Theater Calgary has its world premiere production of Beaches The Musical

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Serendipity played a large role in Iris Rainer Dart's life and career, most notably with her 1985 blockbuster novel The Beaches, about the unbreakable friendship between two women who meet on a childhood beach.

Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey starred as CC Bloom and Bertie White in the 1988 film, and Darth is currently working on a musical version of Beaches in Calgary. It officially opens on May 18 at the Max Bell Theater on May 24. Dart collaborated with the late Tom Thomas on the book for the musical and legendary composer Mike Stoller on the songs.

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The idea for a novel about the endurance of female friendship came to Dart at the age of 20.

“My best friend told me the other day that if one of us was going to die, he hoped it would be him because he couldn't imagine living in a world without me. It was her way of telling me how much our friendship meant to her, and I felt that I should write a novel about a universal experience for women who have had really intense friendships,” says Dart.

It took nearly a decade for Dart to draw inspiration for his main character from the unrepentant Cher, who became a friend while writing 63 episodes for The Dart Cher Show and then The Sonny and Cher Show in the early 1970s.

“Although Cher was very influenced by C.C., there was a lot of me in that character as well. Growing up in Pittsburgh, I was a child performer in children's shows from the age of six, and by the age of eight I was a regular on a TV show called Happy's Party. I continued acting in high school, but I was never comfortable on stage. Still, I thought I should do acting, so I went to Carnegie Mellon University to study theater.”

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It was there that Dart became interested in writing musicals. It was first a show called Whatserface.

“A few students offered to work on a song or two, but I wanted someone to write the whole musical with me. The only person to recommend was a junior, and I wasn't impressed, but I had no choice.”

It was 16-year-old Steven Schwartz, who would write musicals like Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked. They recorded two college shows together.

“Even after graduation, I thought I would become an actor. I had the choice of staying in New York and doing theater or going to Los Angeles and working in film. I chose Los Angeles because it's sunny. I got so many small roles that even my mother could be excused for missing me. I continued taking acting classes and one day the teacher told me something I already knew, as an actress I was a very good writer. He said he could introduce me to someone who could be a mentor, and it turned out to be Gary Marshall.”

Dart worked on Marshall sitcoms like Love American Style and The Odd Couple, and through Marshall he met George Schlatter, who produced Laughter.

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“It was George who hired me for the Cher show. I was the only woman on the writing team, and I knew that from day one. These people didn't want me in this room. They needed me more than they thought because Cher was strict and demanding and they were afraid of her. If he didn't like the script, they would send me to talk to him. Since Cher and I broke up, we hung out. Cher from Sonny, and me from my first husband, a rock promoter.”

When he started creating Beaches, Dart wrote three chapters and an outline of his idea. His TV agent gave it to a book agent who shopped around.

“The publishers didn't think it was a commercial idea, but they liked my writing, so they asked me if I had any other ideas. Steve worked in the mailroom of the studio and there were dozens of stories, so I pitched the idea, they took it, and I wrote a kind of Hollywood novel called The Mailroom Guys. When that sold, they said they wanted to see my Beaches pitch again.

“I was dating my husband Stephen Dart at the time. When I showed him the chapters, he said it looked like Bette Midler. I took the package to him and he wanted to meet. He said he loved the idea, and if I wrote a novel, he would make it into a movie one day. When the novel came out, he was already working for Disney, and he wanted to star in it as well as produce. Disney was worried about the ending, so they looked for someone with comedic sensibilities. They brought in Gary Marshall. 22 years have passed, but we are back in each other's lives. Gary had a heart and a great sense of humor. The beaches needed it.”

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After Beaches, Midler suggested Dart write a musical for her. The result was People in the Picture, a story about three generations of Jewish women, for which she won a Tony nomination as writer.

“I don't think Bette was ready to play a grandmother in her career, so the role went to the wonderful Donna Murphy, who was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.”

It was in this project that he teamed up with Darth Stoller and met the artistic director of the Calgary Theater, Stafford Arima.

“Stafford and I have been and remain great friends. It was Stafford who suggested that I turn The Beaches into a musical. I flew to Calgary to see Calgary Theater's The Louder We Get in 2020. “I fell in love with the Max Bell Theatre, so when Stafford offered to do the premiere of the musical 'Beaches' in Calgary, I was thrilled.”

An excited Dart can't describe how he feels about what he calls “the Rolls Royce production team coming together to work on our show.” No expense was spared to bring the best Broadway talent to Calgary for this premiere.”

Beaches the Musical runs from May 18 to June 16 at the Calgary Theatre.

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