BEACHES Previews — Page 10

Saw this Saturday evening and I don't remember a time I have felt so sorry for the entire company of a Broadway show. They are working so incredibly hard and the show is just...not good.

Just because something can become a musical doesn't mean it should become a musical. And this feels like a prime example of that.

The book is trite and dull, huge leaps of time happen in the blink of an eye, character development (if you can call it that) is dropped the second they need a plot point to drive the "story" forward, and jokes are groan-worthy at best.

If you told me the score was written by AI, I would believe you. Lifeless and limp. Sure, the voices are good, but the words they're saying are so ludicrous you have to laugh. "Holy moly, matrimony!"

Performances, sure, the cast is working hard. I don't really consider Vosk to be much of an actor, but she is acquitting herself as best she can with the material she's giving. For all this talk of "This is an adaptation of the book, not the movie!" they sure do have her in Bette Midler drag from start to finish. She sounds great, the riffing gets anachronistic, but it woke the audience up a bit so I get it. The staging for "Wind Beneath My Wings" is absolutely baffling. Thought she we were about to see the conductor get decapitated.

Barrett is working equally as hard but is saddled with the worst material in the show and the character trait of "sheltered wet blanket." Unfortunately not a whole lot more to say about her. Her wigs are ghastly.

The rest of the cast is doing the best they can but the material lets them down every step of the way. The direction is poor, the design is cheap.

I just feel immensely sorry for the cast who are trying the hardest they can with alarmingly weak material.

Do they announce a closing next Monday?

ACL2006 said: "Do they announce a closing next Monday?"

It’s such a thin year for the Tonys that I kind of expect them to hold out til May 5. I don’t think a Best Musical nom is likely - and certainly not deserved! - but it could happen and sometimes producers have their blinders on.

Unless they truly have NO money in the bank.

For the sake of their box office they should hope that they don’t get a nom, because then it might extend the run despite bleeding money.

I also wonder if some of the critics will go out of their way to be gentle, which is the sentiment I’ve noticed on socials from some others who have gone.

Updated On: 4/20/26 at 11:01 AM

It feels like there is a curse on former Elphaba's originating a show.

Idina Menzel - Redwood

Edina Espinosa - Lempicka

and now Jessica Vosk - Beaches

Any other former Elphie's to add to the list?

TotallyEffed said: "Stephanie J. Block won a Tony for originating a role."

Oooh fair, and she was good in it. I didn't see the final product, but caught the show in Chicago and didn't think it was capable of saving. I know they did drastic rewrites, but ultimately that show came and went pretty quickly. Still glad she got praise for it.

BrodyFosse123 said: "TotallyEffed said: "Stephanie J. Block won a Tony for originating a role."

Lindsay Mendez won a Tony Award for the revival of CAROUSEL years after playing Elphaba on Broadway."

Welp I didn't do my research, haha! Maybe there is no "curse" per se. The Beaches trajectory is just giving me major Lempicka flashbacks.

BrodyFosse123 said: "TotallyEffed said: "Stephanie J. Block won a Tony for originating a role."

Lindsay Mendez won a Tony Award for the revival of CAROUSEL years after playing Elphaba on Broadway."

To be fair, Observation seems to be talking about originating a role post-Elphaba.

Speaking of SJB - I completely forgot The Cher Show had a Chicago tryout, and for a second I thought we were talking about The Pirate Queen. Oy, I need more coffee.

getatme said: "Saw this Saturday evening and I don't remember a time I have felt so sorry for the entire company of a Broadway show. They are working so incredibly hard and the show is just...not good."

I saw it last week and this was my main takeaway. The cast is so small (which made it clear this was intended for a touring production, or at least is better suited for one) but I didn't realize just how small until they were lined up at the curtain call. They're all doing so much and several of them are doing an excellent job portraying multiple very different characters (though at one point it was too obviously one of the mothers as one of the backup dancers, which was distracting). I'll give them one thing: it's a very well-cast show, and the cast are giving it their all, and more than the show probably deserves.

Because yes, otherwise it was not good.

this was dreadfully bad, I mean just wow.

the biggest sin is leaving zero room for applause after Wind Beneath My Wings

the little girl who played young CC though was excellent, wow what a find.

I guess I must have a higher pain threshold or something, because I didn’t think this was nearly as bad as people are making it out to be. I think its biggest sins are that it feels like a show from 30 or 40 years ago (which considering that the youngest person on the writing team is 82 years old makes sense), its cheap set and costume design make the recent revival of THE WIZ look lavish and expensive in comparison, and the music is just kind of……well, it’s music. But even if it was underwhelming in almost every way besides the performances (this cast is so so SO talented), it still doesn’t crack my top five list of worst shows I’ve had the misfortune of sitting through.

There’s honestly nothing in this show that’s egregiously bad. Nothing where my jaw dropped from what I was seeing onstage. Maybe having rock bottom expectations, a comp ticket, and having never seen the movie helped, but I just couldn’t bring myself to hate this show. I do agree that the central friendship is not fleshed out enough to really land the emotional punch at the end. WICKED does a better job at depicting a female friendship and there’s WAY more happening in its plot, so there’s no excuse for a story that is pretty much solely focused on a female friendship to not make me feel much by the end. I needed this show’s version of “For Good,” and never got it. Or if I did, I don’t remember it. Did they sing a song when they jumped in the water towards the end? I guess it isn’t good that I can’t remember things about the show less than 24 hours later. Still, I can remember A LOT about the shows that I’ve absolutely hated, and this just wasn’t one of them.

I will say, one of the things that really irked me were the flash forwards of seeing CeCe traveling to California. They added absolutely nothing to the story and had no great payoff. We don’t need to be reminded every 20 minutes that she’s on her way. If something in those scenes sparked another memory for CeCe somehow, then I could understand them being used as a plot device, but instead they just added to the runtime and forced that hardworking cast to do yet another quick change. And it’s criminal that they couldn’t come up with a better arrangement of “Wind Beneath My Wings” to make it the showstopper it deserves to be.

I think the show will play just fine on the road and end up having a life in licensing, which is the sole purpose of it coming to Broadway in the first place. If I’d never seen A BRONX TALE, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE, BACK TO THE FUTURE, or MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, I’d probably be much harsher, but I just can’t say that I hated this show. Don’t hate me, but…….I might’ve enjoyed it more than THE LOST BOYS.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Ladies and gentleman, the ENTIRE cast of BEACHES: The Musicalon Broadway:

"

I mean, the story really doesn’t need a bigger cast. It’s the vastness of the stage and lack of set that makes it feel so small.

bwayphreak234 said: "seaweedjstubbs said: "Don’t hate me, but…….I might’ve enjoyed it more than THE LOST BOYS."

I 100% agree... I definitely had a better time at Beaches than at The Lost Boys.

"

Were you heavily intoxicated at both?

Just see it as soon as possible if anyone still wants to.