Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of getting to see the new Broadway hit Waitress based on the 2007 motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly. Directed by Diane Paulus, book written by Jessie Nelson, choreographed by Lori Latarro and music and lyrics written by Sara Bareilles, the theater production of Waitress has made Broadway history as the first show ever with an all-female team. The show has now been nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
When you first walk into the theater, it’s like you walk into a diner. The walls are blue and brightly decorated. You turn the corner to find the curtain which is decorated as a big piece of pie. Not craving pie yet? Don’t worry, you will. The sweet aroma of pie flutters around your nose and fills up the theater as it gets to show time. No, they do not pump the smell of pie through the theater, they actually bake a pie in the lobby. There is an actual working oven in the lobby, and a pie is baked during each performance to fill the theater with the smell of it. (How amazing is that!) There are also girls walking around in waitress uniforms selling small jars of pie. Although it is a little pricey ($10 for a jar), it is so worth it. With a mini pie in hand, you find your way to your seat and snack on the pie while the show begins.
As the lights go down, a “turn off your cell phone” song that Sara Bareilles recorded for the show fills the theater. The audience giggles as the song plays saying “no one’s going to like you if your phone rings.” The song is followed by applause as the theater goes dark.
“Sugar. Butter. Flour.” That’s all it takes, is these three words to catch into your head for you to realize the show has started. A light shines on the curtain as it rises. A spotlight shines center stage on Tony Award winner, Jessie Mueller. The audience erupts into thunderous cheers. You are introduced to the main character, Jenna.
Shortly after you are introduced to the other two members of the powerhouse trio: Jenna’s best friends Becky (played by Keala Settle) and Dawn (played by Kimiko Glenn from Orange is the New Black). Normally the lead stands out more than the supporting roles, but Keala and Kimiko are right up there with Jessie as the stars of the show. Keala delivers the perfect amount of comedic sass to her role of Becky and shows off her pipes in her big number “I Didn’t Plan It” which opens act two. Kimiko portrays a bit of awkwardness, shyness, and quirkiness to make up her character, Dawn, and has the audience laughing all throughout her number “When He Sees Me.”
The two standout performances of the men were given by Drew Gehling and Christopher Fitzgerald. Drew Gehling gives a wonderful performance as the super cute Doctor Pomatter. He has perfect comedic timing in the first act, and gets really into the deep serious emotions his character goes through in act two. Christopher’s Tony nominated performance of "Ogie" is one of the highlights of the whole show. He had me, along with the rest of the audience. crying tears of laughter in his big number “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me.” I have seen many shows and that was by far the funniest moment I have ever witnessed in any Broadway show.
The show follows a young waitress named Jenna who gets unexpectedly pregnant and has to go through many challenges that life throws her way including money trouble and guy trouble.
The first act of the show is nothing but endless laughter. There are rarely any moments where I was not laughing during act one. It has to do a lot with introducing everyone and starting to develop the plot. Once the second act hits, the tone completely changes. It involves a lot of the harsh realities that were somewhat pushed aside in act one. The entire atmosphere changes in the room as the audience is drawn into the plot of the show.
By the end of the show, the room fills with the sound of sniffles coming from the audience. The audience ended on their feet with a huge standing ovation by the time the curtain came down. After bows, the cast continues a reprise of the closing song “Opening Up (Finale)” while the audience dances and claps along. Even though you just cried your eyes out for the entire second act, the ending puts a big smile on your face.
I walked into the show knowing that I was going to enjoy it because I have heard nothing but great things about this show, but I did not realize just how much I was going to fall in love with it. The story line is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, it has a perfect balance of comedy and sadness. I left the theater humming the songs for days on end. You could tell that the music was written by Sara Bareilles with cheery upbeat songs and the strong piano parts throughout the entire score. Another really cool thing was that at times, the band was onstage during the diner scenes along with a few other scenes, sitting there drinking out of mugs and relaxing as if they were really at the diner. That was something I noticed and thought was so cool because the orchestra/band is overlooked a lot of times and they incorporated the band into the show as much as possible. I loved everything about the show and cannot wait to go back. It is definitely a show I will see many more times.
Favorite Actor Performance: There are so many incredible performances in this show that it’s hard to choose just one. However, if I have to choose one it would be Jessie Mueller’s performance. From the second she opens her mouth in the first song, you will fall in love with her voice. She has such uniqueness to her voice that sounds beautiful on Sara’s songs. The second half of Mueller’s performance is what stands out the most to me. She gets so into the emotions that even from sitting in the back of the theater, I felt. It takes something special to be able to transfer your emotions into an entire room of people but she does just that in her performance.
Favorite Moment: One thing that I would not stop talking about after I left the theater is the “Sugar, butter, flour” phrase. Every time that phrase was mentioned in the show, the scene was stopped and the focus switched to Jenna’s thoughts. Many times the thoughts would be how she comes up with her next pie flavor and it always has to do with what has just happened in the scene. After the thought is finished, she would snap out of her thought sequence and the scene would continue. Even though this is a small moment, it’s one of my favorite details in the show.
Favorite Song: Again, this is a tough one to choose but one particular number stuck out the most to me - the show stopping 11 o’clock ballad titled “She Used to Be Mine.” This number brought the house down and ended in a minute long standing ovation. This is probably the most stripped down moment in the show, leaving only a couch onstage as Jessie Mueller belts the daylight out of the song. There was not a peep in the audience during this whole song, everyone was frozen in awe. The emotion that Jessie gives while singing this song left me with chills up and down my spine. Every show has that one number that will bring the audience to their feet every night and this is definitely that number for this show. It’s a moment not to be missed.
Run, don’t walk, to see Waitress now playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City (256 West 47th Street, New York, NY).
“It only takes a taste!”
