Jessica Vosk Says She Feels 'So Terrible' When She Hears 'Sobs from the Audience' During Broadway's “Beaches ”(Exclusive)
Jessica Vosk Says She Feels 'So Terrible' When She Hears 'Sobs from the Audience' During Broadway's “Beaches ”(Exclusive)
Desiree AnelloTue, April 21, 2026 at 9:36 PM UTC
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Kelli Barrett and Jessica Vosk in Braodway's 'Beaches'Credit: Trudie Lee -
Jessica Vosk exclusively tells PEOPLE that she feels “so terrible” when she hears the audience’s “sobs” from the stage during Broadway’s Beaches
“Every show is a great moment of gratitude for me knowing that an audience is feeling whatever it is that they're feeling,” she says
Based on the novel and 1988 film, Beaches runs through Sept. 6 with a score by Grammy Award-winning legend Mike Stoller and lyricist Dart
Jessica Vosk is taking on her most emotional role yet — but it's the audience's emotions that weigh on her heart.
While speaking to PEOPLE about originating her first Broadway role as Cee Cee Bloom alongside Kelli Barrett’s Bertie White in the musical adaptation of Beaches, the 42-year-old actress says that she feels “so terrible” when she looks out into the audience and sees a sea of tears.
“Those last 20 minutes of the show, the audience is kind of a puddle, and I can feel that as the person sitting on stage wrapping the show up,” Vosk says. “It's like hearing sobs from the audience as it happens, but it's human and it's really necessary.”
Based on Iris Rainer Dart’s bestselling novel, which was later adapted into the 1988 film starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, Beaches follows the intense 30-year friendship between two very different women. And throughout the years, their bond survives years of rivalries, failed marriages and, ultimately, devastating losses.
“Every show is a great moment of gratitude for me knowing that an audience is feeling whatever it is that they're feeling,” Vosk explains. “It’s an honor to do that every single night.”
Jessica Vosk poses at press event for the new Broadway musical, 'Beaches'Credit: Jenny Anderson
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Beaches touches on topics of grief, family, love and loss — something the actress knows far too well.
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As Vosk tells PEOPLE, she was grieving her father’s death while workshopping the Broadway show in 2023.
“When we first started this process of Beaches a couple of years ago, I suddenly lost my dad,” she recounts. “The workshop was over on a Friday. My mom called that Friday and said, 'I think you need to come down to Florida. Your dad is not doing well.’ He passed three days later."
The experience has remained at the top of her mind throughout her time in Beaches.
"I constantly think about all of that when I'm dealing with this particular show on the arc that I kind of have to take audiences on from start to finish," she says. "There's something that always comes into my brain about the loss of my dad and what that feels like and what it felt like and how grief can be two things — it can be both joy and pain at the same time.”
Jessica Vosk and Kelli Barrett in 'Beaches' on BroadwayCredit: Trudie Lee
While she insists doing the show has been “cathartic,” Vosk also emphasizes that the role “takes a lot of emotion” out of her.
“It's probably why I have to lay down or nap in between shows or go home and go to bed after to decompress,” she says. “I feel kind of lucky that I have to have those emotions and I don't stifle them down like we normally would do.”
Tickets for Beaches are now on sale.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
