Beaches, that tearjerking ’80s tale of female friendship beloved by some, snubbed by others and mostly remembered for Bette Midler’s rendition of the soaring theme song “Wind Beneath My Wings,” has had a long road to the stage, and the wait has done it no favors. Whatever charms the 1988 movie had – and they were slight if soggy – have been washed away like so much sand erosion, leaving the stage cluttered with the flotsom of cartoon characters, broadly drawn performances and some chintzy-looking sets.
Opening tonight on Broadway, Beaches, A New Musical, as the full title has it, is a mostly forgettable endeavor, and that, sadly, includes a score that will not likely takes its place in the treasured legacy of its composer, the great rock & roll songwriter Mike Stoller.
By the time “Wind Beneath My Wings,” the Grammy-winning AOR hit written by Jeff
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