Waitress 

Reviewed by Katie Buenneke
Hollywood Pantages Theatre
Through August 26 

RECOMMENDED 

Easy as it is to bemoan the current trend of turning movies into Broadway musicals, Waitress, now playing at the Pantages in Hollywood, is proof that Broadway shows can still tell beautiful stories, even when they’re based on movies that came out over a decade ago.

Waitress, from the 2007 movie of the same name, follows Jenna (Desi Oakley), a server at a small-town diner. She creates marvelous pies and is beloved by her customers, but her life is bittersweet — she’s married to an abusive man, Earl (Nick Bailey), and becomes unintentionally pregnant with his child. Although she finds support from her two best friends, Dawn (Lenne Klingaman) and Becky (Charity Angél Dawson), and her OB/GYN, Dr. Pomatter (Bryan Fenkhart), it’s clear she needs to get out. She thinks that if she wins an upcoming pie contest, she can get the money she needs to start a new life for herself and her child.

Jessie Nelson’s book and Sara Bareilles’ mellifluous score work together beautifully to tell the story. The narrative is straightforward and easy to follow, yet full of beautiful nuanced moments, thanks to Diane Paulus’ direction and Lorin Latarro’s choreography. The scope of the action isn’t huge, but the piece is a gorgeous fully-realized portrait.

Waitress was the first Broadway vehicle to have a creative team made up entirely of women, and while the musical doesn’t speak to feminism outright, there’s an imbued understanding in the way Jenna’s story is told. At its core, it’s about a pregnant woman in an abusive relationship, and Nelson, Bareilles, Paulus, and Latarro tell it in a very honest way. There’s a palpable discomfort both onstage and in the audience each time Earl appears, and while the storytelling is nuanced, it doesn’t shy away from depicting the realities of abuse.

It’s hard to put into words what makes Waitress such a beautiful experience. To borrow from Jane Austen: if I loved the show less, I might be able to talk about it more. It’s just… good. Nelson’s book is funny and poignant and well-balanced; whenever the emotional weight gets to be too much, she takes a moment to lighten the tone.

It’s stunning that this is Bareilles’ first score for a musical: while her songs have always been narrative and personal (“Love Song,” “Brave,” et al), she displays incredible mastery at matching story to music in a way in a way that is both is catchy and conveys emotion (indeed, many contemporary composers who work exclusively in musical theater could learn a few things from her). Paulus’ direction shapes the overall story exquisitely, but there are also these little detailed moments throughout that give it a gloriously alive feeling. And Latarro’s choreography, which feels more like “movement” than traditional choreography, is motivated and authentic, complementing the story but never detracting from it.

Of course, even with an incredibly talented creative team, a show is only as good as the people who bring it to life on stage each night, and the performers here are all quite good. Oakley is wonderful as Jenna, simultaneously conveying her deep inner life and her desire to put on a happy face. Fenkhart makes for a winsome Dr. Pomatter, and his physical comedy is top-notch, as is that of Jeremy Morse (who plays Ogie, a man trying to win Dawn’s affection). Dawson is a vocal powerhouse who nails her character’s comedic and empathetic moments.

Although Waitress isn’t the kind of show you need to be a woman to enjoy, it realistically depicts the lived experiences of many women. It’s a musical, but not the kind of musical that people who hate musicals imagine when they think of them. It’s a beautiful musical story about women, told well by women.

Hollywood Pantages, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m., Sat., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sun., 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; through August 26. HollywoodPantages.com. Running time: two hours and 40 minutes with a 20-minute intermission.