Sugar, Butter, Flour
One of my very favorite singers is Sara Bareilles. When the album, Little Voice came out I was OBSESSED! Love Song was a huge single and got heavy airplay but I was also in love with ‘One Sweet Love’, ‘Between the Lines’, ‘Fairytale’ which cracks my kids up when I sing it to them. ‘Gravity’ is one of my favorite songs to sing and Vegas includes one of my favorite lines in a song, “tattoo my body with every Broadway show”. Bareilles is a musical genius, I love her!
Little Voice came out in 2007 which was also the year that brought us one of my favorite Indie films, Waitress. Keri Russell, who I’d loved from the show Felicity, played Jenna, a waitress at a small town diner in the south. Jenna is stuck in a bad marriage and dreams of being free to bake up her heavenly delicious pies in peace. Jenna finds herself pregnant and falling for her handsome, charming and married doctor. Will she leave her husband for Dr. Pomatter? The fun cast of characters keep you very entertained as you wait to see how it all unfolds.
Imagine my glee when I found out that Sara Bareilles had written the music and lyrics to Waitress the Musical! It was like all of my favorite things ‘mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie’! First I discovered What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress and I listened to it over and over again. At first when I saw that Waitress (Original Broadway Cast Recording) had come out I wasn’t sure if I could love it the same but it was so fun to get to know all the characters and I started listening to that every day too. Usually I’d listen to both back to back. You probably think I’m exaggerating right now but I’m not, just ask my family, they quickly became very familiar with the song lyrics, storyline, and characters. The albums became great house cleaning sidekicks. Get an iced coffee from the local coffeehouse and come home with a caffeine buzz and belt out all the songs. What Baking Can Do is especially good for doing chores with lines about dirty dishes and slicing up and serving worries away. One could easily switch the lyrics to sweep and dust the worries away.
The movie version is a darker side of a romantic comedy with a sweet filling and also filled with other great actors such as Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, the late Andy Griffith and the late Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, co-starred and directed the film. The movie is funny and beautiful in its poetic storytelling and stunning visuals of cinematography and bright colors. It reminds me of another favorite, Like Water for Chocolate. I love how the characters bring you in with the recipes, tied into the stories and along for the cooking/baking process. The love and sadness they feel pours into each dish and you can smell and taste the ingredients and feel each emotion as their hands create the savory or sweet masterpieces.
As for the Broadway Musical, casting has been lots of fun to follow. The original cast album features the amazing Jessie Mueller, who had just come off a Tony Award win for best actress in a musical role as Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and was once again nominated for the same award for Waitress. The original Becky was played by Keala Settle, another experienced Broadway performer but might be best known for her role as Lettie Lutz, Bearded Lady in The Greatest Showman. Kimiko Glenn from Orange is the New Black plays a hilarious Dawn. Sara Bareilles took a turn as Jenna with Jason Mraz joining her as Dr. Pomatter for a bit, this was a nice reunion as they recorded together in the first album and Jason Mraz is just so great in everything he does. I also fell in love with Drew Gehling as Dr. Pomatter, I really enjoyed his version and love his voice. Katherine McPhee has also played Jenna and the current Broadway Jenna is played by Nicolette Robinson with a fun addition of Al Roker as Joe, my kids were so happy for him, big fans! Can’t wait to see the touring cast and the brand new Jenna coming to San Diego, will be Christine Dwyer, new to the show but has played Elphaba in Wicked as well as a run in Finding Neverland so obviously talented and not green no matter what color her skin has once been. One of the wonderful things about this show is that the songs and the story make you feel so connected with the characters, I truly feel the connection stays strong with all the actors I’ve peeked performances of.
The songs in this show, oh my goodness the soundtrack is my favorite! There’s something for everyone in this show. ‘Opening Up’ is such a fun intro to the show and makes me want to go make friends with everyone at a diner. Friends like Dawn and Ogie who are so hilarious. Dawn, a fellow waitress at the diner and her not so bright moments in ‘The Negative’ is all about Jenna hoping for a negative pregnancy test result and a closer look at the support system she has in her coworkers at the diner. I love this sisterhood. In ‘When He Sees Me’ We really get to know Dawn and get a closer look at her quirky personality and her anxiety about an upcoming blind date and all the possibilities. Ogie, Dawn’s online find, blind date is comedic gold in ‘Never Ever Getting Rid of Me’ and ‘I love You Like a Table’. Ogie might be seen as creepy and a bit of a stalker if it weren’t for his really sweet, hilarious and geeky romantic ways. Ogie must be such a fun role to play! ‘You Will Still be Mine’ introduces some rock with a harder edge for Earl, Jenna’s husband. Nick Cordero from Bullets Over Broadway and Rock of Ages is the voice on the cast album and he is perfect. This song is meant to be a love song to Jenna but is really a serenade to himself. Earl is a controlling, jealous and emotionally abusive husband. Funny name choice because it always makes me think of the song, ‘Goodbye Earl’ by The Dixie Chicks. For some Powerhouse Soul we get ‘I Didn’t Plan It’ by Becky, the other waitress in the trio of friends at the diner. Becky has her own problems but is unapologetic and tells it like it is and she can belt like nobody’s business.
Jenna and Dr. Pomatter have a few of their own songs. ‘It Only Takes a Taste’, Dr. Pomatter has eaten the pie Jenna left him at their last visit. He is more than impressed with her baking skills and it sounds like infatuation. For Jenna who never receives this kind of affirmation from Earl this is new and exciting. He tells her things like, “If pies were books yours would be Shakespeare’s letters.” And my favorite, “I must say, it felt like I was carried away, intoxicated, made me escape the room I was in. I can’t help but wonder how your hands must have felt creating such a masterful thing.” To which Jenna replied, “Just one bite caused all that wondering?”. In that moment you can hear the tension and his admiration and appreciation of her talent is a sudden turn on for her. In ‘Bad Idea’, The fast paced piano and percussion climbs like their sexual tension playing out the rhythmic beat of this prelude to Jenna and Dr. Pomatter’s affair.
Songs you might want to pack some tissues for include the last of the Jenna and Dr. Pomatter's song, ‘You Matter to Me’ is so sad because you see this woman has been starved of attention and is finally feeling that her words might matter to someone. This feeling is addictive to her and she wonders if for the first time she might consider staying with someone. Double tissue alert: ‘She Used to be Mine’ is a heartbreaking, powerful song which many of us can probably relate to in some way. Mourning the loss of a part of us we once possessed or hoped for. You may have seen Jessie Mueller perform this song at the 2016 Tony Awards. At our house my husband calls the Tony’s my version of the Super Bowl, he knows I get the remote and he gets to put the kids to bed. Speaking of The Tony’s, Waitress had a very impressive showing at The Tony Awards with nominations for Sara Bareilles for best score, Christopher Fitzgerald for best performance by Actor in a Featured Role for portrayal of Ogie, as previously mentioned Jessie Mueller for Lead Actress in a Musical and Waitress for Best Musical! The song ‘Everything Changes’ is the most beautiful Ode to motherhood. As a mommy of five children this song is so special, I remember writing love poems and songs to my newborn babies and feeling that the most amazing gift had been bestowed on me. My youngest baby, Lucia, who like Jenna’s baby also goes by Lulu was still sleeping in our bed when the albums came out and I used to play the song and sing quietly as I watched her in her sweet slumber. This song is all about birth, rebirth, new perspective and for Jenna, finding true love. This song also brings tears.
Waitress is BEAUTIFUL, FUNNY, SWEET and poignant from start to finish. Its a must see when it tours in a theatre near you.
