NEW YORK (AP) — When he was first requested to helm the Broadway hit musical “Death Becomes Her,” director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli liked it, however refused to work on the large, splashy opening quantity. It was simply too scrumptious.
“When they sent it to me, I was cooking and I burnt dinner because my mind was spinning,” he says. “I was, like, ‘This is a gift. I will never get an opening number like this again.’”
So Gattelli labored out every thing else about put Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 comedian cult traditional onto a stage and solely then turned to the large, brassy track, “For the Gaze,” a winking valentine to homosexual males, punning alongside the way in which.
“I was able to do the show and then have my full brain on that number because I knew the potential of what it could be,” he says.
What Gattelli crafted is a gap quantity for the ages, led by Megan Hilty: There are mid-song costume adjustments, dance breaks, refrain boys hoisting Hilty, spangly jumpsuits and tuxedos, high-kicking Vegas showgirls with feather headdresses, a physique double doing somersaults, a rainbow flag of top-hatted dancers, and Hilty doing a Liza Minnelli cameo, all ending with the grand finale of Hilty as Judy Garland’s Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” full with a bit stuffed canine.
“I heard the pocket in that song, and I was like, ‘I know there’s a giant laugh there. I can hear giant laughs, what’s that giant laugh?’” says Gattelli. “What’s the biggest gay reference? Then I literally I just worked backwards.”
That quantity telegraphs to the viewers precisely what to anticipate for the remainder of the night time — a wonderfully rehearsed, lushly costumed, foolish, self-aware comedy.
“Once we hit ‘For the Gaze,’ the audience knows exactly what the show is,” he says. “And then I think they’re in for the ride.”
A wheelbarrow of Tony nods
The work on “For the Gaze” has helped Gattelli see his present earn 10 Tony Award nominations, together with one for his Broadway debut as a director and one other for his choreography.
The musical relies on the movie, which starred Meryl Streep as a self-centered actor and Goldie Hawn as her suffering-in-the-shadows author pal. Their mutual determined measures for reaching everlasting youth flip comically grotesque. Hilty performs the Streep position, whereas Jennifer Simard performs the Hawn one.
“It felt like just the perfect fit for what I do and what I love to do,” Gattelli says. “I love comedy and I love to direct comedy and I love to do these big splashy numbers. It felt like everything I’ve been itching to do.”
Gattelli — who was a dancer within the authentic “Cats” — has been a mainstay on Broadway of late, in a position to choreograph such venerable works as “The King and I” and “My Fair Lady” but in addition irreverent musicals as “SpongeBob SquarePants” and the jukebox selection, like “The Cher Show.”
He made his directing debut off-Broadway in 2011 with “Silence!” a parody musical of “The Silence of the Lambs,” full with a refrain of dancing lambs operating throughout the stage.
Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of “Death Becomes Her,” noticed it in Los Angeles and later requested Gattelli concerning the expertise, how he collaborated and his strategy to the work. She was impressed by his openness to all concepts and his caring.
“I think first and foremost, his talent is clear and it’s been out there in the world of choreography for a long time. He is innovative, he does things other people aren’t doing, but the other thing is that he’s renowned as being an incredibly kind human being,” she says.
Gattelli, who gained a 2012 Tony for choreographing “Newsies the Musical” — one in all his show-stopping moments was dancers sliding on newspapers — was introduced in comparatively late to “Death Becomes Her,” solely a 12 months and half earlier than opening on Broadway.
“It was a great lesson in trusting your instincts,” he says. “They said, ‘We want a lush, opulent, sexy, magical sparkling evening.’ And we just started taking big swings.”
It began with — of all issues — the curtain. The viewers submitting into the theater is greeted by a purple, royal material. “When people walk in, they immediately feel like that it’s lush and sexy and mysterious.”
The problem of 1 scene
The musical is stuffed with very humorous particular results which can be decidedly low-tech. At one level, the 2 main women are changed by two males duking it out in attire and wigs. The viewers roars on the deception and Gattelli even suggested one of many male combatants to not shave his arm hair.
“The audience is in on the joke,” he says. “I love that they go on that ride with us. They’re laughing with us. We’re all laughing together and it feels good.”
One scene from the film wanted a variety of planning to make it on stage: The tumble down the elegant mansion stairs by Hilty’s character. Hollywood CGI magic must be replicated by Broadway ingenuity.
“The people that know the movie and the fans especially are going to go, ‘How are they going to do it?’ It was keeping me up at night forever because we tried everything,” says Gattelli.
The inventive staff — which additionally included set designer Derek McLane, lighting designer Justin Townsend and sound designer Peter Hylenski — determined to make it a dance punctuated by sound results.
Warren Yang — an actor with a gymnastics background — wears Hilty’s outfit and a wig as he tumbles slowly, acrobatically and theatrically down the steps, somersaulting as thunder sounds crash and we hear what looks like bones cracking. (The steps had been fabricated from the rubber Neoprene for security.)
“There are very simple techniques that make a big impact,” says Gattelli. “I just went back to it’s a beautiful, lush, gorgeous show, but, at the core, it’s just theatrical magic and stagecraft.”
