Jessica Vosk is one of the few Broadway stars who commits to growing her online presence. In a recent TikTok video, she shared what her schedule looks like as she prepares for the opening night of Beaches, the new musical based on the 1989 classic movie of the same name, where she is originating her first role on Broadway as CeeCee Bloom.
“We started rehearsals in February, 10 to 6 every single day. Then we moved into the theater and started tech, that’s about 12 p.m. to about 11 p.m. every single day,” she rattles off in the video. “We start previews, which is eight shows a week, but you rehearse still every single day — you get to the theater at 12 PM, finish at 5, take a little nap, you do a show.”
In this show, which just opened on Wednesday, she’s only off the stage for eight minutes total — the rest of the time she’s on stage and has 23 quick changes throughout the production’s runtime of 2 hours and 20 minutes. But right now, she’s in a space that she spends a good deal of time in: her dressing room at the Majestic Theater, which was most recently inhabited by one of her friends, Audra McDonald, who took on the role of Mama Rose in Gypsy. We talked a few days before opening night, and Vosk is keeping a level head throughout the entire process of originating her first role on Broadway.
The vocal powerhouse is no stranger to the Great White Way, as she’s taken on roles such as Elphaba in Wicked, Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof, and most recently, Jersey in the Alicia Keys semi-autobiographical show, Hell’s Kitchen. Vosk’s vocal agility is one of the many reasons she’s beloved in the Broadway community, along with her staunch allyship for the queer community. In this role that puts her name front-and-center on the marquee, she is keeping her head up and delivering her best performance to date in Beaches, especially when she brings the house down with her rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings,” made famous by the incomparable Bette Midler.
But now, she’s making the role her own and putting her signature Vosk twist, expertly blending her chops as a comedic actress with her dramatic flair. Here, she speaks with Out about paying homage to her musical idol, playing iconic characters across musical theater, and more. Just like Cynthia Erivo, Vosk has been the theater community’s well-kept open secret, but a talent like hers is impossible to contain, and sometime soon, the world will know her name.
Jessica Vosk performs in Beaches, A New Musical Marc J. Franklin
Out: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat! The first thing I want to know is: when you agreed to take on your first originating role on Broadway, what was going through your head?
Vosk: It’s really cool, I mean, it’s extremely daunting, let alone the fact that it was made famous by such an iconic human being, who I am obsessed with in my life, being Bette Midler. The character itself is one I relate to extremely, so that was part of the saying yes and being pumped to put my own stamp on this kind of thing.
I have replaced [actresses] in such iconic situations, which has been its own beast, but this is a way bigger undertaking. I’m never off stage — It's a very, very big lift. It's a heavy lift. It's a heavy, emotional lift. But I also wanted to take on this particular role because I haven't been able to show the industry at large what I can do in the comedy realm and in the emotional acting arc. People know I’ll belt my tits off. But, there's all this other stuff that exists too.
Obviously, Bette Midler made this role what it was in the movie back in 1989, and I wonder if you feel the pressure of filling her shoes? How does one do that, if at all?
I don’t think one does. We have to live in the truth of the fact that she is a singular, one-of-one person. I have been thinking more about how I can pay tribute to what this amazing woman has done, while also being able to make it my own and not make it feel like an imitation in any way. I also wanted to make it feel like new audiences can understand who this person is, if they've never been introduced to her before, and to nod to where it came from.
There have been a lot of times within this piece that I’ve been like ‘Hey, it would be great if we could nod to the film in this way. It would be great if we can put an easter egg in here to make it make sense for the cinephiles.’ [Midler] sits on such a pedestal for me that my dream has always been to even pay some kind of respect and tribute to a person who created a world for women that had never existed before.
The connections to Gypsy are so crazy — Bette’s movie version of the movie, Beaches, is being performed at the Majestic Theater, where Audra’s Gyspy took place. In the show, the community theater where you’re performing a production of Gypsy, was the latter added in once you guys got the confirmation that the show was being transferred to the Majestic?
No! And isn’t that crazy? It was always Gypsy in the script — even when we did our out-of-town tryout in Canada, and then two years later, when we wound up getting the Broadway offer, it happened to be in the Majestic Theater, where Gypsy just was. Audra was here last night at the show, and I'm in her dressing room now, so when she came upstairs, she said that it was just so funny to have a nod to all of that in the show.
Tell me more about how this role came to you and what made you excited to say yes. What was the process like? Was there any hesitation in saying yes?
No way! I wanted to originate forever, and I've always been waiting for the right role to come along that had the mix of what it is that I can do. I love doing comedy, and I love doing improv. They let me do both in this show. I'm lucky to be able to do all of that stuff. It's my happy place. I happen to have loved this movie forever. So by the end, I think when I read the last 20 minutes of the script, I was like, ‘Oh, this, this is just a killer.’ And so, immediately, I thought I at least had to try, even if it’s just out of town, and it never goes to Broadway, and I never get the chance to do it on a New York stage. This role is so beautifully written that I had to do it. The exhaustion was definitely worth it. When do I sleep? No idea!
I recently spoke to Shoshana Bean about playing Lucy in The Lost Boys, and I asked her about this pattern of taking on roles like Elphaba, Jenna, and Jersey, which you’ve also played. I felt like the throughline with these characters is that they’ve all been scorned in some way because they’ve all gone through turmoil in different ways. Are you thinking about the women you’ve played in the past and how they relate to your current role?
I remember when I stepped into the role of Elphaba for the 15th anniversary, I reminded myself about how you have to bring pieces of yourself into these roles. For that one in particular, I thought deeply to myself about what does it feel like to be othered? The LGBTQ+ community has always been so entrenched in the Wicked community, and still are. I remember talking to so many people about how difficult it was to come out, how difficult it was to feel like they could be who they are, to tell their family, to tell their friends and feel so othered.
I remember leaving the stage as Elphaba and feeling so depressed and it was because I was being bullied on stage. So even in roles like that or Jersey in Hell’s Kitchen, I spent a lot of time with Terry, Alicia’s mom, with this living person who you're playing and realizing there are so many intricacies to being a single mom and being scorned by an ex and being pissed off about it. All that comes to play in CeeCee; she’s so nuanced. Her best friend, Bertie (Kelli Barrett), are yearning for things that exist in the other person. Bertie wants to be unapologetic like CeeCee and she would love to be a star for a day. CeeCee would love to be prim and gorgeous and model-y and proper and live that way. But it's just it ain't who she is.
Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett as CeeCee and Bertie in BeachesMarc J. Franklin
Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett share a scene in Beaches musicalMarc J. Franklin
There's everything that you take from the experiences that you've had — even Jenna in Waitress or getting to do Florence in Chess. These are women who have been through some shit, and they are also quite strong. Sometimes strong women are labeled as angry and that is something I’ve dealt with my entire career, so it’s our job to change the narrative when we can.
Follow Jessica Vosk on Instagram, and learn more about Beaches and get tickets at beachesthemusical.com.
Samantha Schwartz, Bailey Ryon, Jessica Vosk, Kelli Barrett, Emma Ogea, and Zeya Grace in BeachesMarc J. Franklin
