Waitress: The Musical

An absolute dream. This story is just life in all its beautiful messiness. We've all felt stuck, unworthy, or looking for something more but don't know how to get there. Having been a fan of the movie and the Broadway, to have a pro shot of the production is a dream come true. You feel the heart of the show beating strong during a difficult time when we are all attempting to heal. Every character is brought to life with such vibrancy. It's a story sweet as pie. We're all searching for something more and may we find it as these characters did.

This is a tribute to Adrienne Shelly's film and her memory lives on.

Based on an overrated indie movie, Waitress tells the story of a waitress and baker with dreams, a terrible husband, and an unexpected problem. The songs, by star Sara Bareilles, are unusual for a Broadway musical, because they're pretty much Sara Bareilles pop songs, but she's an excellent songwriter and her songs work for both herself and others.

This musical is beautifully staged. This is a filmed stage performance, and often those make you think, this would have been amazing in the theater, but this captures the staging so well that I'm not sure that it would have been better in a theater (probably not with the Broadways seats in my budget).

It's funny, it's touching, the songs and choreography are terrific, the performers are terrific (virtually every significant character gets their own big number), and well, it's just really, really good.

It's also apparently really, really obscure - there are only 6 user reviews as I write this - but it should be better known, so watch it if you have the chance.

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.

This isn't a "movie" as much as it is a live recording of Broadway show - complete with scene changes. Based on that genre, I think the cast did a fantastic job with both character portrayal and musical performance. The staging and scene changes were downright beautiful - a master class in not letting a scene change slow down a performance as well as use of space and light to keep the story moving along.

The acting was absolutely top notch. Every actor simply nailed their character. Vocal performances were absolutely up to professional musical theater standards.

The story is decent, if not a bit too predictable. There are a few little twists and turns that provide some small surprises, but overall things work as one would expect.

The only downfall here is the editing between the live performances and the closed set performance used for many of the close-ups . Visually, the switch was often very obvious (especially the hospital scene).

Nonetheless, if you are a fan of musicals, this is worth a watch. If you are not a fan - probably best to move along.

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.