For Those With Two and a Half Hours To Spare and Who Don’t Want To Stream the Film, the Musical ‘Death Becomes Her’ May Be for You
As is so often the case with projects like this, the score seems like so much filler. The songs suggest whipped cream layered on or between plot developments. They can be fun but add little to the cake, and ultimately make the show feel bloated.
From here on out, can we agree that no musical comedy adapted from a hit film should run longer than two hours? With a handful of exceptions — among them the holiday tonic “Elf,” which recently returned to Broadway — such outings do little more than rehash familiar stories, seldom with much imagination, while the songs that essentially pad them out are even less frequently memorable.
The new musical “Death Becomes Her,” based on the 1992 movie, takes two and a half hours to run its course, including a 15-minute intermission, and suffice it to say that if you still wear a watch, you’ll likely check it at least once or twice. That’s despite an aggressively playful and often clever book and a glittering cast, nimbly helmed by Christopher Gattelli, a prolific, Tony Award-winning choreographer and director.
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