In the midst of the seven season run the anthology series Tales from the Crypt had on HBO, the show's executive producer Robert Zemeckis directed a film titled DEATH BECOMES HER – a movie that easily could have been a Tales from the Crypt feature, if only it had scenes with the Cryptkeeper to introduce the story and then wrap it up at the end.
Scripted by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, DEATH BECOMES HER told a story of "greed, vanity, sex, immortality, life… and death."
First, there's actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep), who's gaining more wrinkles than good screen roles. Then, there's her former friend Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn), who loses her fiancé to Madeline and subsequently doubles her weight. Finally, there's Madeline's husband Ernest (Bruce Willis), a renowned plastic surgeon who spends his nights drunkenly cursing the day he met his wife.
Enter a beautiful enchantress (Isabella Rossellini), who changes their lives – and deaths – forever.
Twenty-five years after the release of DEATH BECOMES HER, Universal Theatrical Group is now developing a stage musical adaptation of the story, with Kristin Chenoweth attached to play the role originated by Streep – that of
a fading actress whose quest to regain her youth has unexpectedly macabre consequences.
A creative team has yet to be assembled for the musical, Universal has only announced their intention to bring the story to the stage and the involvement of Chenoweth.
Chenoweth won a Tony for her performance in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and earned an Emmy for her role on Pushing Daisies.
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