Betsy Wolfe Has Found Perfection with DEATH BECOMES HER

When Betsy Wolfe first saw Death Becomes Her in 2024, she had a pretty immediate reaction: she wanted in.

“I just remember watching the show thinking, ‘This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time,’” Wolfe recalled. “I was just like beaming from ear to ear. My cheeks hurt the next morning! And I remember thinking, God, this show would be really fun to be in.”

Now, she’s living that exact thought—stepping into the iconic role of Madeline Ashton and  having a great time doing it. Taking on a role that audiences already adore might seem daunting, but Wolfe says she felt welcomed from the start, with full support from the cast and director Christopher Gattelli.

Instead of trying to overhaul the character, Wolfe is leaning into what she brings to it naturally—and that’s exactly what the creative team encouraged.

“It’s less about me thinking in terms of making it my own, but obviously by the nature that I’m just a different person,” she explained. “I think what the show does so brilliantly is they are celebratory of the things that make you unique. Chris was just so generous in that sense of saying, ‘What are the ways that we can let you be you, honor the material, work within that really amazing boundary of this is what’s been established, and yet knowing that the audience is going to love it the most when they’re watching someone be so uniquely themselves and comfortable in their own skin too.’ And so it’s brought about some joyous moments.”

That sense of freedom carries into the rehearsal room and onstage, where Wolfe says the cast thrives on playing off one another.

“When you work with people that are so secure in themselves and comedic geniuses, they know that no matter what they do, they’re going to be funny because they know that they’re just funny human beings,” she said. “So we all had with each other to say like, ‘Well, let’s see how we’re funny together!’ And the willingness to just play has been such a creatively joyous time for me.”