Mitra I. Arthur | May 19, 2025
In Death Becomes Her, the main characters kill each other multiple times … for laughs! Robert Zemeckis' 1992 film is a cult classic; its stage adaptation — with a book by Marco Pennette and lyrics and music by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey — is a delightfully unhinged musical that I knew needed the Tiny Desk treatment. But If you're wondering if the performers recreate any of the physical comedy gags in the NPR Music office, you'll have to head to the theater.

Mattison and Carey were on hand to shepherd the Tiny Desk audience through the world they helped create. Michelle Williams (of Destiny's Child fame) plays Viola Van Horn, the potion slinging sorceress, with enticing mystique; she performs "If You Want Perfection" and reminds us that actions have consequences in the grooving "Don't Say I Didn't (Warn You)." In "Tell Me, Ernest," Megan Hilty (Madeline Ashton), Jennifer Simard (Helen Sharp) and Christopher Sieber (Dr. Ernest Menville) bring the weird and competitive love triangle of their characters to life (with a memorable appearance from Josh Lamon). Despite the fact their characters' "hatred escalated into murder" a few times, Hilty and Simard showcase their dysfunctional and codependent love for each other in the show's 11 o'clock number, "Alive Together."

SET LIST
"If You Want Perfection"
"Tell Me, Ernest"
"Alive Forever"
"Don't Say I Didn't (Warn You)"

MUSICIANS
Michelle Williams: vocals
Jennifer Simard: vocals
Megan Hilty: vocals
Christopher Sieber: vocals
Noel Carey: keys, background vocals
Julia Mattison: cowbell, background vocals
Dillon Kondor: guitar
Rob Jost: bass
Ben Cohn: keys
Damien Bassman: drums
Josh Lamon: background vocals
Taurean Everett: background vocals
Ximone Rose: background vocals

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Mitra I. Arthur
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Alanté Serene, Nikki Birch
Audio Engineer: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Michael Zamora
Tiny Desk Team: Joshua Bryant, Lars Gotrich
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

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