus doing mostly voice-over work, she has also returned to television in Amazon’s The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh.
You haven’t been on Broadway in a while. What are you most looking forward to?
I’m really looking forward to being a part of a company again and feeling like, as a group, we’re doing something magical together. As physically taxing as it can be, I love the regularity of an eight-show week and seeing the same people every day, on- and offstage.
Is there anything you’re not looking forward to?
Seeing cell phones and recording devices lit up in the audience. We can see everything that’s happening in the house, and the lights are extremely distracting to us onstage, not to mention how awful it is for everyone who is sitting near lit-up phones in the audience.
You probably get offered every musical that’s being cast. What made you want to do Death Becomes Her?
Death Becomes Her is one of my absolute favorite movies, and it’s one of the few films that makes sense to reimagine as a musical because of its campy, heightened reality. When I read the brilliant script and listened to the incredible songs, I was completely sold!
Have you spent time with Meryl Streep? How do you feel about the possibility of her coming to see the show?
Like everyone else in the galaxy, I am a huge fan of hers, and I would be so delighted if she were to come to the show. My hope is that anyone who is affiliated with the iconic movie would see our show and feel the love and reverence we have for the work they did. I’d also hope they’d appreciate our interpretation of this big, fun, fabulous story, which is simply, “What if they sang and danced while they tried to kill each other?”
How do you wind down these days after a performance?
During our Chicago run, I’d take a long bath, drink a cup of Sleepytime tea, and watch as many episodes of Traitors, Below Deck or Selling Sunset as I could manage until I fell asleep. Now that my family is with me in NYC, each night will probably consist of packing school lunches for my kids and complaining to my husband about how many lit-up cell phones I counted in the audience.
Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in Death Becomes Her