Why Broadway’s ‘Dying Turns into Her’ Reduce the Movie’s Fats Swimsuit (Unique)

When it got here time to convey Dying Turns into Her to Broadway, star Jennifer Simard says the present’s inventive group made one choice early on: they weren’t going to make use of a fats go well with.

The actress — who’s nominated for her third Tony Award for her main position as Helen Sharp within the musical — tells PEOPLE how shifting away from the film’s outdated tropes allowed the present to ship an empowering, body-positive message.

For many who have not seen Robert Zemeckis’ 1992 movie, from which the stage present is tailored, Helen (performed by Goldie Hawn) famously has a breakdown after her ex-fiancé Earnest (Bruce Willis) leaves her for her glamorous frenemy, Madeline (Meryl Streep).

Introduced as Helen’s all-time low earlier than her personal journey towards self-importance, revenge and immortality begins, the character is proven residing in a dirty condo surrounded by cats, shoveling vanilla icing into her mouth as she sits on a recliner obsessively rewatching Madeline’s film. And to intensify Helen’s dramatic transformation to return within the movie, Hawn wears a padded bodysuit within the scene, as if Helen had skilled a major weight achieve.

Audiences will not see that on stage, although. “One selection we made in our manufacturing is to not have a faux, bigger go well with placed on me like they do within the film,” Simard, 54, tells PEOPLE solely. “We stated, ‘That is not one thing we’ll do.’ ”

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The inventive group — together with guide author Marco Pennette, director Christopher Gattelli and rating composers Julia Mattison and Noel Carey — as an alternative wished to replicate how a lot society has modified within the three a long time since.

“It was the suitable choice,” she continues. “Artwork by no means exists as one thing you simply placed on a shelf and say, ‘It’s executed.’ You all the time should replace for the local weather of the current, not the previous. There’s been a lot progress made when it comes to physique positivity, and I don’t suppose that’s an applicable avenue to go down anymore. It was not vital.”

“There have been different issues we may do to deal with Helen’s devolution, with out making it about her measurement,” Simard says. “I’ve talked earlier than about my trajectory with anorexia; I might by no means need to do something that may develop into a set off for others on the market battling their very own [disordered eating].”

Now, Dying Turns into Her explores Helen’s spiral by leaning in on the influence Earnest and Madeline’s betrayal affected her psychological well being.

That, too, was private for Simard, who has been open about her previous experiences with emotional wellness.

“I created a solo present referred to as Stigma all about destigmatizing psychological well being points,” she says. “So regardless that that scene in our present is performed at a really heightened, theatrical tempo, I really feel like I can communicate to it from an genuine place as a result of I’ve skilled such a variety of points and have overcome them.”

And whereas enjoying by way of that trauma may be difficult, tapping into Helen’s unraveling was cathartic, Simard says.

“It’s actually enjoyable for me to make use of comedy to cope with my ache,” Simard provides. “I feel among the finest comedy comes from ache. I am coming to it now from a really healed place now. To me, it is a marriage made in heaven.”

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Dying Turns into Her is nominated for 10 Tony Awards, together with Finest Musical. It is now in performances on the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York Metropolis.

“I actually do suppose that it’s the precise form of present we have wanted for the reason that pandemic,” Simard beforehand advised PEOPLE. “It’s only a huge previous Broadway musical, the way in which it was meant to be executed. And I am so fortunate to be part of it.”

Tickets to Dying Turns into Her at the moment are on sale. The 2025 Tony Awards air stay from Radio Metropolis Music Corridor in New York Metropolis Sunday, June 8, on CBS.

For those who or somebody is battling an consuming dysfunction, The Alliance for Consuming Problems offers a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, in addition to free, therapist-led help teams.