Pie is the word in Broadway hit musical Waitress
Credit to Author: Shawn Conner| Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2019 19:10:02 +0000
Waitress
When: Nov. 12-17
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Tickets: from $59.20 at ticketmaster.ca and 1-855-985-5000.
Susanna Wolk, director of a new touring production of Waitress, assisted on the hit musical during its Broadway run and directed the first national touring production. So she has had plenty of time to think about what makes the show tick, and why people connect with the story of pie-making diner waitress Jenna and her friends.
“For me, the main thing is that it’s really true to the kind of messiness that we all experience in everyday life,” said the New York-based Wolk. “Jessie Nelson (book), Sara Bareilles (music and lyrics) and Adrienne Shelly (original writer) have created these characters who are so real and vulnerable and flawed and lovable and quirky and specific. Anyone who comes to the show can say, ‘That’s me up there, that’s my sister, that’s my friend. That’s someone I know.’ It’s a real testament to the writing.”
Waitress began as a 2007 feature written and directed by Shelly. Prior to the low-budget movie’s release, she was best known for her roles in films by 1990s indie auteur Hal Hartley like The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. (In 2006, before the movie’s release, Shelly was murdered in her Greenwich Village home. She has a supporting role in the film, which featured Keri Russell.)
Producers announced a Broadway musical version in 2013 and brought it to the stage three years later. Not only did it enjoy a lengthy, successful run, but the show marked the first Broadway production to feature a female director, choreographer, writer, and composer.
The music, by Bareilles, is another reason theatregoers love Waitress, says Wolk. The pop singer/songwriter received both Tony and Grammy nominations for her work. “Sarah Bareilles has written these amazing soulful songs. Each one serves the story in such a beautiful way. But even outside of the context of the show you can listen to the album and every single song is an emotional, beautiful experience and an expression of some specific feeling.”
The touring production also connects with each city it visits by casting locals in a small but pivotal role.
In the play, Jenna (Bailey McCall) is stuck in a loveless marriage when she finds out that, following a night with her abusive husband, Earl, she is pregnant. Towards the musical’s end, their child, Lulu, makes an appearance.
For the Vancouver production, five-year-olds Alice Antoinette Comer and Kate Whiddington will alternate in the role. Both girls were chosen out of 30 young actresses via an audition at The Cultch in September.
“It’s been so special and such a cool opportunity to engage every community that we go into and bring a special spice to the show,” said Wolk.
After auditioning so many kids, during the 2017 touring production and now for this one, Wolk has found that kids are kids.
“When we were going to do the play in L.A. I remember thinking that we were going to get a lot of experienced stage kids, and they’re going to really know what they’re doing. What’s so refreshing is that at that age the kids are really all the same. They’re all kooky and honest and unfiltered.”
Another signature of the show is its three female leads, including Jenna and fellow waitresses Becky (Kennedy Salters) and Dawn (Gabrielle Marzetta). “Even in the age we live in now that is so rare to have not one but three amazing complex female characters at the heart of the story,” Wolk said.
As finally, there is pie. Since Jenna is an expert pie-maker, Wolk and co. plan on filling the Queen Elizabeth lobby with the smell of freshly baked pie. “And (the theatres) do sell pie at the show, usually. And there are a lot of real pies that the actors eat on stage, and a lot of baking ingredients.
“Real pies, fake pies, we have it all.”