Review: Waitress - Broadway Show Now Touring

Waitress is a musical with a book by Jessie Nelson and music by Sara Bareilles. It is based off of the 2007 movie Waitress by Adrienne Shelly. The Broadway tour for the show is currently happening. It will be in New Orleans, LA at the Saenger Theatre for two more days. Then it will move on to Fort Worth, TX and afterwards to Chicago, IL. More cities are after that and can be found at the official Waitress tour website.

The musical is about Jenna Hunterson who works as a waitress at a diner. She is in an abusive relationship with her husband, Earl, and doesn't love him. One day, she finds out that she is pregnant. She plans to enter a pie making contest, but it is not where she lives and there is an entry fee. However, she hides money all over her house in order to try to have enough to enter the contest.

Earl finds the money and Jenna lies saying that she was saving it in order to buy a crib for the baby. She can no longer enter the pie contest, but everything changes once she opens a letter that the owner of the diner, Joe, leaves with her right before she gives birth.

Desi Oakly is great as Jenna. Her castmates Charity Angel Dawson and Lenne Klingman make the friendship between the three waitresses realistic. The character of Ogie seems extremely nerdy and uncoordinated, but in reality the dance moves by Jeremy Morse are superb.

The use of the ensemble was creative. Most of the time having extras from the ensemble made sense. However, there were a few times that were questionable about having any ensemble characters on stage. It was also confusing why the band would be pushed on stage during what seems to be an intimate moment between two characters. It was one that was represented with music, but there was definitely no need for the band to be there.

This musical is definitely not for children as there are many adult references and adult language in it. However, judgment on what is appropriate for age should still be left to parents. If you are an adult and you want to learn about professional theatre, Waitress can help you understand what professionals can do with the tools that they have and how a theme can be tied together. (A small example is that the curtain was made to look like some type of fruit pie and stimulated conversation in the audience about what type - strawberry, cherry, or a mix - before the play began). If you'd like to see the tour of Waitress, you can look at the Waitress tour website to see if it is coming to a town near you.