Gold Derby The ‘fatally misguided’ ‘Beaches’ Broadway musical is a washout with critics By Ethan Alter April 23, 2026
The musical version of the beloved 1988 Bette Midler film is earning some of the season’s most negative notices. Photo: Kelli Barrett and Jessica Vosk in Beaches (Marc J. Franklin)
It’s not a day at the beach for the creative team behind Beaches. The musical version of the beloved 1988 Bette Midler-Barbara Hershey weepie — based on Iris Rainer Dart’s 1985 novel — officially bowed on Broadway on Wednesday night, followed by a tide of uniformly mixed-to-negative reviews.
The author herself is closely involved in the production, which started its long road to Broadway in 2014. Dart penned the lyrics for the show, with music provided by Mike Stoller, and co-wrote the book with Thom Thomas, using her own novel as reference more than the film adaptation. Stepping in for Midler and Hershey are Broadway veterans Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett, who act out the decades-long odd-couple friendship between brassy showbiz upstart Cee Cee Bloom (Vosk) and reformed WASP Bertie White (Barrett). As in the film, that friendship culminates in Cee Cee nursing Bertie through her terminal cancer, and then singing the Grammy-winning anthem “Wind Beneath My Wings” as a loving tribute to her late friend.
A former Elphaba from Broadway’s Wicked, Vosk can certainly belt that signature Midler track, while Barrett — another Oz veteran as a former Nessarosse — closes out Act 1 with one of the show’s few memorable new songs, “My Best.” The musical itself is earnestly intent on pleasing the Beaches faithful; when Gold Derby saw the show, those specific audience members were heard audibly choking up as Cee Cee and Bertie prepared to say goodbye to each other. But it’s safe to say that if either the book or movie left you dry-eyed, the musical won’t change your mind.
Here’s a sampling of the critical reaction to Beaches.
The meh Entertainment Weekly’s Sarah Hearon offers one of the kinder takes on Beaches, crediting directors Lonny Price and Matt Cowart with finding creative ways for the six actors who play Cee Cee and Bertie at different ages — children, teenagers, and adults — to inhabit the same space. “[Whenever] all six women were on stage at the same time, it is hard not to smile and think: This is girlhood,” she writes. “That sentiment, however, fades a bit as the show changes the plot of the movie, seemingly in an attempt to stay true to the book. A plot device of a second “love triangle” conflict … was disappointing and provided a lack of growth of Bertie’s character, who becomes a confident lawyer in the movie, but not on stage.”
Over in Theaterly, Juan A. Ramirez, labels the show “not bad,” but rather, “fatally misguided,” absolving the actors from blame. “A decade or so ago, when cynical exercises in screen-to-stage adaptations were popping up like Hollywood herpes (have we found a cure for Ghost: The Musical?), this would have been one of the better ones. It’s perfectly harmless, and just as forgettable,” he observes. “Vosk, particularly, though bereft of material to leave much of an impression, acquits herself as a strong lead.”
And Slant’s Dan Rubins says that the palpable chemistry between Vosk and Barrett helps distract from the musical’s shortcomings. “The script … is sturdiest when fully focused on the friendship,” he notes. “In the few sequences when Cee Cee and Bertie are absent … Beaches starts to collapse.”
“It helps that the show’s central relationship is more interesting than it is in the film,” Rubins adds. “Here, Bertie and Cee Cee recognize, as they grow up, that as much as they love each other, as a result of being humans, not angels, there are limits to even the closest of ties. … Beaches is a lovely little show with a sweet heart that’s all dolled up for a the nearly 2,000-seat Majestic Theatre when it could alight with greater grace somewhere cozier.”
The bad People’s Dave Quinn kicks off the wave of Beaches pans by suggesting the musical can’t find — you guessed it — the wind beneath its wings. “The musical arrives with built-in goodwill and high expectations it can never quite meet,” he writes, largely dismissing the show’s musical numbers. “Despite the pedigree — music by Grammy Award-winning legend Mike Stoller with lyrics by Dart — the songs rarely linger. They do their job in the moment but fail to build a musical identity or deepen character in a meaningful way. By the time the story reaches its most famous emotional beat, it’s still searching for the resonance it needs.”
The New York Post’s Johnny Oleksinki trots out even harsher adjectives for the tunes. “Not only is its music rather long in the tooth, but the score with some true clunkers also works very hard not to venture too far from the soft synth 1980s sounds of ‘Wind Beneath My Wings,'” he sniffs. “The melodies range from forgettable to bouncy-house random. And the lyrics are, well, they’re by a novelist. A dire number depicting the ladies’ weddings mindbogglingly goes ‘Holy moly matrimony!’ In college, a singing Cee Cee advises Bertie that she ‘escape from that man like my grandparents escaped from the Tsar!’ Both have a tune about the other called ‘My Best.’ Who calls their best friend simply their ‘best'”
And in Mashable, Kristy Puchko slaps the production a flat-out “disastrous” dismissal. “It’s just a shame that Dart’s book and lyrics are less the wind beneath her wings and more an anchor sinking the whole production,” she writes. “This is a thankless show for the cast. The songs are awful. And all of the adult actors, aside from leads Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett, are tasked to play multiple thin roles.”
But Puchko does, at least, credit Vosk for the few moments when the show takes flight. “Vosk gives her all to every underwhelming song. And while I can’t remember a single lyric from the new Broadway numbers, I can remember the way my heart soared as she hit a high note with a broad smile. She’s a stunner who understands why the audience has come. She’s working hard to give us Midler-like oomph.”
