Waitress: The Musical

At some point, when they pull out her baking station on stage for the umpteeth time you can't help but roll your eyes and groan. Don't get me wrong, it's a cute musical. The characters are extremely stereotypical, but pleasant. It can be fun to watch them interact.

However how many times can you stand watching the main character explain her feelings in baking terms, while baking? I know many great musicals resolve around a central theme. But it's on the nose. Very on the nose. We're supposed to root for the main character and her dream of escaping a difficult situation through bakery, however at some point her relentless baking and recipes with increasingly unhinged names and ingredients just starts becoming gratingly annoying.

The music isn't particularly great either. It's fine. Nothing that I'd want to listen to on repeat. The biggest problem is that it all sounds like typical Sara Barailles fare, written for her, but sung by other people. Her typical vocal stylings are frequently imitated by other characters, because that's how the songs were written, but it all becomes very samey.

Overall I'd say it's like a pie that's too sweet. The impression is delicious, but you soon realize it's too sweet. You try to persevere, but before long the pie becomes cloying and unpleasant.

One of the best movie versions of a Broadway musical that I've seen in a long time. This musical closely follows the original movie and the music is glorious. I've seen it on stage and seeing it as a movie is just as fabulous as in person. I'm so thankful that they made a movie so that I can watch it any time I feel like. The cast works well together, the ensemble is great, and the band is great. If you're looking for a fun, adult themed musical that keeps your toes tapping, your fingers snapping, and your mouth laughing, I say watch this - it's SO worth it! And after you watch it, try not to buy the original Broadway cast soundtrack!

My Review- Waitress : The Musical My Rating- 7/10 In Cinemas now

It's rare indeed that the composer and lyricist of a successful Broadway musical gets to perform the starring role in their own creation but Sara Bareilles achieves this in Waitress . She wrote this musical with Jesse Nelson in 2015 and based it on the 2007 movie of of the same name written by Adrienne Shelly.

As a lover of the great Broadway musicals like Oklahoma, Sweet Charity, Hello Dolly and Company to name a few I have to say musically Waitress is a very average modern musical but very entertaining.

I doubt we will ever see the fabulous era of the stage musicals of Gershwin, Porter, Berlin ,Rogers and Hammerstein, Jerry Herman , Kander and Ebb or Sondheim ever again except in constant revivals.

This is partly due to the economics of producing a new musical on stage but mainly due to changes in the audience's tastes that pay huge ticket prices to see them.

Sara Bareilles plays Jenna Hunterson a waitress and expert pie maker living in a one horse town in a loveless marriage to a bully of a husband who regards her as his property and source of income.

Jenna works at Joe's Pie Diner alongside her two co workers Becky played beautifully by Charity Dawson and Dawn Pinkett a modern Ado Annie type played by Caitlin Houlahan.

This trio of Waitresses provide the best moments of the show as they support Jenna after she finds out reluctantly that after a rare one night of make up sex she's pregnant to her oafish husband Earl played by Joe Tippett who in real life is engaged to this movies star Sara Bareilles.

Becky describes Earl well in the show when he is displaying his name tattooed across his chest . She says he's so dumb he needs the tattoo in case he forgets his name .

Jenna wants a better life for her baby but gets involved with her gynaecologist Dr Pomatter played by Drew Gehling.

This further complicates her goal to enter and win first prize in a pie baking contest to escape her marriage.

Special mention to a great supporting male performance in Waitress by Christopher Fitzgerald who plays Ogie the awkward very odd but kind suitor of Dawn Pinkett .

He steals the show with his two comedy numbers You're Never Getting Rid of Me and I Love You Like A Table.

He was in the original Broadway cast and it must have stopped the show live.

I must mention this is not a film version of a Broadway musical it's a film of a special revival stage performance with a live audience in a theatre so I think I would have enjoyed it more watching the live performance.

I wish all the great Broadway shows of the past could have been filmed in the quality that Waitress has . Luckily one was preserved the original restoration version of the 1943 groundbreaking Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma can be viewed on YouTube it truly is stunning.

Summing up as a musical average but very entertaining with a very talented cast worth seeing, yes definitely.

As a massive fan of the musical and specifically the OBC, I was nervous to hear the pro shot would feature Sara and a couple other replacements. I was pleasantly and happily surprised. Sara and Joe's dynamic, particularly because they are actually together in real life, is unique and breathtaking. The cinematography gave respect to the musical and made the baking scenes seem like a music video but it a good way. Sometimes proshots will include awkward angles or cuts and thankfully, Waitress did not. Some things I appreciated specifically were the added Nurse Norma one-liners that made even me who knows the entire script burst out laughing. Sara's voice who normally sounds too pop-like for me was actually perfect and "She Used to be Mine" made me cry. The dialogue overall felt slower than what it would have been on the stage, particularly Jenna and Earl's scenes, but I got used to it as the movie progressed. Overall, this musical is a joy. It's beautifully crafted and deals with real and raw people. I'm so happy it has an excellent pro shot to go along with it.

This musical production is essentially the same story in the 2007 movie "Waitress" with Keri Russel. This 'movie' was filmed in a theater with a live audience, and it has all the looks and feel, including moveable sets, of a real stage play.

Sara Bareilles is 40-something Jenna. She is a waitress and pie-baker at the local pie and short order food place. She is married to a real cad. (Incidentally her real-life husband plays her husband here.) They aren't close in any manner but after a night of drinking and frivolity she finds herself pregnant.

Most of the story involves her interactions with her co-workers, her maternity doctor, and her regular customers. It is her journey to come to grips with who she really is and what she wants out of life. Including, a few months later, for her daughter.

Bareilles, who also produced and wrote songs, is really good in the role. All the singing is good, it seems veterans of the stage were in all the roles. Although I had a career as a Scientist, in graduate school I was in a four week, 28-performance musical so watching this brought back good memories. There is something about a stage play, a musical with live singing, that is more personal and more enjoyable than a slick movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. On DVD from my public library. My wife skipped, she isn't a fan of musicals.