‘BEACHES’: Kelli Barrett & Jessica Vosk. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

BEACHES: A NEW MUSICAL
Book by Iris Rainer Dart & Thom Thomas
Music by Mike Stoller
Lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart
Directed by Lonny Price & Matt Cowart
Through May 24, 2026
Majestic Theatre
245 W 44th St.
https://beachesthemusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The beloved 1988 hit “chick flick” Beaches, starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, arrives on Broadway as a new musical. Composer Mike Stoller provides the score, while Iris Rainer Dart returns to write the book and lyrics. The film was a box-office blockbuster. However, does this adaptation hold up, and does the story still resonate nearly 40 years later?

An iconic film like Beaches does not need reinvention. It needs restraint. The musical closely follows the original emotional blueprint. It traces a lifelong friendship shaped by ambition, class differences, loyalty, and loss. As a result, longtime fans will find much that feels familiar. At the same time, the show offers enough theatricality and vocal power to engage new audiences. Still, the shift from cinematic intimacy to stage spectacle raises a key question: Can a quiet, deeply personal story sustain itself when the emotions must carry the narrative through song?

Beaches follows more than 30 years of friendship between Cee Cee Bloom (Jessica Vosk) and Bertie White (Kelli Barrett). Cee Cee is brassy and ambitious. Bertie is shy and comes from a wealthy, conservative family.

Under the boardwalk

As in the film, the story chronicles the two women from a childhood meeting on the Atlantic City boardwalk through years of letters, reunions, and diverging paths. Cee Cee pursues show business with relentless drive. Meanwhile, Bertie searches for identity beyond her family’s expectations. She dreams of becoming a lawyer and navigates love, marriage, and motherhood.

Scenes featuring the younger versions of Cee Cee and Bertie stand out. Mayim Bialik famously got her start as Little Cee Cee. Here, Samantha Schwartz and Zeya Grace deliver engaging performances. The young actors feel natural and well-cast. As a result, they ground the early scenes with warmth and authenticity. However, from a mid-orchestra seat, some dialogue and lyrics are difficult to understand.

As the years pass, the two women drift together and apart. Their friendship reflects ambition, circumstance, and the different lives they choose. Cee Cee remains driven by her career. In contrast, Bertie seeks stability while wrestling with her own sense of identity.

Mama’s girls

Both women feel the strong influence of their mothers. Leona (Sarah Bockel), Cee Cee’s mother, is flashy and boisterous. She favors garish clothes and Yiddish-inflected humor. She is like a Jewish Mama Rose, pushing her daughter toward stardom at any cost. Meanwhile, Bertie’s mother Rose (Lael Van Keuren) is the quintessential patrician “WASP,” controlling and icy. She dismisses Cee Cee as “vulgar” and insists Bertie marry well. Ms. Bockel delivers strong comic energy. At the same time, Ms. Van Keuren gives the role a haughty, imperious edge.

The relationship between Cee Cee and Bertie cycles through closeness and conflict. Long stretches of separation follow. Letters and reunions reconnect them. Ultimately, the story leans into sentimentality in its final act. The emotional arc feels familiar. Its success depends on how well the production earns those moments.

‘BEACHES’: Jessica Vosk & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The old razzle-dazzle

The show opens with Cee Cee’s TV variety-show number, “You Believe in Me.” Jessica Vosk belts the song alongside backup singers. The staging recalls Bette Midler’s early work with the Harlettes. It also evokes the glossy look of “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.” Iris Rainer Dart once wrote for that series, which makes the reference feel intentional. The number sets a razzle-dazzle theatrical tone from the start.

Vosk commands the stage immediately. She delivers powerhouse vocals and a brassy confidence that fits Cee Cee perfectly.

Star turns & spotlight moments

Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett anchor the show. Both bring strong acting chops and emotional weight. Their voices are powerful and expressive. Songs like “My Best” highlight their range and control.

Brent Thiessen plays John Perry with charm and complexity. He creates a character who attracts and unsettles Bertie. Ben Jacoby plays Michael Barron, the wealthy suitor favored by Bertie’s mother. He represents the “appropriate” match she expects.

Where it washes ashore

Lonny Price and Matt Cowart direct the production. The show runs over two and a half hours with an intermission. As a result, it feels long, especially in the first act. The directors extract strong performances from the cast. However, the material would benefit from tighter editing. Several scenes and songs could be trimmed.

The adaptation stays faithful to its source. It delivers the expected emotional beats. Still, the heavy use of flashbacks creates challenges. Onstage, time shifts feel abrupt at times. The musical feels more like a translation than a reinvention. The episodic structure across the years seems rushed, a problem that is common with epic films turned into musicals.

The show also reflects a familiar creative pattern. Iris Rainer Dart’s earlier 2011 World War II musical, The People in the Picture, used similar themes. Both works blend memory, humor, tragedy, and Jewish cultural identity. At times, sentimentality dominates. The tone feels heightened, with emotions pushed beyond what the material earns.

