'Death Becomes Her' Star Betsy Wolfe Takes Us Inside The Life Of A Mom On Broadway

On a typical Wednesday, most Broadway performers have what’s called a two-show day: a matinee and evening performance. Then there’s Betsy Wolfe, who often finds herself doing something even more demanding: performing Death Becomes Her three times, if you include the non-ticketed version at home with her 5-year-old daughter, Poppy. 

That commitment captures the center of Wolfe’s life right now. The Broadway star, 43, has previous credits that include a Tony Award-nominated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet, Joy in Joy, and Jenna in Waitress. She doesn’t sugarcoat her work-life balance. 

“I don’t believe that there is such a thing as true balance,” the actress, who is starring as Madeline Ashton in Death Becomes Her, says. The musical, based on the Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep film, is about seeking eternal youth through a potion that cannot be reversed. “You make choices, right? And then there are consequences to your choices.”

The choices that Wolfe makes are intentional. “The most important thing for me is to make sure that she feels like she’s getting quality time on those two days, because that is the day that I am gone the longest,” Wolfe says about her Wednesday schedule. “Then, I’ve packed her afternoon with really fun activities and people that we know, love, and trust.”

Sure, there are days when she’s maxed out. One recent Monday, Wolfe crashed on the couch. The day before, after eight performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, she stayed out late to attend the opening night of a new musical. 

“While I don’t love having something on one of my nights off, I knew that [Monday] was going to be my night with my daughter and spending quality time with her,” she explains during a moms on Broadway panel at the Museum of Broadway on April 28. But after putting Poppy to bed, she fell asleep, too, “which is actually not normal for me to fall asleep that early, but my body was telling me, I was done.”

Joining Wolfe for the conversation was Chess choreographer Lorin Latarro, who is a mom to 8-year-old Arden, The Great Gatsby’s Tess Soltau, whose daughter, Ava, is 2, and Schmigadoon!’s Kaleigh Cronin, who is pregnant with her first baby. Poppy was sitting in the audience watching her mom in awe. 

Before she became a mom, Wolfe worried, like many performers, that motherhood might narrow her career. “I had this fear that once I became a mother, my world would grow a little bit smaller,” she admits. The reality was the opposite.

“I could not do what I do onstage if I didn’t prioritize my kid,” she explains. “In a way that makes me an even better performer and actor. The fact that I prioritize my daughter is actually what makes me happy.”

For Lorin Latarro, marking her 10th Broadway choreography credit with Chess, the long tech rehearsals are actually her favorite. It’s because rehearsals are typically 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a long dinner break. “I call it ‘magic time.’ If I get to go home, tuck her in, and then go back to work, it’s such freedom, because she’s asleep and I’m working. I feel like you get the best of both worlds,” Latarro says.

“I think people probably assume that you don’t see your kid a lot, and I feel like I see my kid all the time,” Soltau shares, especially since her daughter isn’t in school yet. Though on some two-show days, there were a few times when she didn’t go home in between performances. “I am sad during the second show. I’m like, ‘wow, I should have gone home.’ That [break] wasn’t as good as me with my kid.” 

Wolfe wonders if some days had enough quality time with Poppy. “But what makes me happiest is knowing that I’ve spent that time, and spent it in a good, creative way,” she adds.

The key has been folding Poppy, whom she welcomed with her husband, Adam Krauthamer, in 2020, into the work rather than keeping the worlds separate.

“I feel like she’s very much part of my life,” Wolfe explains. “Even if it means performing Death Becomes Her in the morning, she’s included in my life. If she finds that fun, then I’m including her in what I do, and that becomes the fabric of our life together,” she says. 

Poppy is now around the same age as Lulu, Jenna’s daughter in Waitress. Typically, it’s played by a child a few years older. Would Wolfe let Poppy do the role if there was an opportunity? “If she wanted to,” noting that she doesn’t want to push this career like Mama Rose does in Gypsy. 

Latarro feels similarly. “I would never stop her, but I’m certainly no stage mother,” she points out, adding that the business is full of heartbreak, pain, ups and downs, and magnificent highs. “She takes piano and dance because I believe that people need to learn how to move, and that’s very important. She’s a lovely singer. I want her to be able to read music. It’s a language, and in our house, that’s the language.”

In terms of role models, Wolfe points to some Tony Award-winning moms as her inspiration, like Stephanie J. Block, who most recently starred as Cher in The Cher Show. They’ve done two shows together over the years, “one when she was very much trying to become a mom, and one when she had a young one. For me, a lot of it is how much to the world do I share of Poppy? That’s always kind of a fine line,” she feels wanting to keep her daughter’s life and image out of the public spotlight. Wolfe also name-drops Kelli O’Hara as another good example. “I see Kelli prioritizing her kids,” she includes Laura Benanti as a third name. 

Wolfe has become a role model for her cast, too, including for Kaleigh Cronin. Before Schmigadoon!, Cronin was in the ensemble of Death Becomes Her and understudied the leads Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard) and Madeline Ashton. ”I’ve had the privilege of seeing [Wolfe and Latarro’s] daughters backstage and witnessing you being incredible mothers, making me confident enough to think I can do this too,” she says, rubbing her growing baby bump. 

In a business where many still wonder if parenthood will cost them opportunities, one conversation still resonates with Wolfe.

“It was really about: you don’t have to choose between your career and your child,” she says. “Doing both is showing them that you can do it.”