Ruth Leon recommends… Waitress – The Musical
Ruth Leon recommendsWaitress – The Musical
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Waitress was a Tony-nominated Broadway musical which has become a successful movie, now available On Demand to rent or buy.
Waitress was written by, and stars, composer-lyricist Sara Bareilles as Jenna Hunterson, a waitress and expert pie maker stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage. When a baking contest in a nearby county offers her a chance at escape, Jenna fights to reclaim a long-forgotten part of herself. Through the support of her fellow waitresses and an unexpected romance, Jenna begins to find the courage to take a long-abandoned dream off the shelf. Waitress celebrates the power of friendship, dreams, the family we choose and the beauty of a well-baked pie.
Starting small, the stage show, then starring Jessie Mueller, opened at the American Rep Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in August 2015, and transferred to Broadway in March 2016, where this unlikely show became a runaway hit, with a Broadway run of nearly four years, until January 2020.
It then had successful runs in Canada, Argentina, Poland, the Philipines, and London’s West End where it would have run longer if it weren’t for the Covid pandemic.
Waitress-The Movie is now available to rent or purchase on a variety of platforms. I’ve given only the Amazon link address but there are many others. The 2021 Broadway production starring Sara Bareilles as Jenna and Drew Gehling as her love interest, Dr Jim Pomatter, was recorded for a future public release and was released theatrically on December 7, 2023 so it’s brand new.
Waitress had a rare all-women production team, with Diane Paulus as director, Sara Braille as composer and lyricist, Jessie Nelson as book adaptor and Lorin Latarro as choreographer.
$14.99
The musical “Waitress” is based on the film of the same name, written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelley, who was tragically murdered six months before the film was released in May 2007.