Beaches

Jessica Vosk, Kelli Barrett (Photo Marc J. Franklin)

By Fern Siegel (Posted April 23, 2026)

There’s a new star on Broadway — Jessica Vosk — and a rising pint-sized version, Samantha Schwartz — in Beaches, now at the Majestic Theater. Both are belters loaded with stage presence. 

The Bette Midler-Barbara Hershey film has been transformed into a musical that hones more closely to the original 1985 book. While movie fans will recognize plot changes, the musical has its own rhythm and reality, especially as it moves back and forth in time over several decades.

Plus, it’s a more interesting ebb-and-flow account of how an unlikely friendship evolves, especially a long-distance one.

Vosk as Cee Cee Bloom, the Jewish girl with the powerhouse voice and endless drive, is best friends with Bertie (Kelli Barrett), a straightlaced, sheltered WASP from Pittsburgh. They meet as children in Atlantic City in 1951 — and instantly click. Those early scenes, with Zeya Grace as little Bertie, illustrate how uncomplicated childhood friendships can be.

At heart, Beaches is a big, brassy, fun musical that celebrates female friendship, as well as the fights, egos and support that comprise real relationships. Each woman is the love of the other’s life. Platonic, at times seemingly inexplicable, but deep. Iris Rainer Dart, who wrote the 1985 novel, also penned lyrics and co-wrote the show’s book with Thom Thomas. The Broadway version happily offers less goopy sentimentality than the Hollywood one.

Here, Bertie lacks real ambition, easily quelled by her mother’s and husband’s rigid expectations. Cee Cee is overflowing with it — and the monomaniacal vision needed to catapult her to stardom. In a clear case of opposites attract, the pair navigates an imperfect alliance through childhood, college, summer stock, rocky marriages and motherhood, with the inevitable joys and tensions.

Zeya Grace, Samantha Schwartz (Photo: Marc C. Franklin)

The musical has an original score by Grammy winner Mike Stoller that keeps the action moving. The song the two husbands sing (Brent Thiessen and Ben Jacoby) “God Bless Girlfriends” is insightful. Yes, “Wing Beneath My Wings,” which Midler made famous, remains a tear-jerker, but there are plenty of new numbers that pop. 

Co-directed by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart, Beaches is a showcase for Vosk, who makes the role her own, though she and Barrett work well together.

One of the best decisions is to have the adult women and their kiddie counterparts appear on stage at key moments. That underscores the power of memory and the journey each takes. James Noone’s set design, Ken Billington’s lighting and Tracy Christensen’s costumes neatly establish time, place and emotional temperament. 

But Beaches remains Vosk’s show — a sassy broad delivering the goods, while the rest of the cast are secondary players. That didn't matter to audiences, who clearly enjoyed themselves — and why not? Her performance alone is worth the price of admission.