When Beaches the Musical opens on the Max Bell Theatre stage on May 18, it will undoubtedly be one of the most prestigious productions to have ever received an international premiere in Calgary

That, in no small part, is due to the magic that has come about as a result of Theatre Calgary working with some of Broadway’s best producers, designers, and actors, with award-winning stage performers Kelli Barrett and Jessica Vosk starring.

Not to mention the work of legendary songwriter Mike Stoller and the original best-selling author of Beaches, Iris Rainer Dart creating the music for the production.

“Iris and I, over a decade ago when we first met, it’s something I always felt really could have a life on the stage, because the source material that she wrote is so theatrical. And it always felt like it was a great thing to translate to give us that opportunity,” said Beaches the Musical producer Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso.

“We really wanted to get it right, and it’s taken a while, but this team that we have now feels like it’s just the right people to tell this story.”

Maloney-Prezioso herself is a Tony and Emmy award-winning theatre and television producer, who has produced some of Broadway’s biggest hits including the Tony award-winning Spring Awakening, Tony-nominated American Idiot, and the Drama Desk-nominated Legally Blonde.

Beaches tells the story of a 35-year friendship that stands the test of careers, marriages and divorces, and even death—and was a best-selling novel before being turned into a movie in 1988 starring Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, and Mayim Bialik.

Although the film received mixed critical reviews when it debuted, it has since become a popular and enduring favourite with fans because of the strong connections viewers have with the story of characters Cecilia Carol (also known as C.C.) Bloom and Hilary Whitney—although the original novel and play have the character names of Cee Cee Bloom and Bertie White.

Beaches more relevant than ever

The story has the potential to touch audiences, perhaps even more today in a post-pandemic world, said Maloney-Prezioso,

“What’s fascinating about it is it feels more appropriate every year and especially after the pandemic. I think people have even more relation to the idea of how do you maintain friendships when you’re not together, when you’re not in the same room, and how to really put that work in and that effort in that we don’t do for a lot of other things in our life,” she said.

“I think we are at a place where we really acknowledge that friendship, especially in a world today where the loneliness pandemic is prevalent all over the world. The friendships that we have are what maintain us and what take us through good and bad.”

Producing the play for its international premiere at Theatre Calgary—which will then be travelling to Broadway after its run—came about due to the connection Maloney-Prezioso had with TC’s Artistic Director Stafford Arima.

“It started with Stafford. Stafford has a long relationship with Iris and Mike [Stoller], He’s known them for a very long time. He’s worked with [Director Lonny Price] and and [Co-Director Matt Cowart] before,” she said.

“Iris and I actually came up here right before the pandemic to see The Louder We Get to surprise Lonny. Stafford’s idea. When we came here, he gave me a tour around this facility and just told me what they were trying to do and what his goals were.”

She said that it was through Arima’s vision for Theatre Calgary that their production team was confident there would be the support needed to build the show. It’s a production that has been happening in tandem in both Arts Commons and back in New York on Broadway.

“We brought our whole A+ design team up from New York. The collaboration between our team and the team that’s here has really been exciting to watch,” said Maloney-Prezioso.

Rock and roll legend takes on his first solo act as composer

Stoller, one half of the legendary Grammy award-winning songwriting team of Lieber and Stoller, has, at age 91, taken on his first solo composition with Beaches the Musical.

“This is, at this point, the only musical where I’ve written all the music, as opposed to People in the Picture which I shared the credits with a dear friend, and I’m very excited about it,” he said.

Stoller wrote the music for that production with Artie Butler, alongside lyrics by Rainer Dart, which also premiered on Broadway in 2011.

Fans of classic rock and roll know Jerry Lieber and Stoller through the many hits of Elvis Prestley including Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, although the pair were behind many of the hit singles incorporated into the standards of Broadway.

The process for Beaches was with Rainer Dart having already written some of the lyrics for the play, and with arranger Joe Thalken and orchestrator Charlie Rosen (who himself just recently won a Tony), said Stoller.

“Iris had some lyrical ideas, certainly before she even called me… and we started writing the songs and in some cases, she had written part of a lyric and I started to set the music, and other times she would say ‘Well, I did hear something kind of for this,’ and I would say OK, and I’d write something and see what she thinks,” Stoller said.

“They’ve really brought this thing to the life that I think it is that I wanted, and they are sensational. I’m in heaven.”

Stoller praised the cast and production staff, calling them hot shots.

“I really gotta tell you, the cast is phenomenal. They’re great. They’re from New York, and everybody else is fantastic. I mean, it’s just a great cast and the choreography. I told [Choreographer] Jennifer Rias, ‘I liked this song before, but seeing what you’ve done with it, I now love it,'” he said.

Stoller said that he hoped that audiences would take away all of the emotions that would be on display throughout Beaches the Musical.

“The experience, the joy, and the emotions which are when the handkerchiefs come out. I have watched just for rehearsal, and I get teared up, because Iris can do that. She can write like that and make you cry and still come up with some great jokes.”

Beaches the Musical runs from May 18 to June 16 at the Max Bell Theatre at Arts Commons.

For more details on the production, and for tickets, see www.theatrecalgary.com/shows/2023-2024-beaches-the-musical.

Behind-the-scenes photos from Beaches the Musical