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“Broadway has always been my aspiration, but I took a detour into television,” shares Marco Pennette. Known for his successful writing contributions to popular shows like Ugly Betty, Mom, and B Positive, Pennette humorously admits, “I was just lip-syncing to Dreamgirls in my room.” He has finally meshed his love for theater into his career as the book writer for the Broadway production of Death Becomes Her. In a conversation with Gold Derby, he credits the legendary Hal Prince for helping him realize this musical comedy ambition.
As a teenager, Pennette aspired to be a theater director. To seek guidance, he penned a letter to Prince, a legendary figure in theater and a 21-time Tony Award winner. Unexpectedly, during a family dinner, the phone rang, and it was Prince’s assistant wanting to arrange a meeting. “Being 13, I thought, ‘I have school,’ and hung up,” he recalls with laughter. Fortunately, his father encouraged him to make a second call, recognizing the significance of speaking with a Broadway icon. “They took me to New York for the meeting, and we maintained contact until Prince passed away,” he reflects.
Years later, a friend, Kristin Chenoweth, facilitated a job for him to revise the book for the revival of On the Twentieth Century at the Roundabout Theatre Company. During this time, he reached out to Prince for advice, hoping for a chance to reconnect. “I really think it was an excuse to see him again,” admits Pennette, “and when I mentioned my continued desire to do Broadway, he looked at me as if to say, ‘What are you waiting for?’ It was a bit more critical than cheerful, like, ‘You’ve been talking about this for a while!’” Following this encounter, Pennette felt motivated to pursue his Broadway dreams seriously.
The opportunity for Death Becomes Her soon materialized after that pivotal conversation. The process of adapting the story for Broadway took eight years and included over 70 rewrites—an adjustment from the fast-paced nature of television writing. Pennette embraced the challenge of adapting and giving new life to the classic script. “I cherished the chance to alter the material. I didn’t want to replicate the movie,” he shares. “While I respect the film, I saw opportunities for deeper motivations and character developments.”
This skillful adaptation is exemplified in a comedic backstage encounter involving Madeleine (Megan Hilty), her rival Helen (Jennifer Simard), and Helen’s fiancé Ernest (Christopher Sieber). The scene opens similarly to the iconic film version but quickly takes on a fresh logo. New jokes are introduced, such as references to Madeleine’s unusual dietary habits and Helen’s revealing presentation of Ernest as a prized catch.
“I pondered, why would Helen expose her fiancé to a woman who has a history of stealing her boyfriends? It didn’t seem plausible,” Pennette explains. “In our rendition, Helen is eager to showcase him, indicating a vengeful edge.”
The dressing room scene serves as a crucial moment, presenting the first lines of dialogue in the musical. The show opens with a powerful vocal performance by Michelle Williams, transitioning into Hilty’s energetic number “For the Gaze.” As the characters move to conversation, Pennette admits nervousness about audience reactions. “That was the moment I worried the most; I had my assistant beside me, anticipating laughter from the audience.” Fortunately, the dialogue matched the musical’s energy, bringing consistent laughter throughout the scene. “It’s one of my favorite scenes, revealing the characters’ agendas and identities in a unique way,” he expresses.
Though the Broadway adaptation takes liberties, it remains faithful to the film’s campy essence. However, Pennette clarifies that this quality wasn’t consciously part of his writing guidelines. “I later realized it was there, but I hadn’t initially aimed for camp,” he laughs, recounting how his husband had to highlight those themes for him. “I told him I was unsure about the camp. And he pointed out, ‘Marco, you have two women trying to kill each other with shovels. That’s camp!’” This lack of awareness allowed him to focus primarily on crafting humor. “My goal was to create musical comedy. I aimed to contribute my comedic voice to this project,” he concludes.
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