On Sunday, February 19th, Marist College Student Programming Council held one of their famous Broadway day trips. This time, the show of choice was Waitress.

I originally did not want to see Waitress. I thought the concept was odd, mainly because I did not actually know what the plot was. My friend Analisa wanted someone to go with, and having been in a Broadway withdrawal, I conceded and waited in line for tickets with her.

Broadway tickets here at Marist are an absolute bargain -- for the show ticket and bus fare into the city, the whole shebang costs only...$25.00. That's right, only $25.00 for a whole day in New York City, and a show, and transportation! Trust me, things do not get any better than that. Which is why, if you want to get tickets to the show, you need to get in line at least three hours early -- which is exactly what the two of us did, and let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it.

Waitress is, without a doubt, possibly the best show I have ever seen on Broadway.

The show features a multitude of real-life situations, from love affairs to finding your first true love, and most importantly, self-discovery, independence, and acceptance. Jenna, the protagonist, wants to leave her husband, and in order to do that, she needs to follow her dreams and compete in the Springfield Pie Contest, a contest she could surely win based on her extraordinary baking skills. Her best friends, Dawn and Becky, go through their own whirlwinds, with Becky learning how to treat herself and Dawn learning how to open herself up to love.

Waitress is a very relatable show due to all of those real-world experiences. Aside from the plot, the music and stage performances by each actor and actress are phenomenal. The music, written by Grammy-winner Sara Bareilles, encompasses the plot beautifully, especially for someone who has never written for Broadway before. Each tune is unique unto itself, and the words are crafted beautifully. Come intermission of the show, the music was so amazing that I downloaded both the Original Broadway Cast Recording album, and Sara's demo album. The actors and actresses performed with talent that I cannot even begin to describe. There was inexplicably perfect chemistry between Jenna and her OB/GYN Dr. Pomatter, with whom she has a steamy love affair. The relationship between her, Dawn, and Becky shows the beautiful type of friendship that we all crave as humans. And, the strained relationship between Jenna and her husband Earl depicts with high accuracy what happens both when you fall out of love and when you fear that your spouse will turn out exactly like your father -- another concept that was shown briefly and beautifully in the background.

Jessie Mueller, Drew Gehling, Kimiko Glenn, Keala Settle and the rest of the cast were absolutely phenomenal.

I would absolutely recommend going to see Waitress whenever you can. It is without a doubt one of the best Broadway shows that you will ever see.