BEACHES Previews- Page 4

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 12:30am

MadsonMelo said: "I think there's a chance this gets 0 Tony noms or are too little option in score and book that they HAVE to nominate the show?"

Score has 5 musical options (Strangers, Lost Boys, Beaches, QOV, Schmigadoon) + plays.

Book has 7 musical options (the aforementioned 5 plus Chess and Titanique).

There’s a world where Score only has 2-3 musicals (Strangers and Lost Boys, maybe Schmig?) and the rest are plays. Especially since there are well-regarded composers like Kris Bowers and Caroline Shaw working on plays this season.

Updated On: 4/1/26 at 12:30 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 12:32am

I’m sure Schwartz will get a score nomination, at least. 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 1:17am

Schmigadoon is likely not eligible for best score given that it’s pre-existing material that doesn’t seem to have much new added.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 2:52am

Kad said: "Schmigadoon is likely not eligible for best score given that it’s pre-existing material that doesn’t seem to have much new added."

Oops forgot that part, you’re definitely right. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 3:31pm

I’m at intermission now and oh my god this show sucks.

Like, the girl playing little Cee Cee is stealing the show and Vosk is doing her best Bette, but everything about this is so inert and bland. This is one of those sunk cost fallacy shows where I would be strongly inclined to leave at intermission but I paid the $65, so I might at well at least enjoy the AC.

Edit: I have nothing else more to add. The story rushes some parts and drags out the denouement for far too long. Honestly, I was checking my watch and waiting for Bertie to expire, only to be met by an underwhelming WBMW. 

This is probably the hardest PASS I’m going to give this season.

Updated On: 4/1/26 at 03:31 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 4:58pm

Saw this last night and yeesh. 

I won't beat a dead horse, but everything from the "set design" (which consists of a few screens that fly in and out) to the material is ROUGH.  Nearly everything about the show is dull and lifeless. 

The leads are trying their damndest, but they are stuck up a creek without a paddle. The cast of 12 is working their asses off doing major overtime playing 60 characters each, switching wigs every fifteen seconds. Why do we even have the "teen" versions of Cee Cee and Bertie? They have nothing to do.  The kids are...cute, but had major enunciation problems. As Mother Sheryl Lee Ralph once said on Drag Race, "put a cork in it. LITERALLY."

The rear mezzanine was maybe 10% full. Front mezzanine maybe 45% full?

This season is abysmal.

Sigh...

Updated On: 4/1/26 at 04:58 PM

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:07pm

quizking101 said: "I’m at intermission now and oh my god this show sucks.

Like, the girl playing little Cee Cee is stealing the show and Vosk is doing her best Bette, but everything about this is so inert and bland. This is one of those sunk cost fallacy shows where I would be strongly inclined to leave at intermission but I paid the $65, so I might at well at least enjoy the AC.

Edit: I have nothing else more to add. The story rushes some parts and drags out the denouement for far too long. Honestly, I was checking my watch and waiting for Bertie to expire, only to be met by an underwhelming WBMW.

This is probably the hardest PASS I’m going to give this season."

For $65, where was your seat location? 

[itsahopi]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:10pm

blug said: "Sometimes I thinkthat perhaps the Broadway musical, as an art form, needs a nice 10-year rest. No musicals for ten years. Let creative minds recalibrate because there's a LOT of mush being put out there by seemingly smart people that feels unfelt, over-meddled with, or not thought out and sometimes, paradoxically, all threeat once.

Did we need a musical of Beaches, Smash, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, The Notebook...on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Were they really inspired or were theyjust latching onto these storiesbecause it's recognizable IP? I don't even think creatives know what inspires them anymore."

It’s cash-grab IP devoid of inspiration. You can take a movie and adapt it if the inspiration is there first, not the other way around. Titanique is one case. Another is Death Becomes Her, where Julia Mattison pursued the title during a general meeting with Universal (heard this on a podcast). Those writers NEEDED to adapt that work.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:21pm

itsahopi said: "blug said: "Sometimes I thinkthat perhaps the Broadway musical, as an art form, needs a nice 10-year rest. No musicals for ten years. Let creative minds recalibrate because there's a LOT of mush being put out there by seemingly smart people that feels unfelt, over-meddled with, or not thought out and sometimes, paradoxically, all threeat once.

