SHOSHANA BEAN RETURNS TO THE STAGE IN BROADWAY-BOUND BEACHES THIS SUMMER AT CHICAGO’S DRURY LANE THEATRE, JUNE 24 – AUG 16

Drury Lane Productions and Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso (Broadway’s Spring Awakening, Rock of Ages) are thrilled to announce the cast for the pre-Broadway production of Beaches, A New Musical, based on the novel by Irish Rainer Dart.

The all-star cast is led by Shoshana Bean as “Cee Cee Bloom,” and Whitney Bashor as “Bertie White.” Bean, a veteran of the Broadway stage debuted in the original cast of Hairspray and starred as the very first replacement for Elphaba, the green-skinned witch, in Wicked. Her independent solo releases have topped the iTunes R&B and Blues charts in the US and UK in peak positions 5, 3 and now #1 with the release of her latest EP Shadows to Light. She also sang back up for Michael Jackson at his 30th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden and her music has also been featured in TV shows on NBC, MTV, Oxygen and Showtime.

Bashor appeared in Broadway’s Tony award-winning Bridges of Madison County and went from the stage to the small screen, appearing on HBO’s critically acclaimed “Boardwalk Empire.”

The young versions of the characters are played by Presley Ryan as “Little Cee Cee” and Brooklyn Schuck as “Little Bertie / Nina”. Also starring is Travis Taylor as “John Perry”, Nancy Voigts as “Leona Bloom”, Kelly Anne Clark as “Rose White”, Jim DeSelm as “Michael Barron”, Michael Accardo as “Nathan Bloom”, Andrew Varela as “Arthur”, Samantha Pauly as “Teen Cee Cee” and Olivia Renteria as “Teen Bertie.” Rounding out the cast are William Carlos Angulo, Heather Brorsen, Josh Kohane, Christine Mild and Holly Strauder.

Previews for Beaches begin June 24, opening night is scheduled for July 2, and the production will run through August 16. Tickets are on sale now and available by calling the Drury Lane Theatre box office at 630.530.0111, TicketMaster at 800.745.3000 or visiting www.drurylane.com.

For more information on Beaches and the rest of the 2015-2016 theatrical season at Drury Lane, please visit www.drurylane.com.