TDF Stages

Tim Clothier is behind many of the eye-popping illusions in the campy new musical

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Tim Clothier knows how to keep secrets. The illusionist's magic is on dazzling display in the new Broadway musical Death Becomes Her at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, but he won't let anyone peek inside his bag of tricks. That doesn't make them any less impressive.

A fan of the 1992 dark comedy that inspired the show, Clothier knew translating the film's special effects to the stage would be quite the challenge and require a close collaboration with director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli. Like the movie, the musical centers on two frenemies willing to do anything to stay young and beautiful: Smash's Megan Hilty is narcissistic performer Madeline Ashton and Jennifer Simard (Company, Once Upon a One More Time) is Helen Sharp, the writer living in her shadow. Christopher Sieber (Shrek the Musical, The Prom) is Ernest, the schlub torn between them, and Destiny Child's Michelle Williams is the mysterious woman who makes them an offer they really should refuse: immortality.

The film, which starred Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, is a cult classic that comments on impossible beauty standards in a misogynist society and features some hilariously gory special effects as Madeline and Helen inflict ugly wounds on each other. Clothier was tasked with helping to conjure those ghastly illusions onstage, sans green screen.

"There were a lot of really important moments visually that we had to make decisions on," he explains. "What is theatrical magic? And what is stuff where we ask you to suspend your disbelief?"

There are many how-did-they-do-that moments in the show, including a catastrophic fall down a sweeping staircase that leaves Madeline mangled, originally conceived and designed by Gattelli along with ensemble member and acrobatics captain Warren Yang, as well as a gunshot that blows a hole through Helen's torso. 

The staircase tumble is the first jaw-dropping effect. It's a slow-motion humor-horror show as audiences watch (and hear!) Madeline seemingly falling to her death.

"There's a lot more going on than you probably realize," he says. "Obviously, we've got trick stuff to do with the way that the set designer put it together, but there's also the fight direction, choreography, performers, costuming—all of those people work together to make that scene happen."

Born and bred in England, Clothier is the founder of the Las Vegas-based Illusion Projects, whose clients include Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soleil and David Copperfield. His interest in magic was sparked at age 6, when his grandfather showed him a card trick. Just five years later, he performed his first professional magic show. As an adult, he relocated to Vegas to gig as a magician as well as for a prop company. Collaborating with director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell on Peepshow introduced him to the theatre industry, where he's worked as a performer, stage manager, designer and literal magic maker.

"Magic is one of those lifelong things that, once it hooks you, becomes a part of who you are and what you do," he says.

Death Becomes Her marks Clothier's Broadway debut, and he joined the production for the New York run. (Rob Lake oversaw the illusions for the musical's Chicago world premiere earlier this year and retains a contribution credit). Clothier and his colleagues crafted many of the tricks at their Vegas office before sending them to New York. The test runs did lead to a few surprises. While experimenting on the hole in Helen illusion, he admits that "there were a couple of umbrella impales that maybe were a little bit more uncomfortable than they should have been," but notes his staff is "a resilient bunch." (Apparently, there is an office blooper reel, but it's for internal eyes only.)

Safety is a top concern for everyone on the Death Becomes Her team, especially Clothier. The musical features one particularly ferocious fight between Madeline and Helen, and he knew it needed to be staged in a believable but secure way. Creating those moments has gone smoothly thanks to the ensemble's dance chops.

"Dancers are incredibly in control of their bodies, and a lot of this stuff is quite physical, so it requires really good physicality," he says. "Training someone who understands their body is almost easier than training a magician who's spent their whole life doing card tricks."

The onstage combat, like much of Death Becomes Her, is over-the-top and borders on camp—funny enough to keep the audience laughing through the characters' pain. If staged differently, the scenes might be viewed as sad or scary. Clothier credits Gattelli with making sure the illusions, no matter how violent, are in keeping with the show's comedic tone.

"Christopher found the perfect blend of ridiculous fun," says Clothier. "I think the greatest challenge was that there's a temptation to get a bit too literal with stuff. But, from a magic standpoint, it works really well when we do effects during offbeat moments, when people aren't expecting it. Those are some of the strongest ones."

One of those unexpected effects occurs when Ernest retreats to his basement in a panic after learning Madeline and Helen are undead. Drowning his sorrows in alcohol, he suddenly finds the objects around him singing along. Eventually, a poster of Farrah Fawcett joins in, too. The sequence came from the Chicago production and was the brainchild of Gattelli and the show's props supervisor, Buist Bickley.

As for how Clothier, Gattelli and the actors pull off all these amazing feats, he's not telling. Even though he knows audiences are curious, he promises that the tricks are more fun to watch if you don't know how they work.

"The truth of the matter is, the bit you see onstage is way more exciting than what's going on backstage," he insists. "Sometimes the secrets are not that thrilling."

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