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

LOADING ERROR LOADING 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. 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. “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. “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.