Producer Lowe Cunningham talks “Death Becomes Her” musical special effects & more

The First National Tour of Broadway’s Death Becomes Her is making a stop in Omaha at the Orpheum Theater October 27–November 1, 2026. Tickets are on sale now! When Omaha Performing Arts announced this show was part of our Broadway season, we had the good fortune to host Lowe Cunningham, the lead producer of the show, who pulled back the curtain on what it takes to turn an iconic film into live theater. Watch the interview between Lowe Cunningham, Omaha Performing Arts President Joan Squires, and Bob Bucci from Broadway Across America!

Joan Squires: We’re delighted to welcome our special guest. Please join me in welcoming the lead producer for Death Becomes Her from Universal Theatrical Group, Lowe Cunningham.

Lowe Cunningham: I’m not Megan Hilty.

Joan: Thank you so much for coming to Omaha! We’re thrilled to have this show in the first year of the tour. It’s just extraordinary. I introduced you as the lead producer. Could you tell the audience a little bit about what that job is and how you got involved with the show?

Lowe: Sure. Where do I begin? I run the theatrical division at Universal Pictures, called Universal Theatrical Group. It’s my job to identify films and other pieces of IP that might make great stage productions. And we have a really strong philosophy: you don’t just take a movie, stick songs in it, and put it on stage. It has to have a new reason to live in this theatrical medium — a new reason to be. That’s where we started with Death Becomes Her and made it a whole new thing.

Joan: Thank you. We wondered about that. It’s based on the 1992 film, and we were talking backstage — how do you take that story and those special effects and transform them into a musical?

Lowe: It really starts with the writers. You need writers who have a strong perspective on how it can sing. I think when you think about Death Becomes Her, if you’ve seen the movie or not, it’s  all there for you in the Broadway musical. You can see, you get it, it’s as fun as  you want it to be. But if you’ve seen the movie you know, it has really heightened ideas, there’s a lot of magic, there’s a potion that brings you eternal youth — which I’m still looking for if anyone wants to figure out how to make it. All these heightened ideas are an incredible place to start when you want someone to sing. So you start with the writers, and then you bring in the designers later to put all the pieces together.

Bob Bucci: One thing about the movie is those amazing gags and the physical comedy. Spoiler alert: all those moments you know and love in the film are in the musical — we’re talking about the gunshot, the falling down the stairs… I don’t want to give too much away, but how did you approach that challenge of bringing all of that to life on stage?

Lowe: We had the most incredible director, Christopher Gatelli, who had a wealth of ideas. I spent a significant amount of money letting him figure it out — and he did. The two big moments in the film people always ask, “how are you going to do it?” are the stair fall, where Madeline Ashton (played by Meryl Streep in the film) falls down the stairs, and putting a hole in a lady’s stomach on stage. How do you do those things?

For the stair fall, for example — if you haven’t seen it, I won’t tell you where we ended up —but he tried a lot of things. We hired a stunt person for a week to throw themselves down the stairs over and over so we could see how it worked with a real body. Can you imagine that job? You call an agent and say, “Who’s your stunt person?” and they send someone who will literally throw themselves down stairs all day.

He had other ideas — beach balls with wigs bouncing down the stairs, robots, dancers with shadows. He tried an amazing amount of creative ideas and landed on something that every single night on Broadway gets the biggest reaction I’ve ever heard in a theater.

Joan: And the show is still going strong on Broadway with an incredibly passionate fan base. What do you think it is about this production that people are so drawn to?

Lowe: There’s a lot happening on Broadway right now that is really small. This show is a big return to big musical comedy. In many ways, it feels like an old-school musical, but at the same time, we’re in a place in the world where we really need to laugh. You get to go into that theater for two and a half hours and forget about any troubles in the world or in your life, and you laugh until your cheeks hurt. That’s what keeps people coming back over and over again. We’ve had people come back dozens of times.

Joan: I’ve come back several times. I took a group to New York this summer. I recommend it. It’s such a great show. I can’t wait for you all to see it. Is there anything else you want them to know about the show, Lowe?

Lowe: The show is a wonderful time, and I can’t wait for you all to see it. I’m so deeply impressed that everyone comes out for this event — I was saying that backstage. It’s incredible. Bravo to you all for being here, and thank you for supporting this organization and supporting live theater. It’s going to be an incredible year. Have an awesome season.