In ‘Death Becomes Her,’ Jennifer Simard Turns Pain Into Power As Broadway’s Undead Diva

Nearly two decades after her Broadway debut, Jennifer Simard has found a role she’s come to view as a “wonderful retrospective.”

The two-time Tony Award nominee stars as Helen Sharp, one-half of the diva duo in the musical adaptation of “Death Becomes Her,” which opened in November at New York’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Her delightfully side-splitting, high camp performance has garnered sterling reviews and is expected to nab her a third Tony nomination in the spring.

“When I look at the arc of Helen Sharp as a character ... I see similarities to myself as a human being, and I see a bit of every character I’ve been fortunate enough to play,” Simard told HuffPost. “It’s real ‘pinch me’ stuff. I love Helen Sharp, and I love this time I get to dance with her a bit.”

Based on the 1992 movie, “Death Becomes Her” follows actor and singer Madeline Ashton (played by Megan Hilty), whose career is on a downturn after years on the theatrical stage. Out of desperation, she invites a long-forgotten frenemy, writer Helen Sharp (Simard), and her fiancé, cosmetic surgeon Ernest Menville (Christopher Sieber), backstage after a performance.

Megan Hilty (left) and Jennifer Simard in the musical adaptation of "Death Becomes Her," now playing on Broadway.

Matt hew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

True to form, Madeline seduces Ernest, thrusting Helen into an emotional breakdown ― depicted in the musical by “Madeline,” Simard’s Act 1 showstopper. Helen then strikes a Faustian bargain with a mysterious socialite, Viola Van Horn (Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child), who brews her a potion that promises eternal youth.

Helen, however, soon realizes that Madeline has also sipped Viola’s potion ― thus ensuring there will be no end to their rivalry.

Thirty-three years after its release, the film version of “Death Becomes Her” is best remembered as a star vehicle for Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep. It also broke fresh ground by skewering the myriad ways women still find themselves in a no-win situation when it comes to aging in the public eye.

In 2025, those themes are at the center of the Broadway revival of “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Nicole Scherzinger, as well as the recently released horror film “The Substance,” in which Demi Moore portrays a fading Hollywood star who goes to deadly extremes to appear youthful.

“When I look at the arc of Helen Sharp as a character ... I see similarities to myself as a human being, and I see a bit of every character I’ve been fortunate enough to play,” Simard says.

Bruce Glikas via Getty Images

Simard, who made her Broadway debut in 2007 when she joined the cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” acknowledges she’s been on the receiving end of that discourse.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, ‘Wow, she’s let herself go,’ followed by, ‘Ooh, she’s had too much work done,’” she explained. “So it’s important for women to reject that narrative.”

“I don’t think this is the beginning of that storytelling, nor do I think it will be the end,” she continued. “My outlook on it is this: Whatever you choose to do or not to do to make yourself feel good is 100% percent your business and no one else’s.”

One notable change in adapting “Death Becomes Her” for Broadway is the removal of a sequence in which Hawn wore a fat suit to depict Helen at her most despondent.

Simard, who has spoken publicly about her experience with anorexia, said she and book composer-lyricists Julia Mattison and Noel Carey and book writer Marco Pennette were in full agreement about scrapping the scene in favor of more body positive ways to relay her character’s inner turmoil.

Watch a clip from Broadway’s “Death Becomes Her” below.

“I know what it’s like to have my heart broken. I know what it’s like to have a man stolen out from under me,” she said. “I’ve always used humor to cope with my pain, and doing it onstage is no different. It helps me heal every single night.”

A Litchfield, New Hampshire, native, Simard fell in love with theater after she saw a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” when she was 4 years old. At age 9, she landed her first professional role in a production of “The Wizard of Oz,” after which she was eager to pursue a career on the stage.

She felt further inspired by watching Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan and Betty White on “The Golden Girls” with her grandmother, and continues to celebrate those late actors’ legacies on “The Golden Girls Deep Dive Podcast,” which she co-hosts with author Patrick Hinds.

“I’ve always used humor to cope with my pain, and doing it onstage is no different,” says Simard, pictured with co-star Christopher Sieber.

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

And like Arthur, Getty, McClanahan and White, Simard hopes to pursue more film and television work moving forward. In fact, she’d jump at the chance to co-star with Hilty ― beloved by viewers for her portrayal of Ivy Lynn on the NBC series “Smash” ― in a future screen project.

“It’s so fun to stir the waves of comedy with her,” she said. “We take the extra step to be there for one another. We choose every day to love one another, and that’s why why we work so well onstage.”

She went on to note: “Who knows, maybe there can be ‘The Megan and Jennifer Show.’ These kinds of gems don’t come along very often.”