Waitress the Musical: From Boston to Broadway

Posted: 4/16/16 at 8:58pm

A little over six months ago i tripped up to Boston to see the world premiere of the musical Waitress at the American Repertory Theater.  At that time the show played more like a live version of a Lifetime Television movie of the week than a Broadway musical...formulaic, mellow dramatic, and trite, not to mention a very literal adaptation that hadn't solidified it's theatrical vision. It did, however, have a promising feature: the truly beautiful score by pop singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles...not yet used to its most effective, but worthy of an audience's ears. I'm really happy to report after seeing the show at the end of its Broadway previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, that the creative team has kept their eye on the prize and turned a regional production into what I think is a Broadway hit.

Most importantly Diane (the director), Sara (score), and Jessie (book writer) have reexamined the placement of the score's songs. In Boston, the song "Opening Up" was the shows official opening number...it had a resolved quality that seemed to solve all the characters problems at the start of the show. So i was thrilled to see that it has been moved to the closing number, like a ray off sunshine after a really terrible storm. Great choice! It now opens with a song called "What's Inside" that feels truly like the beginning of this story peaking your interest about the three main waitresses and introducing the baking ingredients motif that is carried throughout the show.  Also Jenna has a new song called "What Baking can do" that describes how baking has helped her survive in life. It provides great backstory for her character even introducing her mother as a victim of domestic abuse from her father which gives us the reason why she would choose a partner like her husband Earl...the behavior is learned young and continued into adulthood....another great choice. Plus, bits of the chorus and solos like "A Soft Place to Land" are now rewritten to include the other two waitresses Dawn and Becky, strengthening their relationship to Jenna and bringing forward the themes about the importance of friendship in one's life.

The book has equally been reexamined. The baking ingredients and the naming of pies to coincide with Jenna's inner thoughts and emotions device is added to maximum effect in the Broadway production. It adds whimsy and theatricality to the staging, personality and individuality to Jenna's character that we need in order to find her fascinating, a good steal from the movie (part of what made it really work).  They've also cut lots of small vignettes that take us away from  jenna's main story and the diner. In Boston, there were several scenes with three pregnant women and their husbands that showed up every time Jenna visited Dr. Pomatter. They were funny, but just took us away from what we really cared about Jenna, the Docter,  and her baby.  The scenes that include Jenna's husband Earl have been trimmed to best establish how abusive he is without spending too much time on him...he's a tough character to write without coming off as cheesy. They straddle the line but succeed much better than in Boston. Unfortunately, Nick Cordello's performance doesnt' play as real or complex as Jeremy Cisto from the film, but he's far less stereotyped than the previous actor.

Lorin Latarro has absolutely transformed this show into a musical with her choreography.  In Boston there was almost none and it was sorely missed. It didn't move the way the music seemed to want it to.  Now with very contemporary movements all based on ways one would add ingredients to a bowl and bake a pie it has added another layer of emotion and language to the piece...almost as if to Jenna, cracking an egg is spiritual ritual. Dancers blow flower from their hands to create dream like sequences where we can go back in time in jenna's memory....goosebump inducing. It is a whole new show with her addition.

The set has made major improvements. Very literal and cumbersome in Boston, it now becomes much more representational which gives it that theatrical vision that it was missing. Rolling pie racks change the scene in seconds, the diner now morphs into different locations by using bits and pieces of it instead of several different realistic tv sets rolling out to represent a doctors office, an apartment and so on.  In fact, sometimes the set dissolves and musicians appear to add another layer of drama and theater to the story.  Seriously great advancements in why this should be seen in the theater.  But my favorite is the black out flats that can move in and out of the scene framing exactly what we want the audience to see giving the show a film like quality.  It allows us to focus in on a close up and at one point slowly move to a wide shot that reveals Jenna's small drama contrasted against the great big world....gorgeous projections of the country sky with rolling clouds that turn every color you can think of.....great choice number...well I've lost count.

The addition of Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie is nothing short of briliant. The actor in Boston just came across as a stalker of the waitress Dawn, but with all Chris' spectacular choices and comic timing he reads as the most charming man in the small town in which they live in.  His number "Never Getting Rid of Me" stops the show. Kimiko Glenn as the new Dawn brings better comic timing, more honesty, more likability, and an unexpected sense of diversity.  Jessie Mueller has gone from an actress trying to figure out this complicated woman to nailing every beat...she is now giving a fully lived in performance...when she sings the popular and moving "She Used to be Mine" you feel every gut wrenching feeling she has....the audience responds with a good 25 seconds of applause and bravos. And Drew Gehling has really upped his game from Boston, where he looked a little out of his league honestly.  He has really settled into his character, found many more comic truths, and he and Jessie have found the chemistry between Jenna and Dr. Pomatter. You know understand why they are attracted to each other.

Cant say enough about the smart changes the creative team and cast have done to make Waitress  one of the best new musicals of the Broadway season. The emotions and themes have smaller stakes than things like Les Miserables or Rent, but they are universal nonetheless. GO SEE IT!

 


 

[starcatchers]

Posted: 4/17/16 at 12:11am

Dawn and Becky were always in "Soft Place to Land." 

I do agree with you in that I like most of the changes. I like "What Baking Can Do," but "Door Number Three" (the number that it replaced) was one of my favorites in the ART production. 

I didn't particularly care for Joe Tippett as Earl, but I almost feel that Nick Cordero feels a lot more "cheesy," as you called it - at least in the first act. He didn't really hit home for me until the second act. 

I like what Latarro has done in certain parts of the show, but some of it felt over-choreographed to me. 

 

Overall, I still love it, and I definitely agree that they are on the right track. 

Posted: 4/17/16 at 8:25am

Huh, I didn't remember Dawn and Becky in "A Soft Place to Land.  I'm sure you are right, it probably has to do with how much they've strengthened the relationship between the three waitresses.

I agree that Nick is still coming off untruthful. I feel like he's forcing the mean side of Earl instead of letting it brew up inside him which is making it feel like a caricature instead of real person.  It's still half the writing's fault in my opinion, but they've made leaps since Boston where it wasn't working much at all.  Having him sing doesn't help..the way they bring in the band before he even strums his guitar magnifies the problem for me as well. I wish they would examine Jeremy Cisto's performance from the film a bit more.  that performance is complex and layered...Sometimes hes just a grown up kid who needs to be loved, other times he's a bitter guy who lets his anger out in violent ways.  It needs a little more of that complexity for it to ring true in my opinion. 

For me the choreography is just right, it really helps you get inside Jenna's head and magnify her thoughts and emotions. But it also really amps the the theatricality which was seriously lacking in Boston....overall I really loved it too.  It shows there is more than Hamilton out there =))

Posted: 4/17/16 at 9:46am

I saw Waitress Last Saturday and "Opening Up" was still at the beginning of the show rather than the end. Is this not the case anymore?

Updated On: 4/17/16 at 09:46 AM

Posted: 4/17/16 at 10:53am

It's a much abridged different version, but yes...the full song was moved to the end.

[Broadway kid 2]

Posted: 4/17/16 at 12:27pm

standingovation79 said: "It's a much abridged different version, but yes...the full song was moved to the end.

 

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