What is Waitress the Musical and Why Does it Mean So Much to Me?
If there is one thing to know about me, this is it: I love Waitress the Musical. There are few things in this world that I identify with or hold so close to my heart, and Waitress will forever be one of those things (Vampire Diaries and the band Hot Chelle Rae are two others).
Waitress is about an unhappily married waitress who learns she is pregnant. The show emphasizes the importance of friends, family, and love and the power of independence and self-growth. It has moments of comedy mixed with deep, tear-jerking scenes that will forever resonate with you.
The show is based off of the 2007 film of the same name starring Keri Russel and Nathan Fillion and was turned into a musical in 2015 with music written by Sara Bareilles and an all-female production team.
Waitress opened at the American Repertory Theater in Massachusetts before moving to Broadway in the spring of 2016. It remained on Broadway until 2020 and then was the first show to re-open on Broadway in 2021 where it remained until the end of the year.
During that run, the company filmed a pro-shot – meaning, the entire live show was filmed with the intent of releasing it as a feature film – and the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June of 2023. Then, in December, the film was in movie theaters for two weeks and it was released on digital January 9th, 2024.
I’ve always been a Broadway fan; I grew up loving Wicked, Legally Blonde, and Les Mis, but it was Waitress that truly igniting my love for live theater.
The first time I saw Waitress, I was too young to even understand all of the jokes in the show, but what I wasn’t too young to understand was the profound impact this show would have on me and amongst everyone who sees it.
As I sat down in the Brooks Atkinson theater, I knew very little about the show. Here’s what I knew:
#1– The show was about a waitress.
#2– As a HUGE Sara Bareilles fan, I knew Sara had been part of the production.
#3– I was upset that Sara wasn’t going to be performing in my show.
#4– There is a wacky song in the show called Never Getting Rid of Me that mentioned a cat named after a kind of fish which I listened to on the bus on the way to New York City. It was the only song I heard before seeing the show.
There was something so freeing about not knowing much about the story that was going to be unfolding in front of me. As I sat in the theater, I was so engrossed in the story; it truly felt like I was portaled into an alternate reality and when the actors took their bows at the end of the show, I could feel myself deflate knowing that the story was over and it was likely I wouldn’t be seeing it again (boy was I wrong, but we’ll get to that).
Waitress was only the second show I saw Broadway (I’d been to touring productions, but only once to Broadway), and I was so.lucky. I had second row seats, and the cast.was.incredible.
Stephanie Torns was playing the lead role of Jenna and Jason Mraz was playing Dr. Pomatter. Caitlin Houlahan and Natasha Yvette Williams played Dawn and Becky. Eric Anderson played Cal, Christopher Fitzgerald played Ogie, Will Swenson played Earl, and John Cullum played Old Joe.
While I had always loved theater, this was, like I said, one of the first shows I saw on Broadway. I knew so few Broadway actors, and this show and this cast catapulted me into a Broadway frenzy. Caitlin quickly became someone I looked up, Matt DeAngelis, an ensemble member, rose high on my list of favorite actors, and before I knew it, Waitress.became.my.life.
I loved everything about the story. I loved how it could make me laugh and make me cry, sometimes even in the same scene, and I found myself completely swept away by everything about it.
Before I’d even left the theater, I was planning my next trip back to the city and I was already trying to figure out who I could see the show with next. Over the course of the next 15 months, I took several trips back to the city with my dad to see the show.
I don’t know if theater was something that interested my dad before Waitress (or something that interests him now), but what I do know is that it’s something that brought us closer together. I have such fond memories of our little trips to NYC and I miss those drives we took together.
One time, we were given a backstage/on stage tour of the theatre – check out one of the photos we took!
When the show closed in 2020, I felt like I didn’t know quite what to do with myself. Because it’s a live musical, I was so discouraged that I wouldn’t be able to see it again. At least when a tv series ends, you can rewatch it. I couldn’t rewatch a live show.
So, when the announcement was made that Waitress was coming back in 2021, I was over the moon. The cast coming back was my DREAM cast – when you see a show as many times as I had, for better or for worse, you learn who like in what roles and who you maybe don’t like in some other roles.
I bought tickets the moment they went on sale, and after my first show back in September of 2021, I immediately bought tickets for another show. Annnnd then another one after that and after that and… you guessed it, after that too.
My dad couldn’t come with me to the show in September, so I went with my friend Morgan, one of my best friends from college. Morgan ended up loving the show as much as I do and she was living in New York after graduation, so between September and December, she and I were seeing the show almost every other week.
I’ll forever be grateful for those few months we had – for a little while there, our entire lives centralized around Waitress. Morgan and I had been close while we were at PC, but we shared so many laughs (and so many tears), so many drinks, so many songs over Waitress that it created a bond between us that will ever be able to be broken. It’s a period in my life I will never forget.
I often wish we could go back to those months – my wallet doesn’t agree, but my heart does! – and we got a little bit of it back when Waitress the Musical the movie premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last June.
Morgan and I had tickets to opening night and I’m not sure how the timing happened so perfectly, but we were actually able to walk to the theatre with Drew Gehling, his wife, Matt DeAngelis and his wife Christine Dwyer, and Stephanie Torns and Benny Elledge, which was SO COOL.
Of course, once we got there, they pivoted toward the red carpet and we pivoted to the line to get into the theatre, but for a few minutes there, we were all there together.
It had been around a year and a half since we’d seen the shown, and emotions were running high. To be able to sit in a theatre with so many other people who love the show was a dream, but there a magical feeling in the air that night.
Until you are in that space, you don’t realize how special it is to watch a film in a theatre full of the creative team and actors who made the film.
Not only were Drew (Dr. Pomatter), Matt (ensemble member), Christine (Jenna on tour), Stephanie (Jenna), and Benny (Cal) there, but Caitlin Houlahan (Dawn), Charity Dawson (Becky), Sara Bareilles (Jenna), and Joe Tippett (Earl) were all there as well! There were probably other cast members too who I didn’t even see. After the screening, I was even able to talk with some of the cast members about the movie.
There’s no other way to say it than to say the atmosphere was truly magical.
When the film was released in theaters, it was initially only a 5 day release, and my mom hadn’t seen the show since we saw it that very first time on Broadway, so she and I saw the movie the first night it was in theaters.
Before the movie even began, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I was anticipating the laughter and tears that were to come.
The film was so incredibly well done and the idea of being able to see it again (and again) gave me such an immense amount of joy.
I can’t pinpoint exactly why this show means so much to me, but I know a good portion of it can be credited to the feeling of nostalgia I feel when I see it.
The story also puts so much love and faith into friendship – the song A Soft Place to Land will forever hold a special place in my heart, especially the line “May We All Be So Lucky”. I think I could point to something in every track that makes me feel “THE FEELS” but songs like Take It From An Old Man, You Matter To Me, and Everything Changes are just so.incredibly.special.
I’m being repetitive here and I know it, but the show is innately special.
Since the movie was released on digital, I’ve hosted Waitress parties, I was able to share the film with my younger cousin – and maybe that’s what it is: This show has been something that brought me closer to the people I love.
If you haven’t seen the movie – WATCH IT. It’s available now on dvd and to rent, and it’s SO worth it.
This will spoil nothing but please take this with you: the scene at the end with the lines “another lifetime” and “moonpie” will stay with you forever. I can’t watch that scene with dry eyes, but it’s worth it every.time. It cuts deep; the show will rip you apart and put you right back together, but that’s what makes it so special.
This show and this movie will forever be part of who I am, and if you’re ever wondering what movie I’m watching, it’s probably Waitress ♡
Anchored Musings 