Review: WAITRESS at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre

Broadway Palm's production of WAITRESS tells the story of Jenna, a waitress in a small town who has a talent for baking pies. She is navigating an unexpected pregnancy, an abusive marriage, and an affair, but she fortunately has some amazing and supportive friends to help her through everything she's dealing with.

Jenna is played by Paula Figueroa Caunedo. She is a lovely Jenna with a beautiful voice and terrific acting skills. This is a really tough role with a lot of emotion, and she was wonderfu at portraying this. I also loved Jenna's coworkers and friends, Dawn (Kali Clougherty) and Becky (Jasmine Lacy Young). They were both hilarious; I thought the trio was perfect together.

Cal, the cook at the diner they all work at, was played by Frank Hughes, Joe, one of the diner patrons, by Marc Lubbers, Earl, Jenna's husband, by Andrew Bittenbender, Dr. Pomatter, Jenna's gynecologist, by Austin Anderson, and Ogie, Dawn's love interest, by Ross Coughlin. I thought each of them were great in their respective roles and I enjoyed their performances. 

The ensemble deserves a special shout out, as I feel they really make this show complete. The dancing, whether during the big musical numbers or in the more background moments, is so effective - and this also speaks to what a great job Director and Choreographer Amy Marie McCleary did with this show. It really adds so much to the musical; it is always one of my favorite parts of WAITRESS in every production I have seen. The cast and orchestra also sounded excellent; kudos to Musical Director Loren Strickland.

Other creative team members include Scenic Designer Robert Kovach, Technical Director Cody O'Dell, Lighting Designer Russell Thompson, Video Designer Chris McCleary, Sound Designer/Technical Manager Abbey Dillard, Costume Designer John P. White, Wig Designer Brandon T. Miller, and Props Designer Laine Henry. Each did a nice job on this production. The costumes were perfectly fitting for this show, the lighting was really nice, and each element worked together well. I also thought the prop pies looked great.

WAITRESS is one of my favorite musicals because it has every element that I believe makes a musical fantastic - including humor, catchy musical numbers, and a beautiful story about love and friendship. I highly recommend getting your tickets and seeing WAITRESS while it's running at Broadway Palm. It's a lovely production with a great cast, and I can promise you'll be left wanting a slice of pie (which, luckily, Broadway Palm has available on their dessert buffet). 

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