IMDB Summary:
The hit Broadway musical about a small-town pie baker with big dreams gets the silver screen treatment. Jenna is a pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep south. She meets a newcomer to her town and falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness.
FYA Summary:
Way back in 2014, I was on my usual commute and put on the new album, What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress, from one of my favorite musicians, Sara Bareilles. Color me confused after the phrase, “sugar, butter, flour” cropped in yet another song until I did some quick Googling at a red light and realized this wasn’t just a quirky “concept” album where she decided to dress up on the cover as a waitress on a whim, but was a showcase of the music she wrote for an upcoming Broadway show. I’d seen the 2007 Keri Russell / Nathan Fillion movie the show was based on, albeit years before, so I restarted the album with that in mind, and suddenly I was hooked.
Turning movies into musicals has been the trend this past decade, but, to me, most of these stage adaptations haven’t been worth it (Pretty Woman was parTICularly weird combined with generically boring Broadway songs). But Waitress has been an outlier and seemed to gain more underground success than anyone could’ve expected. The movie’s original magic combined with Sara’s music melded together perfectly to create something really special and uplifting. You can be laughing one minute at songs like “The Negative” about hoping a pregnancy test isn’t positive to tearing up the next at “You Matter to Me” where Jenna marvels at the fact that someone is just willing to hold her for minutes on end without wanting anything in return.
So is this “movie” of the stage version, filmed live over multiple nights with and without an audience, any good? Yes!! It’s actually quite incredible how well they managed to make it feel at all once like you’re sitting in the actual live audience but still watching a “real” movie, including close-ups and angles you’d never see from even the front row. Every actor knocked it OUT of the park with their singing and acting. It felt polished and professional and yet keeps the spirit of the live show intact.
Familiar Faces:
What I love about Sara is as much as I love Waitress, she loves it ten times more; it seems to have changed the trajectory of her life and career for the better. She had never acted professionally before being asked to do a show run, and since then she came back multiple times as Jenna, and recently starred as the Baker’s Wife in the revival of Into the Woods. Currently you can see her on Girls5eva, a Peacock/Netflix sitcom about a washed-up ‘90s pop girl group staging a comeback as adults (it’s very funny and on its third season!). And as for its impact on her personal life: she met her now-fiancé on set!
Jenna’s Best Song: “She Used to be Mine”
It’s not easy to know / I’m not anything like I used to be / Although it’s true / I was never attention’s sweet center / I still remember that girl
This is a genuinely beautiful song even if you divorce it from the musical itself (it’s gotten a lot of recognition from non-musical lovers), but when you pair it with what’s happening in Jenna’s life within the play it’s just a gut-punch. If you don’t get chills at some point listening to Sara sing this with such masterful precision, YOU HAVE NO HEART. I’ve heard lots of amazing renditions over the years, but no one sings it like her.
Drew is, I think, mostly a stage actor. He plays goofy and sweet so well, and he’s got a physical comedy moment in his doctor’s office that had me cracking up. His voice is higher than I expected, but it pairs so melodiously with Sara’s alto you don’t even care that they’re cheating on their spouses when they’re together.
Pomatter’s Best Song: “It Only Takes a Taste”
Sometimes one bite is more than enough. / To know you want more of the thing you just got a taste of.
This song is so fun to duet in the car. It plays with the funny and sincere lyrics dichotomy that Sara writes in so well.
Joe is Sara’s real-life fiancé and plays Jenna’s abusive husband. I had to wonder how it felt for them to play that dynamic over and over and then go home at the end of the night! He does a great job making Earl a repugnant man-baby.
Earl’s Best song: “You Will Still Be Mine”
I had my six string / And you had your own thing / Though I don’t remember what it is.
Even though I hate what the song represents for their relationship, it kinda slaps and I wish there was a longer version.
Charity Dawson and Caitlin Houlahan as Becky and Dawn
These two are Jenna’s best waitress buddies. While neither actress is familiar to me, they both do wonderful versions of these roles. Becky’s taking care of an invalid husband, and Dawn is struggling to put herself out there in the dating scene, and even though they’re supporting characters, they each get their character growth and moments to shine within the story.
Becky’s Best Song: “I Didn’t Plan It”
Look around you / Ain’t no saints here baby / We’re all just looking for a little less crazy / And sometimes it’s a hard left turn / Down a road you’d never thought you’d see
Charity can BELT and she gets some of the funniest lines in the show.
Dawn’s Best Song: “When He Sees Me”
He could have masterminded some way to find me / He could be colorblind! / How untrustworthy is that? / He could be less than kind / Or even worse he could be very nice, have lovely eyes / And make me laugh, come out of hiding / What do I do with that?
I LOVE THIS SONG SO SO MUCH. It’s funny and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable, and Caitlin does an incredible job with it. I honestly wish they released this movie version of the soundtrack too, even though there’s already an original cast one out there. (Excuse me while I deep-dive into trying to go rip my own version…)
Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie
Christopher played Ogie in the initial show run and on the OBC soundtrack, and I’m so glad they got him for this filmed version because he steals every scene he’s in as Dawn’s blind date. He has some of the other funniest moments and gets the loudest cheers from the audience.
Ogie’s Best Song: “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me”
I will never let you let me leave / I promise I’m not lying / Go ahead ask anybody who has seen me trying / I’m not going, if it seems like I did / I’m probably waiting outside
SO FUN TO SING ALONG.
Dakin is probably the most well-known tv/movie actor in the show, and he’s very funny as the curmudgeonly pie shop owner who only Jenna can stand to deal with.
Joe’s Best song: “Take it From an Old Man”
And if you lack the strength of your own / Honey, hold out your hands / And take it from an old man.
This song never fails to make me cry, both from where it’s placed within the show’s story and the message behind it, and it’s just so adorable that he sings it to Jenna while they dance. *sob*
Couch-Sharing Capability: Grab Your Besties (Or I’m Free!)
If you made it this far, congrats, because this has just been a Waitress gush-fest and if I haven’t persuaded you yet, what are we even still doing here?? If you need a buddy to watch this with, hell, I’ll see it again! I’ve seen this once on tour and twice in the theater, and I probably SHOULD just watch it alone because I’m either singing along or tearing up at random parts as something about this dang story just resonates with me every time.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Sugar, Butter, Flour
Don’t get drunk; get high on pie! I’m not even a pie person but you will be craving some after it’s done, so do yourself a favor and have some on hand.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Required
I don’t think you can really “convert” anyone who doesn’t like musicals (it’s a ya do or ya don’t kinda thing), BUT if you know someone teetering on the fence who needs to wash the taste of a bad musical out of their mouth *cough*MeanGirls2024*cough* then I feel like this may do the trick.
And don’t just believe me; believe the masses! The filmed version was only supposed to be a 5-day special event in theaters but it was so popular they extended the run by another three weeks. See, Hollywood? Musicals aren’t dead—they just need to be GOOD and treated with some tender love and care.
