Sara Bareilles Previews WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL On A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION Tonight

Get a free sample of WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL!

The screen-to-stage adaptation of the adorable indie comedy WAITRESS by pop superstar Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson is preparing for its premiere production in August at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Bareilles will appear on this week's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION on NPR to perform songs from the score and discuss the new musical.

The official description of this week's episode of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION is as follows: "This week: our penultimate live broadcast of the season, from the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. Sarah Jarosz joins us with her arsenal of instruments for songs and duets with the host, and she'll be back with us in late July for our big cross-country tour. Rachel Manke is traveling light with her ukulele, and Peter Rowan adds some Old School bluegrass straight from the Big|Brave Mon tradition. Sara Bareilles and Nadia DiGiallonardo team up to belt Broadway melodies out into the Berkshires, and radio drama abounds with The Royal Academy of Radio Actors - Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and sound effects man Fred Newman. Rich Dworsky and the crisp quartet of Richard Kriehn, Jonathan Dresel, Larry Kohut and Chris Siebold will deliver summer stuff for the live broadcast, and work on remaining hydrated for the big non-broadcast sing-along that always follows our Tanglewood show. Add the mid-summer happenings in Lake Wobegon and it's all right there on your local public radio station this Saturday evening. Tune in."

More information on A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION is available at the official site here.

A brief history of A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION is as follows:

"If you showed up on July 6, 1974, at the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in Saint Paul and plunked down your $1 admission (50 cents for kids) to attend the very first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, you were in select company. There were about 12 people in the audience. But those in attendance thought there were worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, so Garrison Keillor and the APHC team went on to produce close to 500 live shows in the first 10 years alone. There were broadcasts from this venue and that, until March 4, 1978, when the show moved to The World Theater, a lovely, crumbling building that was one plaster crack away from the wrecking ball. (Now fully renovated and renamed The Fitzgerald, it is the show's home base.)

In June of 1987, APHC ended for a while. Garrison thought it was a good idea at the time, but only two years later, the show was back, based in New York and called American Radio Company of the Air. But there's no place like home. So in 1992, it was back to Minnesota and, soon after, back to the old name: A Prairie Home Companion.

There has been plenty of adventure in the past 30-plus years - broadcasts from Canada, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Iceland and almost every one of the 50 states; wonderful performers, little-known and world-renowned; standing ovations and stares of bewilderment. We've missed planes, coped with lost luggage, dodged swooping bats and hungry mosquitoes, plodded through blizzards, and flown by the seat of our pants.

Today, A Prairie Home Companion is heard by 4 million listeners each week on more than 600 public radio stations, and abroad on America One and the American Forces Networks in Europe and the Far East. Garrison recalls, "When the show started, it was something funny to do with my friends, and then it became an achievement that I hoped would be successful, and now it's a good way of life."

A Prairie Home Companion is produced by Prairie Home Productions, and distributed nationwide by American Public Media. The program is underwritten by Ford and Holiday Vacations."

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, under the leadership of Artistic Director Diane Paulus, recently began rehearsals for the world premiere musical Waitress. Based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly the new musical has a book by Jessie Nelson, music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, direction by Diane Paulus, and choreography by Chase Brock.

The complete cast includes Jessie Mueller as Jenna, Jeanna de Waal as Dawn, Drew Gehling as Dr. Pomatter, Dakin Matthews as Joe, Keala Settle as Becky, Eric Anderson as Cal, Jeremy Morse as Ogie, and Joe Tippett as Earl. Ensemble members are Charity Angel Dawson, David Jennings, Corey Match, Ragan Pharris, Cullen R. Titmas, and Stephanie Torns. Set design is by Scott Pask, costumes by Suttirat Larlarb, lighting by Ken Posner, and sound by Jonathan Deans. Casting by Telsey & Company.

Follow the American Repertory Theater on Facebook here.

Photo Credits: Facebook & Evgenia Eliseeva/A.R.T.