Bruce Glikas/Getty Death Becomes Hercomposers Julia Mattison and Noel Carey earned a 2025 Tony nomination for their Broadway debut The duo met in college and landed the gig after submitting original songs during the pandemic shutdown Speaking with PEOPLE, Mattison and Carey open up about craftingDeath Becomes Her's score — including that viral "That was rude" sound Julia Mattisonand Noel Carey are having a Broadway debut most people would die for. The songwriting duo are on the boards for the first time withDeath Becomes Her,the hilarious musical comedy they adapted from the 1992 Robert Zemeckis film that starredMeryl StreepandGoldie Hawn. It's an accomplishment 18 years in the making for Mattison and Carey, who met when they were both freshmen in a BFA program at Emerson College. And it's one that's not only put the two friends in the spotlight, but nabbed thema 2025 Tony Award nominationfor Best Original Score. "This whole experience has just been a series of dreams realized," Mattison tells PEOPLE, in a joint interview with Carey from the annual 'Meet the Nominees' gala on May 8. "And it feels overwhelming, in a way." "Yeah, you work so hard to get somewhere that when it finally happens, it's almost surreal," Carey adds. "But opening, that was the goal. Everything else that's happened since there has just been icing on the cake." Bruce Glikas/Getty Death Becomes Heris undeniably one of the theater season's biggest hits. Since opening back in November to rave reviews, the Christopher Gattelli-directed show has been driving audiences to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, making it a hot ticket on Broadway. Its fresh and fearless score — a mixture of brass Broadway numbers, emotional ballads, cinematic songs, contemporary hits and pop perfections — has been praised not just for its versatility, but how it effortlessly blends those genres together. One song, "Hit Me," has even inspired a viral sound on TikTok ("That.. was... rude..."). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Death Becomes Her (@deathbecomesher) The musical is currently up for 10 Tonys, including the coveted Best Musical prize as well as leading actress nods for starsMegan Hilty and Jennifer Simard. That's especially impressive, considering the odds that Mattison and Carey were up against. Not only were the pair musicalizing a fan-favorite film in a world where most musical adaptations of movies fail, but they had to beat out a bunch of other composers — many more established than they were — to do so. "We auditioned for this," Mattison explains. "I was having a general meeting with Universal Theatrical andDeath Becomes Hercame up and it's one of my favorite movies, so my ears perked up. But they said, 'Yeah, we don't have a music team yet, so if you'd be open to submitting...' And I very casually was like, 'Oh yeah, sounds good' and then ran out of the Universal lot calling Noel like, 'I'll be back in two days and we have to write some songs!' " Santiago Felipe/Getty Mattison and Carey got to work that weekend. Their first song, 'Falling Apart,' was done in a day. It remains in the show to this day and regularly stops the show. "That song just flew out of us," Mattison says. "And it's actually wild thinking about how much of it is exactly intact because most of the other songs we wrote when we eventually got the gig, we took our sweet time and we carved it over many weeks. But we were so excited." Carey noted how the tune was littered with musical themes that would later show up in different songs throughout. "Because it was the audition song, we were auditioning what our score would be in three minutes," he says. "So we wanted to make sure they knew all the flavors that were going to be on the menu. And I think that helped them really see our vision." The second song the pair penned for their audition, "'Til Death," is also in the show still — although it changed "a lot," they both say. Still, after months of waiting, those two tunes earned Mattison and Carey a ticket to Los Angeles where they met withDeath Becomes Her's book writer Marco Pennette for a chemistry test. The trio shared an instant bond. "We very quickly realized we have the same twisted sense of humor," Mattison says. "Which, it probably made this experience way more fun than it's supposed to be." In a true act of meritocracy, Universal went on to hire Mattison and Carey (obviously). The duo didn't get the job, however, until about two weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic — when much of the world, including live theater, was completely shut down. "We got the call on March 24, 2020," Carey says. "And it was like, 'There's no more Broadway but congratulations — you're writing for Broadway! Use this time to write, the job is yours.' " Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Valerie Terranova/FilmMagic Being in the bubble worked out for Mattison and Carey. Because there was nowhere to go, the two had plenty of time to dream whatDeath Becomes Hercould look, sound and feel like. "There was so much dreaming and imagining and manifesting during that time," remembers Carey. "We kept thinking, 'When Broadway comes back, what's the first thing we'd want to see?' And I think because we were all living such tight, crammed lives in our small apartments, we got to imagine this big, big, big show." "Oh, we definitely wrote for our fantasy world," Mattison recalls. "We would sit down and close our eyes and be like, 'Okay, we're sitting in the audience. Let's go on this ride.' And I think in writing that, we just got to play to our imaginations, until it was all real." They both collaborated on the music and lyrics forDeath Becomes Her's score. But it was Mattison who came up with a line that would lead to the musical's biggest laugh-out-loud number: "For the Gaze," a double entendre that perfectly gave nods to both the show's commentary on vanity and its camp nature. "I'm very proud of that one," Mattison says. "We had a real existential crisis about this song, because we felt a lot of pressure to craft the perfect, funny showstopper to introduce Madeline (Hilty) and start the show. So I texted Noel a series of many ideas, one of which was like, 'Maybe it's 'For the Gaze' but it's really 'For the Gays' — like this double meaning?' And then I quickly backtracked like, 'Anyway, I'll go see myself out.' But he was like, 'Stop! We have something here...' " "That's what's nice about having a partner," Carey says. "You can spiral and you can doubt yourself because you know the other person will be like, 'Stop. You nailed it. That's the title, we're writing that.' " View this post on Instagram A post shared by Death Becomes Her (@deathbecomesher) The PEOPLE Appis now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! With only a few more weeks until the Tony Awards to go,bets are flying around about whetherDeath Becomes Herwill be the big winner. But in Mattison and Carey's eyes, they've already won. "It's amazing because we know it doesn't end on Tony night," Carey says. "Heck, it doesn't end on Broadway! Broadway is giving us the gift showing this musical to the world, butDeath Becomes Herwill exist in tours and cast recordings and regional productions, high schools, etc. long after we're gone. It's going to have a big, big life, and that's really rewarding for us." Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman And as for what's next for Mattison and Carey? According to the show's stars, the sky's the limit. "In every interview I've done, and this is no exception, I've said the thing that I'm most excited about with this show is how it's going to change our composer and lyricists' lives," Simard previously told PEOPLE. "They're that good. This is their first big thing and it's going to be the first of many." "I keep saying, 'We're very lucky to be in their first musical before they're too famous to speak to us anymore!' " joked Hilty. Tickets toDeath Becomes Herare now on sale. The 2025 Tony Awards air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City Sunday, June 8, on CBS. Read the original article onPeople
