Beaches Hits Broadway With Mixed Results
The Beaches Broadway musical has finally washed ashore at the Majestic Theatre, and the results are, well, complicated. Based on Iris Rainer Dart’s beloved 1985 novel and the iconic 1988 film that made “Wind Beneath My Wings” a cultural staple, this new stage adaptation arrives carrying heavy expectations and even heavier emotional baggage.
The good news? Jessica Vosk delivers a performance worth the price of admission. The not-so-good news? Almost everything surrounding her struggles to keep up.
Jessica Vosk Is the Heart and Soul of the Show
If there’s one reason to buy a ticket to this production, her name is Jessica Vosk. The actress, who has been steadily climbing Broadway’s ranks for fifteen years including a memorable turn as Elphaba in Wicked, finally gets to originate a major role with Cee Cee Bloom.
And she absolutely nails it.
Following Bette Midler’s unforgettable film portrayal is no small task. Midler defined Cee Cee for an entire generation of fans. Yet Vosk doesn’t just survive the comparison, she thrives. Her warmth pulls you in from the start. Her humor keeps you invested. Her vocal power takes your breath away when it needs to. She’s the kind of performer who makes you sit up a little straighter in your seat, and she’s the reason this show is worth talking about at all.
A Story of Lifelong Friendship
For those unfamiliar with the source material, Beaches tells the decades-long story of two unlikely best friends. On one side is Cee Cee Bloom, brash, showbizzy, and never afraid to take up space. On the other is Bertie, played here by Kelli Barrett, the pretty and privileged counterpart whose life seems perfect from the outside.
Their friendship spans childhood crushes, career struggles, romantic disasters, and the kind of devastating heartbreak that only real friends can share. It’s a story that has made countless people cry over the past forty years.
Unfortunately, this Broadway version doesn’t quite capture that emotional magic.
A Troubled Journey to Broadway
The road to the Majestic Theatre has been rocky for this production. The Beaches Broadway musical first premiered in Virginia back in 2014, and since then, the project has weathered a series of significant setbacks.
Here’s a quick look at what the show has been through:
- Iris Rainer Dart wrote the lyrics herself
- Her book collaborator Thom Thomas passed away in 2015
- The original composer departed the project
- Legendary songwriter Mike Stoller, now 93, stepped in as replacement
- Years of revisions and rewrites followed
Stoller, of course, is a songwriting icon who helped define pop music in the 1950s and 1960s. But even his talent can’t fully paper over the cracks left by so many creative changes. The finished product feels stitched together rather than organically grown, and audiences can feel it.
The Rule of Three Strikes Again
Broadway has been leaning hard on the “Rule of Three” lately, and Beaches follows suit. Three actresses play Cee Cee at different ages, and three play Bertie. The youngest and oldest versions stay in their specific roles throughout the show, while the middle performers handle additional duties.
Audiences have seen this trick before in productions like Fun Home, Summer, The Cher Show, and The Notebook. It can work beautifully when executed well. Here, however, it highlights some of the production’s weaknesses rather than its strengths.
A Cast Stretched Too Thin
The supporting cast deserves credit for their hustle. The production’s small size means several actors have to juggle multiple roles, and the men have it worst. One plays ten different characters. Another plays fifteen. That’s not artistic ambition, that’s economic reality, and it shows.
The entire production has a budget-conscious feel that works against its sweeping emotional ambitions. When you’re trying to tell a story that spans decades and moves across the country, cutting corners on cast size hurts.
A Set Design That Doesn’t Set the Mood
Directed by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart, the physical production feels surprisingly bare bones for a Broadway show. The staging relies on some rather unconvincing sand dunes at the front of the stage, along with a handful of moving panels that shift around like Jenga blocks.
The costumes fall into two categories, cheap-looking or drab. Neither captures the glamour or emotional richness you’d expect from a story about a lifelong friendship set against the glittering worlds of showbiz and high society.
The show’s finale drives this point home painfully. When Vosk delivers “Wind Beneath My Wings,” the only song carried over from the beloved film, a riser moves her forward toward the audience. It should feel like she’s soaring. Instead, it feels small and mechanical, undercutting what should have been a devastating emotional moment.
The Book and Score Need More Work
Dart’s libretto has its share of problems. Several clever improvements made for the 1988 film have been undone, including the central fight that almost ends the friendship forever. The new version of this crucial scene emerges awkwardly from a throwaway comment about stemware and leans on the tired cliché of someone walking in on a kiss at the worst possible moment.
The emotional depth that made both the novel and film so beloved? It’s harder to find here.
The score has its rough patches too. A wedding scene features the unfortunate rhyme of “Holy holy matrimony” with “Holy moley matrimony.” A duet between the two husbands, played by Brent Thiessen and Ben Jacoby, lands with a thud rather than a laugh.
Bertie’s Inconsistent Characterization
Kelli Barrett, a genuinely talented performer, has been handed a particularly tricky role. The nine-year-old version of Bertie, played by Zeya Grace, speaks like a literary scholar, dropping words like “quixotically” into her first song. Moments later, she’s offering tough-talking life advice to young Cee Cee as if she’s been chain-smoking cigars since kindergarten.
The adult Bertie doesn’t fare much better. Barrett is saddled with lyrics that feel almost embarrassing to sing, including lines about finally being the girl she wants to be, full of joy and laughter and song. It’s the kind of on-the-nose writing that makes even skilled performers look bad.
Moments of Genuine Charm
Despite all the criticisms, the Beaches Broadway musical isn’t a total shipwreck. Several performers find ways to inject genuine moments of warmth and personality into the proceedings.
Brent Thiessen brings a laid-back charm to his role as the director both women fall for. You understand immediately why these two very different women would both be drawn to him. Samantha Schwartz, playing the youngest Cee Cee, has fabulous camp energy as a jaded Atlantic City child star. Her costume suggests what Baby June from Gypsy might look like if she’d started the show as a stripper rather than ending up as one.
These little sparks of life remind you what this show could have been with better material.
When Musicals Miss the Mark
When a Broadway musical doesn’t work, the cast is rarely to blame. That’s certainly true here. The performers are doing their best with what they’ve been given. They’re professionals who showed up ready to tell this story, and many of them squeeze in moments that land beautifully.
But a show is only as strong as its weakest elements, and the Beaches Broadway musical has too many weak elements dragging it down. The script feels rushed. The songs feel inconsistent. The physical production feels underfunded. And the emotional core that made Beaches a cultural touchstone in the first place never quite comes through.
The Verdict on the Beaches Broadway Musical
Here’s the honest takeaway. Jessica Vosk is giving a star-making performance, and she deserves to be seen. Her Cee Cee is funny, warm, and vocally thrilling. She’s doing everything a leading lady should do, and then some.
What she deserves next is a vehicle that actually supports her talent. This production, sadly, is not that vehicle. It’s a mediocre weepie that occasionally rises to the level of its source material but more often settles for a much smaller version of the story.
If you’re a die-hard fan of the original novel or film, you might find enough to enjoy here, especially if you go in with tempered expectations. If you’re a Jessica Vosk fan, you absolutely should see her make the most of this opportunity. But if you’re looking for the kind of Broadway experience that will leave you emotionally wrecked in the best way, you might want to wait for something that better deserves your tears.
The Beaches Broadway musical has a brilliant star. It just needs a better ship.
