Wait For It...

2016 on Broadway was the year of Hamilton. Any theater production great enough to win Tony Awards any other year was ground up under the treads of Lin-Manuel Miranda's juggernaut. One show nominated for Best Musical that year (without a prayer of winning) was Waitress, an adaptation of the small independent film about a diner waitress with a talent for making pie and a heap of personal problems: an unwanted pregnancy, an abusive husband, and steamy affair on the side. The touring production of the show just stopped in Denver to close out 2017, and I had the chance to check it out.

Waitress is in some ways to the Broadway stage what Wonder Woman was to the movie screen -- a chance for women to be in charge of all key aspects of a production. In the entire history of Broadway, Waitress is the first show with a female director, writer, composer, and choreographer. Where the touring version needed new people, those too were female. Then add to that: the female characters are undeniably the stars of the show. It affects every aspect of the show in a positive way, suffusing everything with a subtle but present current of... empathy.

I was a bit lukewarm on the original movie, most enjoying the star power involved in such a small film. You don't get much star power in a Broadway production (and certainly not in a touring one). But it turns out the translation to stage was a great one for this story, in particular the addition of the songs by Sara Bareilles. It's not that the story cried out for musical interludes, but rather that the music Bareilles added perfectly supports the story.

From the opening earworm (an odd drone-like chant that will stick the three basic ingredients of pie crust in your head for the rest of your natural life) to the big finale, every song really digs beneath the surface to get at the filling beneath. (Pie metaphor, get it?) Not every one has an instantly memorable melody, but the lyrics are deep and revealing of the characters. Especially remarkable about this is that there's really only one number that I'd characterize as a big dramatic show stopper where a character deliberately "bares it all." (Act Two's "She Used to Be Mine.") Otherwise, the tenderness is suffused with humor ("The Negative"), love is approached with sweetness ("It Only Takes a Taste," "Bad Idea"), and characters bond with one another ("A Soft Place to Land," "Take It From an Old Man"). Then there are moments of outright comedy that brought the audience to rapturous applause, courtesy of the comic relief character of Ogie and his two big numbers ("Never Ever Getting Rid of Me" and "I Love You Like a Table.")

It took a while for the show to work its spell on me. I found the first act cute enough, though not exceptional; the second act, however, felt pretty special. In all, I'd have to say I appreciated the musical more than the movie. I'd give Waitress a B+. That may not have been enough to win a Tony, Hamilton or no, but it was worthy enough to have been in the conversation, I think. I'm glad I got the chance to see it.