On the surface, Waitress seems like a fun show about baking, with people dancing around a cute diner while singing about pies. Essentially, that’s what it is – but it’s also a show that explores darker themes, forbidden romance, and the downfall of the main character’s mental health.
Story & Themes
I saw Waitress in London a couple of months ago, and I went in without knowing a great deal about the show. I knew it was a story about baking, and about a woman falling in love with her doctor, and I listened to a couple of songs from the Broadway recording – but apart from that, I was pretty clueless.
When I went in with the expectation of it being just a fun show about pies, I was surprised (in a good way) that the show explored darker themes – the most prominent being domestic abuse and the power and control that comes along with being pregnant by your abuser. Jenna, the main character, is stuck in this relationship that she can’t escape from, and she’s got the added layer of being pregnant which makes her feel even more trapped. These themes added a layer to the story that made it feel more real, less like a baby-pink fantasy land of singing and baking, and like we’re seeing a snapshot into the life of a woman you really root for.
Music
The songs range from funny and happy to darker and more thought-provoking – from What’s Inside and Opening Up, the fun and boppy songs at the beginning that lifts everyone’s spirits; It Only Takes a Taste and Bad Idea, which both focus on fun and innocent (and not-so innocent) aspects of Jenna’s relationship with Doctor Pomatter; and ones that make light of harder situations like Focus On the Negative, to ones with heavier undertones that give us a glimpse into Jenna’s mind, like the most well-known song from the show, She Used to Be Mine.
Unlike a lot of people, I hadn’t really heard of Sarah Bareilles before I saw Waitress, but I’m insanely impressed that this is the first musical she’s written, because the music is flawless and flows so well throughout the whole score.
Staging & Lighting
The staging is stunning – the colourful diner with the name in lights and the customers dancing around the tables and brightly coloured booths, down to a dark and dingy apartment where Jenna and her husband live together. It’s almost like a stark contrast between how happy she is when she’s baking in the bright and colourful diner, compared to how trapped she feels at home in her dark apartment with a lack of colour and personality.
It also had one thing that I always love in theatre shows: the band right on the stage with the performers (I talked about this in my reviews of Hair the Musical and Emilia). The band are so often put down in the orchestra pit or hidden elsewhere, but they’re an integral part of any show. When the band are on the stage, and integrated with the set so seamlessly like they were here, it makes their performance just as important as the rest of the cast, which in my opinion is how it should be!
Another aspect that adds something unique to the staging is the revolving racks either side of the stage, that go from floor to ceiling and are filled with pies. When you enter the theatre, the aroma of freshly baked pies fills the theatre, and it transports you right inside the diner where the story takes place. It’s the little things like that that really add that element of magic to the show.
Casting
When I attended, Katherine McPhee was still playing Jenna. However, we McPhee’s understudy, Sarah O’Connor, and she was incredible! As anyone might be, I was initially a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to see Katherine McPhee, especially with it being so close to the end of her run in the West End, but O’Connor blew us away. This was her debut performance as Jenna, and we couldn’t have had a better replacement. Her accent was spot-on, and her performance of She Used to Be Mine – the signature song that the person playing Jenna just has to get right – was perfect.
The rest of the cast were incredible too, especially Laura Baldwin who played Dawn, Jack McBrayer who played Ogie (I only realised while watching the show that he voiced Fix-It Felix in Wreck-It Ralph, which is one of my favourite films), and David Hunter who played Doctor Pomatter. Laura Baldwin and David Hunter originated their roles in the West End, so I’m glad I had the chance to see them.
Overall
With its magical staging and aromas, flawless score, and incredible cast, there’s absolutely nothing negative I can think of to say about this show. If you can, go and see it. You’ll be blown away, and you’ll leave with the songs stuck in your head and a huge appetite for pie. Who doesn’t want that?