Did we need a musical of Beaches, Smash, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, The Notebook...on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Were they really inspired or were theyjust latching onto these storiesbecause it's recognizable IP? I don't even think creatives know what inspires them anymore."

It’s cash-grab IP devoid of inspiration. You can take a movie and adapt it if the inspiration is there first, not the other way around. Titanique is one case. Another is Death Becomes Her, where Julia Mattison pursued the title during a general meeting with Universal (heard this on a podcast). Those writers NEEDED to adapt that work."

The issue is that they DIDN'T adapt the film. If they did, it would be a completely different story. Adapting the novel like the film barely existed was assinine.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:21pm

itsahopi said: "blug said: "Sometimes I thinkthat perhaps the Broadway musical, as an art form, needs a nice 10-year rest. No musicals for ten years. Let creative minds recalibrate because there's a LOT of mush being put out there by seemingly smart people that feels unfelt, over-meddled with, or not thought out and sometimes, paradoxically, all threeat once.

Did we need a musical of Beaches, Smash, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, The Notebook...on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Were they really inspired or were theyjust latching onto these storiesbecause it's recognizable IP? I don't even think creatives know what inspires them anymore."

It’s cash-grab IP devoid of inspiration. You can take a movie and adapt it if the inspiration is there first, not the other way around. Titanique is one case. Another is Death Becomes Her, where Julia Mattison pursued the title during a general meeting with Universal (heard this on a podcast). Those writers NEEDED to adapt that work."

I have a feeling that one of the major problems here is that Iris Rainer Dart, author of the novel, insisted on writing the book to the musical, even though she’s not exactly known for her musical theatre writing skills. Someone should have said no and then she wouldn’t have granted the rights and the universe would have been saved from this monstrosity. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:33pm

Matt Rogers said: "quizking101 said:

“For $65, where was your seat location?"

It was TDF so they originally put me Front Mezz E-14, but when I sat, my knees landed on top of the seatback in front of me, so they moved me to Orch P-19. View was fine. 

 

[hyangsoo]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:40pm

WiCkEDrOcKS said: "Saw this last night and yeesh.

I won't beat a dead horse, but everything from the "set design" (which consists of a few screens that fly in and out) to the material is ROUGH. Nearly everything about the show is dull and lifeless.

The leads are trying their damndest, but they are stuck up a creekwithout a paddle. The cast of 12 is working their asses off doing major overtimeplaying 60 characters each, switching wigs every fifteen seconds. Why do we even have the "teen" versions of Cee Cee and Bertie? They have nothing to do. The kids are...cute, but had major enunciation problems. As Mother Sheryl Lee Ralph once said on Drag Race, "put a cork in it. LITERALLY."

The rear mezzanine was maybe 10% full. Front mezzanine maybe 45% full?

This season is abysmal.

Sigh..."

 

I didn't hate this but didn't love it. Parts of it dragged but there are still a lot of good things about the show.

Thank you for saying that about the kids. I couldn't understand half of what they were saying but they definitely performed enthusiastically. They were also in the show too much as props. Going in and out of the background several times was unnecessary, almost like the director was trying too hard to pull the emotional strings. 

There's a good show in there somewhere and they did a lot of development to bring it to Broadway in a short time, but you can tell it was still rushed and needs more work. 

 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:47pm

blaxx said: "itsahopi said: "blug said: "Sometimes I thinkthat perhaps the Broadway musical, as an art form, needs a nice 10-year rest. No musicals for ten years. Let creative minds recalibrate because there's a LOT of mush being put out there by seemingly smart people that feels unfelt, over-meddled with, or not thought out and sometimes, paradoxically, all threeat once.

