Why Broadway’s ‘Dying Turns into Her’ Reduce the Movie’s Fats Go well with (Unique)

When it got here time to carry Death Becomes Her to Broadway, star Jennifer Simard says the present’s inventive group made one determination early on: they weren’t going to make use of a fats swimsuit.

The actress — who’s nominated for her third Tony Award for her main function as Helen Sharp within the musical — tells PEOPLE how transferring away from the film’s outdated tropes allowed the present to ship an empowering, body-positive message.

For many who have not seen Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 movie, from which the stage present is tailored, Helen (performed by Goldie Hawn) famously has a breakdown after her ex-fiancé Earnest (Bruce Willis) leaves her for her glamorous frenemy, Madeline (Meryl Streep).

Introduced as Helen’s all-time low earlier than her personal journey towards vainness, revenge and immortality begins, the character is proven dwelling in a dirty residence surrounded by cats, shoveling vanilla icing into her mouth as she sits on a recliner obsessively rewatching Madeline’s film. And to intensify Helen’s dramatic transformation to come back within the movie, Hawn wears a padded bodysuit within the scene, as if Helen had skilled a major weight acquire.

Audiences will not see that on stage, although. “One selection we made in our manufacturing is to not have a pretend, bigger swimsuit placed on me like they do within the film,” Simard, 54, tells PEOPLE solely. “We mentioned, ‘That is not one thing we will do.’ ”

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The inventive group — together with e book author Marco Pennette, director Christopher Gattelli and score composers Julia Mattison and Noel Carey — as a substitute needed to replicate how a lot society has modified within the three a long time since.

“It was the proper determination,” she continues. “Artwork by no means exists as one thing you simply placed on a shelf and say, ‘It’s finished.’ You all the time must replace for the local weather of the current, not the previous. There’s been a lot progress made when it comes to physique positivity, and I don’t suppose that’s an applicable avenue to go down anymore. It was not essential.”

“There have been different issues we might do to deal with Helen’s devolution, with out making it about her measurement,” Simard says. “I have talked before about my trajectory with anorexia; I might by no means wish to do something that may change into a set off for others on the market battling their very own [disordered eating].”

Now, Dying Turns into Her explores Helen’s spiral by leaning in on the affect Earnest and Madeline’s betrayal affected her psychological well being.

That, too, was private for Simard, who has been open about her previous experiences with emotional wellness.

“I created a solo present referred to as Stigma all about destigmatizing psychological well being points,” she says. “So though that scene in our present is performed at a really heightened, theatrical tempo, I really feel like I can communicate to it from an genuine place as a result of I’ve skilled such a variety of points and have overcome them.”

And whereas enjoying by means of that trauma is perhaps difficult, tapping into Helen’s unraveling was cathartic, Simard says.

“It’s actually enjoyable for me to make use of comedy to cope with my ache,” Simard provides. “I believe a few of the greatest comedy comes from ache. I am coming to it now from a really healed place now. To me, it is a marriage made in heaven.”

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Dying Turns into Her is nominated for 10 Tony Awards, together with Finest Musical. It is now in performances on the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York Metropolis.

“I actually do suppose that it’s the precise type of present we have wanted for the reason that pandemic,” Simard beforehand instructed PEOPLE. “It’s only a massive outdated Broadway musical, the best way it was meant to be finished. And I am so fortunate to be part of it.”

Tickets to Death Becomes Her are actually on sale. The 2025 Tony Awards air dwell from Radio Metropolis Music Corridor in New York Metropolis Sunday, June 8, on CBS.

If you happen to or somebody is battling an consuming dysfunction, The Alliance for Eating Disorders offers a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, in addition to free, therapist-led help teams.