An all-time chick film, 1988’s “Beaches,” which spans a 30-year, mostly long-distance friendship between two girls/women, memorably featured Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. A new musical of the same title is in pre-Broadway production at Chicago’s Drury Lane Theater. It stars Shoshana Bean as Cee Cee (the Midler role) and Whitney Bashor as Bertie (the Hershey part).
Since the musical was co-adapted by the book’s author, Iris Rainer Dart, it follows the novel more closely than the film. Still, the PG-rated storyline is familiar: two girls start an unlikely friendship on Atlantic City’s boardwalk in 1952. Cee Cee (played by terrific child actor Presley Ryan) is performing in a variety show. Decked out in a spangly red dress (which highlights her Annie-style red curly wig), she takes charge when coming upon sniffling Bertie (equally darling Brooklyn Schuck), who is lost. Once Bertie is reunited with her mom, the two have worked up enough curiosity about each other for them to exchange addresses.
The set (by Derek McLane) foretells what’s to come – an avalanche of letters sent between the two girls. Hundreds – if not thousands – of hand-written pages are plastered all over the backdrop and several sets of wings (meaning the tiers of black drapes in front of the backdrop). The set doesn’t vary, but an arched entrance on the backdrop does. It changes from jukebox colors in the beginning (Atlantic City) to the tan, formal trim of a living room entrance, etc.
The set is nicely lit by Howell Binkley, but the show is a bit small for the 1,000-seat Drury Lane Theater. One can imagine eight boy dancers backing Cee Cee during her act instead of the current two dancers, etc.
All of this would be for naught if the audience were not interested in the two main players. We are, especially with triple-threat Shoshana Bean in the leading role. At an early matinee performance, Bean seemed slightly restrained, as if she were singing over a cold. But one could see glimmers of the star power required by this role. If the producers could find a younger Bernadette Peters to replace Bean, the show could be a Broadway hit on the magnitude of Mamma Mia!, another chick musical.
Whether Bean can carry it off is one thing; whether the role of Bertie matters is another. Spot-on Whitney Bashor does all she can as second-banana to Cee Cee. Prim and proper, Bertie has a few “break-out” moments, too, such as when she leaves a handsome-but-boring suitor (Jim Deselm) at the altar and moves to New York to be with Cee Cee. In Manhattan, Bertie discovers a flair for costuming. She eventually winds up as a designer in Paris.
Cee Cee takes a bit longer to hit the big time. She eventually claws her way to the top, but at a huge personal cost. A tall, sexy theater director (Travis Taylor, giving a fine performance) initially seeks out the prettier Bertie but eventually falls for the fascinating, eccentric-looking Cee Cee. He marries Cee Cee and remains devoted to her until his male pride can’t take it any longer. The bittersweet farewell between Cee Cee and John is one of the show’s poignant highlights.
The Beaches score is nice, though not memorable. One leaves the show hearing only one song: the well-known hit from the film version, “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Cee Cee sings it to Bertie, and it is an exceedingly well-staged, Act II showstopper. The nine-piece orchestra is capably directed by Brian J. Nash.
A capable cast and top design team create a show that’s definitely worth watching. Like the film, it is a tribute to the strength of female friendships. The new musical seems polished and, perhaps with a megawatt actor starring as Cee Cee, is ready for its Broadway debut.
