Today, Diane and I are going to see Waitress: The Musical. We saw the movie version of Waitress back in 2007 when it starred Keri Russell as the woman who could bake incredible pies. Of course, the waitress has problems: an abusive husband and a baby on the way. In 2013, Waitress was turned into a musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, and a book by Jessie Nelson. The musical opened on Broadway in 2015 (Diane and her friends saw it). Then the touring company arrived in Buffalo in 2017 and played to sold-out performances (you can read my review of the performance we saw here).
Today we’re going to a local theater group’s performance of Waitress with some of Diane’s retired teacher friends. We’ve enjoyed performances at Musical Faire in the past so this afternoon should be fun. Have you seen Waitress? Did you like it?
SONG LIST:
Act I
“What’s Inside” – Jenna and Company
“Opening Up” – Jenna, Becky, Dawn, Cal and Company
“The Negative” – Becky, Dawn and Jenna
“What Baking Can Do” – Jenna and Company
“Club Knocked Up” – Nurse Norma and Female Ensemble
“Pomatter Pie” – Band †
“When He Sees Me” – Dawn, Jenna, Becky and Company
“It Only Takes a Taste” – Dr. Pomatter and Jenna
“You Will Still Be Mine” – Earl and Jenna
“A Soft Place to Land” – Jenna, Becky and Dawn
“Never Ever Getting Rid of Me” – Ogie, Dawn and Company
“Bad Idea” – Jenna, Dr. Pomatter and Company
Act II
“I Didn’t Plan It” – Becky
“Bad Idea” (Reprise) – Jenna, Dr. Pomatter, Becky, Cal, Dawn, Ogie and Company
“You Matter to Me” – Dr. Pomatter and Jenna
“I Love You Like a Table” – Ogie, Dawn and Company
“Take It From an Old Man” – Joe and Company
“Dear Baby” – Jenna †
“She Used to Be Mine” – Jenna
“Contraction Ballet” – Jenna and Company †
“Everything Changes” – Jenna, Becky, Dawn and Company
“Opening Up” (Finale) – Company
Just the movie. I am going to see a play called ECLIPSED, about the horrible treatment of the Sweet family. Megan just saw VANYA off-Broadway with Andrew Scott playing all the roles.
Patti, Katie and Patrick saw VANYA, too. Loved it!
Just the movie. We’re enjoying Sara Bareilles in Girls5Eva on Netflix.
We saw DEAD OUTLAW (which is opening tonight) on Wednesday, and have GYPSY in two weeks. We’ll be adding Audra McDonald to performances we’ve seen by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone.
One thing I’ve been meaning to check is, how old were the actresses who played Mama Rose when we saw the show.
Ethel Merman didn’t see it, but she was 53
Angela Lansbury 47
Tyne Daly. 46
Bernadette Peters 55
Patti LuPone 58
Imelda Staunton 2015 West End revival. She was 58. I would have loved to see this, as she was the best Miss Adelaide I’ve ever seen in GUYS AND DOLLS.
Audra McDonald 54
That surprises me, especially how young Lansbury was. But then, she was playing much older than she was in her early 20s.
Jeff, I’m a big fan of Angela Lansbury’s work over the decades. She played older early in her career and younger in the tail end of her career. Either way, she was great!