Waitress Review

Waitress is based on the 2007 film of the same name. It tells the story of Jenna Hunterson, a waitress in an abusive relationship with her husband Earl. Jenna has an incredible talent of pie baking which weaves itself through the story.

This is a transfer from broadway starring Katherine McPhee ,with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson. This is a recipe for a huge hit! 

Waitress is one of the best musicals I have seen and I do not say that lightly. Waitress has heart comedy and true grit. Its showing real people on stage and it touches everyone in a different way.

There are many layers to this story and as the musical progresses we delve deeper into the delicious pie which is Waitress. A pie filled with gorgeous music and lyrics, stunning choreography  by Chase Brock and  beautiful set design by Scott Pask. 

Katherine McPhee is brilliantly real as Jenna. Her brilliant vocals lift the roof of the Adelphi and her acting makes you root for Jenna to succeed. Marisha Wallace was absolutely hilarious as Becky and her vocals are so powerful. I saw the debut of Olivia Moore as Dawn and I couldn’t even tell she had short notice to go on. She played the innocent Dawn perfectly making everyone laugh. David Hunter played the quirky Dr Pomatter  who is Jenna’s love interest. Their chemistry gave the scenes a real buzz and melted the audiences hearts. His physical comedy was perfect which made the audience cry with laughter. You wanted them to get together so badly all the time and their voices mixed beautifully.

Waitress is brilliantly cast.

Diane Paulus directs Waitress and she does a great job! It is such a unique show in its style and music. It oozes emotion and heart. I really enjoyed the “sugar butter flour” motif throughout which links Jenna’s passion for baking well. Another thing I really enjoyed was that at times you were snapped out of reality with Jenna making a pie of the situation she was in which I thought was genius. I was satisfied with the touching ending and it was a nice surprise! 

Some stand out moments were Kat McPhee’s “She Used To Be Mine” which was one of the best performances I’ve seen at the theatre. There was not a dry eye in the house! Waitress has the perfect mis of light and dark tones. It probably the funniest musical I have seen (Haven’t seen Book Of Mormon yet!). Another moment I was touched by was in the hospital scenes towards the end. There was some really nice touches of physical theatre which really fitted the piece well. I haven’t seen a show like Waitress. On the surface it looks like the perfect broadway musical with bright brash numbers but underneath is a truly touching story showing real life people on stage who are not perfect. I also loved how you got to know each of Jenna’s Friends well so they weren’t just there. They had they’re own songs and backstories which gave the piece lots of depth.

This delicious musical is a must-see. 5 stars for Waitress!

Have you seen Waitress? What did you think? Feel free to comment below or message me on instagram @unofficialtheatre

Thanks For Reading !

Eugene