The finale, set to “Wind Beneath My Wings,” embraces spectacle. The staging is visually striking and slightly camp in a fun way. Multiple versions of Cee Cee and Bertie appear together, including the younger performers. The moment is a crowd-pleaser. However, a tighter journey would make the payoff stronger. Beaches is a fun musical that makes waves but struggles to stay afloat.

Published April 22, 2026
Reviewed at press preview on April 17, 2026.

‘BEACHES’: Jessica Vosk & Kelli Barrett. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Jessica Vosk & Kelli Barrett. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Zeya Grace (left) & Samantha Schwartz. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Jessica Vosk. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Kelli Barrett. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Brent Thiessen & Ben Jacoby. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘BEACHES’: Kelli Barrett (center) & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

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‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Danny Burstein as Tevye. Photo: Joan Marcus

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Book by Joseph Stein
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Based on the Sholem Aleichem stories by special permission of Arnold Pert
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Choreographed by Hofesh Shechter
Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway at 53rd Street
(212-239-6200), http://fiddlermusical.com

By David NouNou

If you are one of the lucky people (still around to talk about it) who saw the original version in September 1964 when it opened at the Imperial Theatre with the one and only Zero Mostel, you knew there was a masterpiece for the ages unfolding in front of your very eyes. Over the years, there have been numerous revivals, and some versions, as well as some Tevyes, were better than others. However, in the case of Fiddler on the Roof, what stands the test of time is its eternal and universal story and the sublime score that is joyously giddy, and absolutely heart wrenching and always memorable. I maintain that it is one of the two most outstanding scores ever written for a musical.

Tevye (Danny Burstein) is a poor milkman who lives in Anatevka, a village in Czarist Russia. He has five unmarried daughters, a shrewish wife, Golde (Jessica Hecht), a lame horse, and has a penchant to talking to God about his misfortunes. The one thing that has kept Anatevka going for all those years is tradition and Tevye has to watch each tradition that he holds sacred unravel. Therein lies the beauty and texture of the family dynamics and Tevye’s turmoil of upholding his covenant with God and his religious beliefs, especially when his third daughter Chava (Melanie Moore) marries the Russian Christian soldier, Fyedka (Nick Rehberger).

When you watch Fiddler on the Roof, you must really forget about past revivals, who starred in them and especially the movie version. Any Fiddler revival has to be strong enough to sustain itself for the new generation who may be seeing it for the first time. I was so pleased that so many young people who were attending the same press performance as me seemed genuinely intrigued and heartily enjoying the proceedings. Not one of them was texting or had his cellphone on. They were actually engrossed. Mazel tov.

With Danny Burstein, we do not get a bombastic, bigger-than-life, argumentative Tevye. We get a sweet interpretation of a man who speaks to God in a gentle manner and gingerly admonishes God about why couldn’t He just once throw a little extra his way as in the song “If I Were a Rich Man”? Incidentally, Mr. Burstein is in phenomenal voice. What he lacks in “bigger than life,” he makes up for with his rendition of his songs.

Jessica Hecht as Golde is the weak link; her accent comes and goes, and she’s not really a singer and turns in a one-note shrew performance with no shadings. The rest of the townspeople are portrayed more as caricatures than real human beings. Tevye’s Daughters: Tzeitel, (Alexandra Silber), Hodel (Samantha Massell) and Chava (Melanie Moore) are a constant delight with angelic voices.

Bartlett Sher for his part has done magnificent revivals of South Pacific and earlier this year the sublime The King and I. However, the brilliance that is usually associated with Mr. Sher seems to be lacking here. The direction is uneven with both the actors and the events taking place on the stage.

When you see Fiddler, you don’t sweat the small stuff; you go and marvel at its universality and how it has been embraced all over the world. At one time there was even a Japanese version. We never tire of its wonderful, timeless themes.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 6, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on January 5, 2016

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Lori Wilner, Jessica Hecht & Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Adam Kantor, Alexandra Silber, Jennifer Zetlan (arm), Lori Wilner, Jacob Guzman, Adam Grupper, Reed Luplau, Jeffrey Schecter, Mitch Greenberg & Michael Bernardi. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Marla Phelan, Alexandra Silber, Jenny Rose Baker, Melanie Moore, Hayley Feinstein, Samantha Massell & Sarah Parker. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Alexandra Silber, Samantha Massell, Melanie Moore, Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht, Jenny Rose Baker & Hayley Feinstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Tess Primack, Reed Luplau, Jennifer Zetlan, Lori Wilner, Eric Bourne, Jessica Vosk, Alix Korey, George Psomas, Jeffrey Schecter, Adam Grupper, Jacob
Guzman, Marla Phelan & Jesse Kovarsky. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore, Alexandra Silber & Samantha Massell. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jesse Kovarsky (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (from top) Jessica Vosk, Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jessica Hecht & Alix Korey. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jessica Hecht. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore & Nick Rehberger. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore & Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Stephen Carrasco, Nick Rehberger, Aaron Young, Reed Luplau, Mitch Greenberg, Sarah Parker, Jesse Kovarsky, George Psomas, Eric Bourne & Marla Phelan. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

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