Did we need a musical of Beaches, Smash, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, The Notebook...on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Were they really inspired or were theyjust latching onto these storiesbecause it's recognizable IP? I don't even think creatives know what inspires them anymore."

It’s cash-grab IP devoid of inspiration. You can take a movie and adapt it if the inspiration is there first, not the other way around. Titanique is one case. Another is Death Becomes Her, where Julia Mattison pursued the title during a general meeting with Universal (heard this on a podcast). Those writers NEEDED to adapt that work."

The issue is that they DIDN'T adapt the film. If they did, it would be a completely different story. Adapting the novel like the film barely existed was assinine."

It's really baffling as the only reason the title is remembered at all today is the movie... and specifically, the movie's soundtrack. Beaches the novel is not exactly a well-loved literary classic. Perhaps this is Iris Dart's attempt to reclaim it, but frankly I am surprised she had enough pull here to make this happen.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:48pm

hyangsoo said: "WiCkEDrOcKS said: "Saw this last night and yeesh.

I won't beat a dead horse, but everything from the "set design" (which consists of a few screens that fly in and out) to the material is ROUGH. Nearly everything about the show is dull and lifeless.

The leads are trying their damndest, but they are stuck up a creekwithout a paddle. The cast of 12 is working their asses off doing major overtimeplaying 60 characters each, switching wigs every fifteen seconds. Why do we even have the "teen" versions of Cee Cee and Bertie? They have nothing to do. The kids are...cute, but had major enunciation problems. As Mother Sheryl Lee Ralph once said on Drag Race, "put a cork in it. LITERALLY."

The rear mezzanine was maybe 10% full. Front mezzanine maybe 45% full?

This season is abysmal.

Sigh..."



I didn't hate this but didn't love it. Parts of it dragged but there are still a lot of good things about the show.

Thank you for saying that about the kids. I couldn't understand half of what they were saying but they definitely performed enthusiastically. They were also in the show too much as props. Going in and out of the background several times was unnecessary, almost like the director was trying too hard to pull the emotional strings.

There's a good show in there somewhere and they did a lot of development to bring it to Broadway in a short time, but you can tell it was still rushedand needs more work.

"

What are you talking about? The first production of this thing was in early 2014. It’s had over a decade of time for development. 

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 5:51pm

If a musical takes more than 10 years to come to Broadway, it doesn't want to be a musical.

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 6:48pm

One other thing that ground my gears to the bone…EVERY SONG ENDED WITH A BLACKOUT. No creative transition or anything, just a 5-10 blackout and scenery moved into place.

 

[hyangsoo]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 7:13pm

True. But it was still very much in development in Calgary and after that they were planning a pre Broadway tour where they could have worked on it some more before bringing it to Broadway. Then they saw it was a light year for musicals for the Tonys and there were theaters available so they rushed it to Broadway without doing the tour.

[pmensky]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 10:12pm

hyangsoo said: "True. But it was still very much in development in Calgary and after that they were planning a pre Broadway tour where they could have worked on it some more before bringing it to Broadway. Then they saw it was a light year for musicals for the Tonys and there were theaters available so they rushed it to Broadway without doing the tour."

A musical that has two major productions eleven years apart, with a decade between them, and still arrives on Broadway with reviews this rough isn’t dealing with a timing problem. It’s dealing with the consequences of development that didn’t meaningfully address the show’s core issues.

It’s entirely possible that work was done during those ten years. But if the material goes through a full regional tryout, disappears for a decade, resurfaces for another large‑scale production, and the same structural problems are still visible, then the issue isn’t the calendar. It’s that the revisions weren’t sufficient or effective.

Calgary wasn’t a workshop. It was a full commercial production with a Broadway ready cast. If the fundamentals still weren’t landing there, that was the moment to either rethink the piece at a deeper level or stop spending money. Instead, the team pushed it forward because the season looked thin and theaters were open, hoping the market conditions would compensate for the show’s weaknesses.

Broadway is too expensive for that kind of calculation. When a musical has this much time, this many resources, and still can’t stabilize its storytelling, the problem isn’t how long it took. It’s the choices made along the way.

