Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett on Bringing Beaches to Broadway

Get your tissues ready, because Beaches, one of pop culture’s great tearjerkers, is coming to Broadway in musical form. Based on Iris Rainer Dart’s bestselling novel about a decades-spanning friendship, Beaches will star Jessica Vosk as flamboyant performer Cee Cee Bloom and Kelli Barrett as her bookish counterpart, Bertie White. The two theater veterans chatted with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek about bringing the beloved story of sisterhood to the stage.

“That film, for me, was a part of my youth and growing up and realizing what friendship is, what heartbreak is, what soulmates are,” says Vosk, referring to the famed 1988 adaptation of Beaches starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. “You don't get stories like this, especially on Broadway, of two women from childhood through their thirties and forties who remain steadfast connections in each other's lives through everything that you can possibly think of.”

Speaking to the nature of working from preexisting material, Barrett says, “This feels like a reimagining, how do we take this story and make it for the stage? It feels like it's meant for the stage and I really appreciate that as a stage actress, that I understand what I'm in. I'm not just trying to recreate something from a different mode on the stage.”

“This is the first time I've ever created a role on Broadway. This is the first leading role that I get to create from beginning to end. That includes the music being fit on the two of us in a way that I've not had before. For it to be a new musical, I'm hoping that people will open up their minds to the fact that you're going to come in and see a piece that you might have seen already, but you've never seen it like this,” says Vosk, echoing Barrett’s sentiments.

She continues: “We fit these roles very well. There's a lot about Cee Cee that I grew up with. As Jessica, there's a lot about my showmanship that is Cee Cee-based. There's a lot about my imposter syndrome that's Cee Cee Bloom based. She wears her heart on her sleeve. She does not have a filter. She does not know when to turn it off. If she's angry, she's real angry, and she's going to let you know.” Vosk became a fan favorite amongst theatergoers for playing Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and its national tour. “When you play Elphaba a bunch of times, people think, ‘She's just a singer.’ But this has really been one of those things where we've been able to stretch the acting muscle.”

As far as the type of music audiences can expect to hear in Beaches, the creative team has released songs from the production, including the duet “Wish I Could Be Like You.” Grammy winner Mike Stoller composed the music, while author Dart wrote lyrics and co-penned the libretto with the late Thom Thomas. Barrett praises Stoller’s contributions, saying, “He writes a melody you can't forget and I think that this score is true in that way as well. It's got a lot of different styles, but I think the jazzy, big brassy stuff really comes forward and it's all very tuneful.”

For Vosk and Barrett, the friendship at the heart of Beaches is not just for show. “I've had the great fortune of doing Broadway shows opposite leading men and I'm married, and there's just always a level of removal that has to be there in order for it to be appropriate,” explains Barrett. “Jess and I can go further with that. Women don't get to do that very often, where they get to have each other.”

You can experience this real-life friendship onstage at the Majestic Theatre beginning March 27.

Watch the full interview below:

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