A terrific score in the classic Broadway style distinguishes new musical Beaches, a screen-to-stage adaptation happily heaving with heart and humour.
Note: having attended an early preview performance, this review is more of a general description of the production rather than a full critique.
Conventional wisdom has it that great musicals are not written, they are rewritten. Beaches the musical first played in the US in the mid-2010s, its progress stymied by the 2015 death of book writer Thom Thomas.
Iris Rainer Dart, author of the original 1985 novel Beaches, returned to the project, rewriting Thomas’ book and penning lyrics to a new score by legendary songwriter Mike Stoller.
The highly entertaining result bears a strong resemblance to the cult classic 1988 film Beaches, but shifts the focus of Cee Cee’s success to variety television, where Dart had significant experience, also sharpening the parallels and heightening the conflicts of best friends Cee Cee and Bertie’s lives.
With only two male cast members in the company of twelve, Beaches remains firmly a Women’s Story, but the scenes of classic regional theatre and Cee Cee’s success in gay bathhouses and bars give the story a strong camp aesthetic that cheerfully broadens the appeal.
Director Lonny Price and co-director Matt Cowart conjure a world of characters from just a handful of (very talented) performers. Energy is kept vibrantly high, mellowing only for the final couple of sombre scenes. Choreographer Jennifer Rias has fun exploring the world of kitsch talent shows and tv variety dance.
Stoller’s music is a joy to hear, especially as performed by a lavish orchestra of 19 musicians, consisting of music director Paul Staroba on keyboard conducting 18 fellow musicians (including a harpist!). Iconic hit “Wind Beneath My Wings” brings the musical to a stirring close, with all other songs being original creations.
Scenic design by James Noone is relative simple, with beautiful oil painting beach backdrops framed by mobile LCD banners and strips bearing the collage-like projection design of David Bengali.
Costume designer Tracy Christensen collaborates successfully with wig designer J. Jared Janas to conjure the cavalcade of characters, also giving Bertie and Cee Cee each a distinctive look that carries across each of three actresses playing the pair as children, teens, and adults throughout the decades.
A star is born in Samatha Schwarz, who plays Little Cee Cee with abundant confidence and infectious verve. Zeya Grace has the less showy role as demure Little Bertie and she plays it beautifully.
Of the two adults, Jessica Vosk again has the showier role as Cee Cee Bloom, a delightfully vulgar force of nature who succeeds in show business by pure determination. Vosk has a powerhouse voice and a terrific gift for comedy that easily overcomes the less likeable aspects of Cee Cee’s personality.
Kelli Barrett takes Bertie White on a brisk journey from prim and proper prude to free-wheeling woman of the sixties. Barrett makes the most of Bertie’s duets and couple of solos to display a pure legit Broadway voice that has a pleasing power all of its own.
Beaches needs to overcome a degree of cringe factor as a Broadway title but if the musical finds the right audience it may well go on to be embraced as a very enjoyable guilty pleasure.
Beaches was reviewed 7.30pm Tuesday 31 March 2026 at Majestic Theatre, New York where it plays until 6 September 2026. For tickets, click here.
Photos of the curtain calls (by the author):
Categories: Broadway, Music Theatre, Reviews
Man in Chair 
Good morning everyone! Hope you’re doing well 🤍
Last night I went to see the new Broadway musical Beaches, and I’m still thinking about it this morning… I was truly blown away.
It was one of those rare shows that touches your heart so deeply — I laughed out loud, then moments later found myself in tears. So many emotions, so real, so beautifully told.
The story is powerful, emotional, and incredibly moving. It reminds you about friendship, love, and how precious life really is.
I left the theater feeling inspired, emotional, and honestly a little changed. ✨
I highly recommend it — such a special experience. Perfect to enjoy with friends or family… I absolutely loved it 🤍
Tatiana D Rodionova
Interesting. I saw the very next performance after you! The matinee on Wednesday April 1, 2026. I agree with much of what you have said, particularly the praise for Young Cece (Samantha Schwarz) as I found her to be a precocious talent who truly embodied the ‘rough around the edges’ vibe of the CeCe character. In many ways, I think Samantha captured CeCe’s raw energy better than her adult counterpart, Jessica Vosk. That being said, Jessica Vosk is a proven talent with legions of fans after her star making turn as Elphaba in Wicked and a successful first replacement run as Jersey in Hell’s Kitchen. She is a star that can elevate anything she sings…the problem here is that the material doesn’t shine as bright as its star. I found most of the music to be forgettable. The large orchestra with arrangements that rely heavily on strings and brass hearkens back to the Golden Age of Broadway and felt outdated to me. Furthermore, the style of music in the rest of the show made Wind Beneath My Wings (the moment we were all waiting for) feel out of place with its 80s pop balladry. I think the entire show would have been better serviced with an ear to the musical time period that the book and film debuted in, rather than an ode to the musical style of the time period where some of the action takes place. I also felt as though the staging was too basic for contemporary Broadway audiences. Sparse is certainly en vogue right now, but if your stage is going to have nothing on it but a couple of deck chairs and a painted drop, then the lighting needs to be less broad and more stylized. For me, there was very little visual interest in the design of the production. For goodness sakes, the show is called BEACHES…at least give me some real water on stage (as they so ingeniously did for The Notebook). Instead, we have actors pretending to splash each other with imaginary water. The performers do strong work here to elevate the show as much as they can, but unless you are truly invested in the story of this friendship that we have already seen dramatized more effectively elsewhere, I’m not sure this show will get very far. A Pretend Splash…I think its an apt metaphor for the arrival of this show on Broadway.
Thanks, Scott.
A Pretend Splash – I love it!
I think my view of the production was affected by the fact that I was sitting in the front row. This caused me to engage more with the actors and not assess the scale of scenic design as fully. I imagine that the LCD screens will be very easy to tour but they did not befit the stage of the Majestic Theatre.
I am quite a fan of Golden Age musicals so I was happy with the new score but I totally agree that The Wind Beneath My Wings does not match. I guess people will give it a pass because they are expecting it to be there. I agree that a more cohesive score would have been more suitable overall.
It will be interesting to see how Beaches goes as the season progresses.