A Broadway Beaches that is not quite the movie
Beaches: A New Musical has arrived on Broadway with a built-in challenge: many audience members know the title through the 1988 film starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. According to Mashable’s review, the stage production is not an adaptation of that film. It is based instead on Iris Rainer Dart’s 1985 novel, the source material that preceded the movie.
That distinction shapes the entire production. The review says the Broadway version follows the friendship of outgoing actress Cee Cee Bloom and preppy Bertie White, while diverging sharply from the movie’s version of the story, especially in relation to the Bertie/Hillary character. The result, in the reviewer’s assessment, is a show that feels surprisingly disconnected from the cinematic tearjerker that made Beaches a long-running cultural reference point.
The creative team includes Dart, who wrote the book with playwright Thom Thomas and also wrote the lyrics. Mike Stoller composed the music. Lonny Price and Matt Cowart direct. Jessica Vosk stars as Cee Cee Bloom, with Kelli Barrett as Bertie White. The review credits Vosk with throwing herself into the role, but argues that the book and lyrics weigh down the production.
The missing songs matter
One of the review’s clearest criticisms concerns the score’s relationship to the film. Only “Wind Beneath My Wings” carries over from the movie’s familiar songbook. The review notes that Bette Midler’s film performances of “Under the Boardwalk,” “The Glory of Love,” “Baby Mine,” and the comic number “Otto Titsling” do not appear in the stage musical.
For a musical adaptation, that is not a small decision. Songs are often the bridge between audience memory and a new production. Removing most of the movie’s recognizable music can be artistically defensible if the new material creates its own identity. But the review argues that the omission of the film’s playful and campy elements reveals a broader problem: the musical leans away from some of the qualities that made Midler’s version of C.C. Bloom feel vivid.
The review’s headline phrase that Jessica Vosk “gives her all” is important because it separates performance from construction. The criticism is not that the lead performer lacks energy. It is that the surrounding adaptation does not give that energy a sturdy enough vehicle.
Novel loyalty versus audience expectation
The production’s reliance on Dart’s novel rather than the 1988 film creates a familiar adaptation dilemma. Broadway audiences are not simply buying a title; they are often buying a memory. For many people, Beaches means Midler, Hershey, the film’s emotional arc, and its signature song moments. A show that formally adapts the novel can still be measured against the movie because the movie is the version embedded in popular culture.
That does not mean a stage version must reproduce the film scene for scene. Some of the strongest adaptations succeed by departing from the best-known version. But they need a convincing reason for the departure. Based on the supplied review text, Mashable’s critic finds that this Beaches does not replace what it removes with enough theatrical force.
The review also suggests a tension inside the production. Price and Cowart are described as working hard to bring some of the movie’s beloved feeling to the stage, while Dart’s book and lyrics pull the show elsewhere. That tension can leave a musical caught between fidelity to a novel and responsiveness to audience expectation.
Why the show is still culturally notable
Even a sharply negative review can mark a notable cultural moment. Beaches remains a recognizable title because it sits at the intersection of friendship melodrama, star performance, and pop music memory. Bringing it to Broadway is a test of how much of that legacy can survive a change in medium and a return to the original literary source.
The review frames the answer pessimistically. It calls the adaptation disastrous and says the production is sunk by the writing. Still, the show’s existence speaks to Broadway’s continued appetite for familiar intellectual property, especially stories with established emotional recognition. Producers keep turning to film and book titles because they arrive with audience awareness that original musicals often have to build from scratch.
The risk is that recognition can become a trap. If a production relies on a title’s cultural memory but declines to deliver the elements audiences most associate with that memory, it must make an especially strong case for its own version. Mashable’s review argues that this version does not.
What the review establishes
- Beaches: A New Musical is now on Broadway.
- The musical is based on Iris Rainer Dart’s 1985 novel rather than directly on the 1988 movie.
- Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett star as Cee Cee Bloom and Bertie White.
- Only “Wind Beneath My Wings” carries over from the movie’s familiar musical material.
- The review faults the book and lyrics while crediting Vosk’s effort in the lead role.
The stage Beaches may still find defenders among audiences who want a different version of the story, or among theatergoers drawn to Vosk’s performance. But the supplied review positions it as a cautionary example of adaptation friction: a famous title can bring people into the room, yet also sharpen disappointment when the new version rejects too much of what made that title endure.
This article is based on reporting by Mashable. Read the original article.
Originally published on mashable.com
