Betsy Wolfe Talks Death Becomes Her, Vocal Demands and Life Behind the Scenes

Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe is chasing youth and belting her head off eight times a week as the catastrophically self-involved actress Madeline Ashton in Death Becomes Her on Broadway. The hardworking leading lady sat down with Tamsen Fadal on The Broadway Show to talk about the demands of the part and finding work-life balance.

“I saw [Death Becomes Her] opening night, which was three weeks after I left & Juliet. The truth is, when you're in a show, you don't really go see many shows,” confesses Wolfe. “It was probably the fourth show in two years that I had seen.” For Wolfe, it was love at first viewing. “I could not stop laughing. My face hurt from smiling. It was everything I ever wanted to see in a musical. It was the first time probably in eight years that I watched a show and thought, ‘That would be so much fun to do.’ The fact that I'm sitting here now, I just pinch myself constantly.”

Wolfe replaced Megan Hilty, who originated the part. As the production’s first principal replacement, Wolfe felt it was imperative to bring her own spin to the character. “They let me have free rein, which is really the best way that you can step into a show. When you replace, you don't want to think about it like you're a carbon copy. They basically said, ‘Betsy, we know you, we love you, we trust you. Here's the parameters. Now go do you."

Wolfe won the hearts of theater fans as a Broadway.com vlogger during her stint as Jenna in Waitress. Thankfully, she’s back at it again with a weekly vlog entitled “Death Becomes Betsy,” where viewers get a peek backstage at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. On her return to the vlogesphere, Wolfe says, “I just try and carry my camera with me at all times. What's crazy is, for every moment that I capture, there's three that I think, ‘Oh, I should have captured that.’ I leave the stage for maybe three minutes at a time and I'm changing costumes, so I can't really vlog during the show. There's no hope for that. Madeline is always on.”

Death Becomes Her marks Wolfe’s eight show on Broadway and the seasoned performer is making sure to take the necessary precautions to be able to meet the demands of the role. “I see my physical therapist two times a week. I have a laryngeal expert. About two times a month she flies in and she really goes in there. It's the repetition of eight shows a week on certain muscles, certain movements, and then undoing that a little bit to make you have more of an even feel. It's no joke to actually do this eight times a week, especially in this show.”

It’s one thing to star on Broadway; it’s another to do so while also raising a young child. “I wish I could say, ‘Here's your perfect formula,’ but every woman who does this knows that that is absolutely not possible,” says Wolfe on balancing motherhood with her professional obligations. “My daughter came in this morning, she's not feeling well. So, guess who was cuddled up with me, coughing at 4:00 a.m.?” Though her daughter has yet to see the show, she has developed a budding relationship with the material. “She's off book for ‘Tell Me, Ernest’ and ‘For The Gaze,’ which is quite funny to hear a kindergartner running around singing the songs. I'm just like, 'I know half these lyrics are going over her head.'"

Will the budding thespian be seeing her mother on stage anytime soon? Says Wolfe, “I'm not sure she's ready to see mom's head decapitated on a cart.”

Watch the full interview below:

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