Beaches The Musical Could Learn A Trick Or Two From Beaches The Movie

Let’s face facts here. Beaches is first and foremost a 1988 film starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey as two best friends who yak/sob their way through careers, single parenthood, and serious illness.

Rainer Dart, who’s mostly written novels, took an earlier crack at theater in 2011 with The People in the Picture, a Holocaust musical New York Times critic Ben Brantley called “thin treacle.” In Beaches, her lyrics high-five each other like so many unmemorable children’s rhymes. From the second act’s “Normal People,” for example: “We’ll ride our bikes / We’ll go on hikes / They’re gonna think we’re dykes.” You can hear the thud of “dykes” even without David Austin’s singsong, same-sounding music behind it. This production also manages to misplace that holy of holies “Wind Beneath My Wings,” awkwardly sandwiching it in between Cee Cee’s exit from Bertie’s life and another song that has her promptly returning.

Through 8/16: Thu 1:30 and 8 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 5 and 8:30 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM, Wed 1:30 PM Drury Lane Theatre 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terracedrurylaneoakbrook.com $40-$55