Megan Hilty is ready to channel her inner Madeline Ashton!
In an exclusive conversation with LJUDI related to the intimate holiday concert she is participating in from December 1 to 4 in New York, the actress (42) also talks about the upcoming Death becomes her musical, which is scheduled to open next year.
Taking over Meryl Streep’s role in the 1992 cult classic, Hilty says she hasn’t heard from or contacted the Oscar winner about the role.
“I don’t know her and I can’t imagine she has time to talk to me,” she says. “But I’m sure they’re aware this is happening.”
When asked how she would react if Streep, 74, took the time to contact her, Hilty admits: “I would fall on the floor. I don’t know if I could handle it.”
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The musical ‘Death Becomes Her’ opens in Chicago with Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard
In September it was announced that Death becomes her the musical will open at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago next year for a pre-Broadway run from April 30th to June 2nd. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with a book written by Marco Pennette, music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, Jennifer Simard will star alongside Hilty, playing her friend, an author named Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn in the film). According to the musical’s synopsis, when Madeline steals Helen’s fiance, Helen sets out for revenge, but “their world is suddenly turned upside down by Viola Van Horn, a mysterious woman with a secret to die for — after one sip of Viola’s magic potion, Madeline and Helen begin a new era of life ( and death) with renewed youth and beauty… and anger to last eternity.”
The slogan for the show is: “Life is a bitch and then you die. Or not!”
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‘Death becomes her’.
Universal/Courtesy of Everett Collection
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Hilty, which is known for Wicked and TV Breakhe earned a Tony nomination for the play Noises off.
When she returns to the stage next year, she tells PEOPLE she’s “really excited” to work with the cast and crew behind her latest project.
“We had a workshop this summer and it was really great,” she says. “It’s good enough to kick my whole family out and move them across the country for a year.” “Madeline Ashton is such a wonderful role, and they wrote such amazing songs for me to sing,” the mother of two continues. “What I love is that in general, not just for my character, but for everyone, they made such smart changes in adapting it for the stage. They didn’t just take it out of the movie and put it on stage. It’s really made for the theater, and it has such wonderful easter eggs for movie lovers.”
Hilty adds, “It’s enough to give everyone what they want and remember from the movie, but it also breathes a whole new, different life into the story.”
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Source: HIS Education