You can’t blame Iris Rainer Dart for trying. First there was Beaches, the 1985 novel. Then there was Beaches, the 1988 Bette Midler-Barbara Hershey movie. Then—since it’s now a theater rule that a successful movie must butterfly as a bound-for-Broadway musical—it became an Arlington, Virginia/Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre, Chicago 2014-2015 pre-Broadway try-out with book by Dart and Thom Thomas/music by David Austin.
And now, after playing the Calgary Theatre in 2024, it opens in April 2026, at Broadway’s Majestic with book by Dart and Thomas (who died in 2015), lyrics by Dart, and music not by Austin but by—wait for it—the much-acclaimed Mike Stoller.
At least, I think I got the history right, the next question, obviously, being: Is it any good? The answer being: It’s mildly okay. Again, it tells the story of BFFs Cee Cee Bloom (Jessica Vosk) and Bertie White (Kelli Barrett) from the youngsters they are when they meet. Younger Cee Cee (Samantha Schwartz) and younger Bertie (Zeya Grace), then slightly older Cee Cee (Bailey Ryon) and slightly older Bertie (Emma Ogea) pledge loyalty forever and then cling to it most of their several succeeding decades.
[Read Bob Verini’s ★★☆☆☆ review here.]
Dart’s out to examine female friendships as it’s manifested between two young girls and then mature women who bond despite dissimilar backgrounds. As a child, Cee Cee has her eyes on a show-biz career and already stars herself in an act more Minsky’s than anything else. Bertie, exposed to Cee Cee’s bump-and-grind demonstration, sees only talent to admire. Alternately, Cee Cee responds to Bertie’s classier upbringing.
On they go, both also seeing much to like in Michael Barron (Ben Jacoby) and John Perry (Brent Thiessen), each other’s husband. That twist handily supplies a first-act-ending cliff-hanger. They reconcile, of course, in act two, repeatedly declaring their togetherness right up to an ending involving illness that won’t be described in recognition of the spoilers it could spill for potential patrons who don’t know the novel or the film.
When the novel was first published, championing women’s friendship, it may have been considered Chick Lit or maybe not, but it could be that women will respond to this musical incarnation more appreciatively than men. In any case, it skims along from the Atlantic City beach, where Cee Cee and Bertie spend their childhood, to the beach facing the San Francisco Pacific where they eventually transition.
Along the way they sing the all-but-one Dart-Stoller score, including the twice-reprised “Wish I Could Be Like You,” in which they each announce their envy of the other’s life, as well as the once-reprised “My Best,” in which they insist on their mutual devotion. As conducted by Paul Staroba, both songs effectively make the point without necessarily registering as leap-out favorites in a so-so list that doesn’t quite hit the heights Stoller climbed as one half of the truly amazing Mile Stoller-Jerry Leiber “Hound Dog”-“Is That All There Is?” and on and on combo.
Luckily, there is one leap-out favorite here, and that one—not by Dart or Stoller—already leapt out years ago, as sung by Midler on screen and then up the charts: “Wind Beneath My Wings,” written by Larry J. Henley and Jeff Alan Silbar.
As the closing number, it’s effectively delivered by Vosk as well as Teen Cee Cee Ryon and Little Cee Cee Schwartz. In J. Jared Janas’s bursting red wig, Vosk does well as this adult Cee Cee. It might be said that her strong impersonation is shaped by Midler’s performance and career as the Divine Miss M. There’s even one especially flamboyant number backed up by three women who could pass for Midler’s Harlettes.
Barrett is equally convincing as Bertie, as is Lael Van Keuren as Bertie’s Mom, whose repeated demand of her daughter is that she lead a conventional life. As directed with relatively sure hands by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart and choreographed by Jennifer Rias, the enthusiastic cast rises—and perhaps rises above—the script’s middlingly enthralling script.
Of the creative staff Tracy Christensen’s costumes, Ken Billington’s lighting, and Kai Harada’s sound meet their mark. Surprisingly, the set from usually reliable James Noone’s does not. Oddly dark and compressed, it features a raised platform midstage, beyond which is a screen where David Bengali projects images of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When the older and younger Cee Cees and Berties tip their toes in those waters, however, they do their dipping downstage, almost disconcertingly over the orchestra pit.
Anyway, if Dart doesn’t hit her musical target high enough this time, there’s evidence—isn’t there?—that she’s primed to try, try again.
Beaches opened April 22, 2026 at the Majestic Theatre and closes September 6. Tickets and information: beachesthemusical.com
