INTERVIEW: Taurean Everett on the search for youth and beauty in ‘Death Becomes Her’
Photo: Taurean Everett is featured in the new musical Death Becomes Her. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
NEW YORK — Death Becomes Her, the new musical playing Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, offers an updated adaptation of the cult classic film from the 1990s. The movie stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Isabella Rossellini, and it features a story of two women yearning for the fountain of youth — and willing to do just about anything to capture their concept of “beauty.”
The new musical, with music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, follows a similar storyline and highlights a pivotal character along the way: Chagall, played with skill by Taurean Everett. His role is an interesting one. He’s featured in the dungeon-like environs of Viola Van Horn (Michelle Williams), the purveyor of the purple elixir that allows Madeline Ashton (Megan Hilty) and Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard) to hold on to their youthful selves.
Everett came to the musical after his time in Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
“I saw that it was Christopher Gattelli, who I had worked with previously in The Cher Show, and I thought, what an opportunity,” Everett said in a recent phone interview. “I love being in the room with Gattelli, and so I made the space to do that. And then I got injured in Moulin Rouge!, so part of my experience of joining the lab of Death Becomes Her, I was actually on crutches. And it was an interesting thing. I would have to really focus hard on memorizing choreography visually as opposed to physically, and it was a challenge. I remember the director saying he envisioned a particular group, a particular cast, and I was in the mix of people that made sense to the show. … It ended up just working out in my favor, and I’m so grateful to be here.”
Everett, who has also appeared in Miss Saigon and Mamma Mia!, was familiar with the original movie before he joined this theatrical journey. He’s not the biggest fans of cult classics, but he remembers seeing this one and being fascinated by it.
“When I heard that it was coming to Broadway and that they had reached out to me about auditioning for the show, I remember thinking, huh, at that time, there was no one in the show who looked like me, who I felt seen by or represented by,” he said. “So I was uncertain of the capacity in which they thought I might suit the show, and so I showed up at the audition. And the beautiful thing about this particular movie and the source material is that it really can be anyone. The messaging of the source material is truly just about the societal standards of beauty and trauma within friendships that all of us can relate to, so once I saw that that’s what this show is trying to do or considering communicating, it was easy for me to walk in and see myself in the space. Not only because we all relate to it, but because it was an opportunity to create something new and make more space that the movie didn’t particularly provide in so far as representation. So it was really nice to have that opportunity, and I hope that I’m doing a good job of it.”
What’s most interesting about Everett’s performance is how he was able to think up a unique backstory for the character of Chagall. Although it’s never spoken about in the show, and most of these musings are conjecture, the actor has had fun thinking about how his role might relate to Viola.
“So Michelle Williams and I play Viola Van Horn and Chagall, and I haven’t said it publicly, but I also think Chagall’s last name is Van Horn,” he said about his theory. “And we think Viola and Chagall are siblings, and Chagall, I think, was a former model. He was a former artist. He carried a lot of presence, and something happened to him. And he was the first subject of Viola Van Horn’s — trusting his sister, if you will — and he ended up becoming a businessman. And as anyone would potentially understand, if you’re around for a long time, you start to get bored with this job or that job or this task or that task, and so he presents himself in the context of the show as being a person who does a lot of different things. He’s sort of this omnipresent character who understands that the whole business that he and Viola are providing are to give people what they want in a world where society values beauty and youth. And so he is a nice guy, but he’s a stern guy. He’s an impatient guy because he has seen this time and time and time again.”
Everett and Williams have also pondered about how old their respective characters might be. One version of the show, during its development stage, referenced Michelangelo being one of Viola’s clients, which would make Viola at least 600 years old.
“So it’s really fun to just play this ancient, omnipresent character that has withstood the test of time,” Everett said.
The actor added: “It’s interesting because a lot of people will look at Viola or consider Viola to be this sort of enchantress, but that seems witchy, if you will. It’s not that. It’s that she is providing a service in the same way that the beauty industry provides a service. … And that is something that I think a lot of people can relate to, and so it really does makes sense. And it makes the characters of Viola and Chagall more likable because they really are just providing a service. We didn’t tell you that you have to use the service; you chose to take it, and so it becomes fun to just be these enchanting creatures on stage and know that we are working in tandem to give everyone what they want.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Death Becomes Her, featuring Taurean Everett, continues at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