[jazzicat]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 10:29pm

blaxx said: "itsahopi said: "blug said: "Sometimes I thinkthat perhaps the Broadway musical, as an art form, needs a nice 10-year rest. No musicals for ten years. Let creative minds recalibrate because there's a LOT of mush being put out there by seemingly smart people that feels unfelt, over-meddled with, or not thought out and sometimes, paradoxically, all threeat once.

Did we need a musical of Beaches, Smash, Tootsie, Pretty Woman, The Bodyguard, The Notebook...on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Were they really inspired or were theyjust latching onto these storiesbecause it's recognizable IP? I don't even think creatives know what inspires them anymore."

It’s cash-grab IP devoid of inspiration. You can take a movie and adapt it if the inspiration is there first, not the other way around. Titanique is one case. Another is Death Becomes Her, where Julia Mattison pursued the title during a general meeting with Universal (heard this on a podcast). Those writers NEEDED to adapt that work."

The issue is that they DIDN'T adapt the film. If they did, it would be a completely different story. Adapting the novel like the film barely existed was assinine."

THIS, THIS, THIS. If the author/producers had taken 4 seconds to bury some pride and realize that the movie is BELOVED and that people have been dying to see a full Oh, Industry for over 20 something years and that the movie had many preferred songs than WBMW… we would not be here today. We would all probably be trying to see Beaches weekly. 

We adore the leads and will go see it.. but the team had the perfect musical foundation and did not take the years of feedback. For years audiences have spelled out how to save it: add in some of the beloved movie songs, go to the movie for more material. But like Redwood, when preview audiences told them to remove the birthday rap that ripped off Hamilton. It’s probably too late. What is the point of previews anyway?

Perhaps this will be like the Wild Party where they create a second version. One can only wish.

 

 

 

 

[Melissa25]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 11:09pm

I would have preferred a Bette Midler jukebox musical.

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 11:24pm

Melissa25 said: "I would have preferred a Bette Midler jukebox musical."

This! This would have given it more life with Wind Beneath My Wings, My One True Friend, From a Distance, boogie Woogie Bugle oy, Baby Mine, In My Life, Friends, Glory of Love, Miss Otis Regrets,  This could have been a great use of her catalogue. I would love to know why they never used this as a jukebox

[Tkristop]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 11:28pm

I agree with this sentiment, too. I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it. There is so much potential here with the talent on the stage. It’s “beaches” and there is no real sand. And no real water. Lost opportunities there. I thought the overture and entr’acte were some of the best parts. I thought Act 1 was better. WBMW at the end was sadly the most disappointing. Surely they could have come up with a better arrangement or raise the key! Hopefully they make some changes. The cast is really really good!

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/1/26 at 11:58pm

Theatrefanboy1 said: "Melissa25 said: "I would have preferred a Bette Midler jukebox musical."

This! This would have given it more life with Wind Beneath My Wings, My One True Friend, From a Distance, boogie Woogie Bugle oy, Baby Mine, In My Life, Friends, Glory of Love, Miss Otis Regrets, This could have been a great use of her catalogue. I would love to know why they never used this as a jukebox"

AND OTTO TITZLING!!!!!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/2/26 at 1:00am

Theatrefanboy1 said: "I would love to know why they never used this as a jukebox"

Because every musical has a "muscle" according to William Goldman. On this musical, the muscle is Iris Rainer Dart, who wrote the novel but had nothing to do with the movie, and who has written the book and lyrics for the stage show. Throughout different directors and composers and producers, she has been the constant. BEACHES is her baby, for better or worse.

Marc Shaiman music-supervised the movie and selected all the songs. He has a great chapter about it in his memoir. I'd have loved a musicalization scored by Shaiman & Wittman (+ some more movie songs) with a book by someone like Bess Wohl and a director like Annie Tippe or Taibi Magar or Diane Paulus. But that isn't the world we live in.

Updated On: 4/2/26 at 01:00 AM