Jessica Vosk is finally originating a role on Broadway and it’s been years in the making

More than a decade after leaving the business world for entertainment, Jessica Vosk is on the cusp of some personal and professional milestones.

It was announced Tuesday that Vosk will star in the stage adaptation of the beloved comedy-drama “Beaches” as Cee Cee, played by Bette Midler in the 1988 film. The musical will mark her first time playing a role on Broadway and will premiere at New York’s Majestic Theater in April before a national tour next fall.

For now, the New Jersey-born actress and singer is excited to spend December sharing music and spreading much-needed joy to her fans across the United States. Sunday will conclude a seven-city tour in support of “Sleigh,” a 13-song holiday collection that includes classic songs like “Last Christmas” and “Grown-Up Christmas List,” as well as holiday collaborations with Neil Patrick Harris, Pentatonix singer Scott Hoying and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

Jenny Anderson

“Especially in the moment we’re going through now, which I think is a wild dumpster fire, I think art is what will always be healing,” Vosk, 43, said. “Let me make you feel safe in the space I’ve created for you, feel like you can be yourself and not be afraid. If that can be the only thing I do that makes you feel like you’re not paying attention to the man behind the curtain for a while, then I’m doing my job.”

The tour is also a celebration of Vosk’s theater career to date and finds her revisiting pivotal moments from her stage roles, including Elphaba in “Wicked,” Jenna in “Waitress” and, most recently, Jersey in the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Despite her indelible stage presence and powerful voice, Vosk did not set out to pursue an acting career at first. Although he fell in love with the arts early on after appearing in community theater, he spent much of his 20s working for an investor relations firm on Wall Street.

However, after experiencing a series of panic attacks at work, she knew it was time for a change. She began auditioning for shows while honing her talent at open mic concerts throughout New York, and in 2014, she made her Broadway debut in “The Bridges of Madison County.” The following year, he also appeared in “Finding Neverland” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Jenny Anderson via Getty Images

However, Vosk’s breakthrough came in 2016, when she was cast as Elphaba in the national tour of “Wicked,” and reprized the role on Broadway two years later. Meanwhile, her work on the concert stage, including two warmly secured, sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall, has helped establish her as the heir apparent to artists like Midler and Judy Garland.

Still, she remains a relatable diva by taking on side projects that amplify her self-deprecating sense of humor. First, there’s “Vosk in the City,” her unscripted TikTok, Instagram and YouTube series that features candid chats with New Yorkers and some of her Broadway contemporaries on topics ranging from pop culture to the White House. Recent episodes include: “Eliminate a person from politics! Who?” and “Katy Perry in space?”

“I really wanted to be a woman, talk to people in a different way and get different opinions,” she explained. “But I also like to make you uncomfortable, to make you shake a little. I love, at the same time, to say, ‘Let’s talk about the movie ‘Wicked,’ but I think Glinda voted for Trump.” My goal is to change minds and make people say, “I didn’t think of it that way.” “That’s what makes me happiest.”

And for the past two years, he voiced the character Lute in the animated series “Hazbin Hotel,” performing the now-viral song “Gravity” in the show’s second season, which aired on Amazon Prime Video this fall.

Jenny Anderson

“It reminds me of how happy people are when they come together around a common interest,” she said of the series, which follows Lucifer’s daughter on her quest to redeem sinners when Hell becomes overcrowded. Of the “super, super, super gay-coded” show’s cult following, he added: “You’re seeing thousands of people come together and say, ‘I don’t have to explain who I am here.’ To me, that’s the gift of doing this.”

While her downtime may be limited, Vosk has also been keeping busy with plans for her wedding. Next summer she will marry Dave Godar in upstate New York. The couple began dating while Vosk was appearing in a 2023 production of “Chess” at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, known as The Muny.

Finding her future husband after turning 40, she said, has been “the best.”

“I can’t settle for less than what I want,” he explained. “I haven’t done it in my career. So meeting someone was always going to be the icing on the cake, but I was willing to make the cake myself, no matter what. All my best friends were like, ‘We saw you through about a million different terrorists, so we’re really happy for you right now.’ I’ll take that.”

Ethan Miller via Getty Images