Waitress: The Musical

I have been a season ticket holder at Shea's here in Buffalo since 2019 and have seen some incredible performances. "Hamilton," "Les Miserables," "Beetlejuice," and "Come From Away" are high on the list. Also on that list is "Waitress." It was an incredible show, and I highly recommend seeing it on stage. The next best thing is seeing the filmed version that has been in theaters for the last two weeks.

Jenna (Sara Bareilles) is a waitress in a diner with a gift for making unique, delicious pies. She is stuck in an abusive, loveless marriage, and one day, she finds she is pregnant. She reluctantly decides to keep the baby and plans to leave her husband.

Bareilles, who also wrote the music for the musical, is incredible. She was one of the actresses who played Jenna on Broadway, and I am so glad she reprised the role here. I have been a massive fan of the "Waitress" soundtrack since it came out (as well as a fan of all her non-Waitress music), and it was something special to see her in this role. Jenna has some incredible songs, but her best is "She Used to Be Mine." Her husband has found the money she was saving to enter a pie contest that she saw as her ticket out of the marriage. She tells him she saved it to get the baby some nice things. "She Used to Be Mine" comes at her ultimate low point; she sees no way out, and this song is about the woman she used to be. It is a beautiful song that gets to the very essence of Jenna: "She is hard on herself/ She is broken and won't ask for help/She is messy, but she's kind/ She gets lonely most of the time/ She is all of this mixed up and baked in a beautiful pie/ She is gone, but she used to be mine."

I wish that there were more filmed musicals. "Hamilton" on Disney+ and "Come From Away" on AppleTV+ are two of the only recent examples I can think of (and those will not be on physical media anytime soon). It would open the theater world up to more people. It would remove some of the elitism of the theater experience. Even with the Fathom Event ticket price, it costs me much less to see it at the Regal than when I saw it at Shea's a few years ago. "Waitress" was supposed to be in theaters for one weekend, but with its success, it was extended through December 21st. I hope this proves that the general public wants this more often.

9/10

2hr. 24min