“Waitress” at The Muny: Check Please!

“Waitress” the musical based on the 2007 indie film of the same title, opened on Broadway in 2016 with a rare all-women production team featuring Sara Bareilles as composer. It was nominated for four Tony awards that year. It tells the story of Jenna, a pie chef and waitress at a small-town Southern diner who unexpectedly becomes pregnant and feels trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage. She receives support (and romantic affection) from her gynecologist who is also married, complicating things further. Looking for a way out, she sees a pie contest and its grand prize as her chance.

There are a few high points in The Muny’s production running this week. Tony winner Cleavant Derricks steals the show with his rendition of Joe, the curmudgeonly diner owner. His song “Take It From an Old Man” in the second act is melt-in-your-mouth perfection. He delivers it with just the right amount of nostalgia with pinches of regret and longing. Jessica Vosk, who you may remember from “Chess” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, is a vocal powerhouse as Jenna. Her song “She Used To Be Mine”, also in act two, is delicious.

This production, however, lacks enough emotional connection for me to care about any of the characters very much. There is more chemistry between Dr. Pommater, Jenna’s gynecologist with whom she has an affair, and the pies Jenna brings him than there is between these two love interests. Troy Iwata, as Ogie, and Lissa deGuzman as Dawn, are appropriately goofy and awkward but their characters don’t get much deeper than that, and it gets a bit stale after a while. There is no dialect coach listed for the production and it could have used one as the “southern” accents are all over the place and sometimes difficult to understand.

The Muny has an all-female production team for which I applaud them! Lili-Anne Brown directs, Chloe O. Davis choreographs, and Andra Velis Simon is the Music Director and conductor. The design team is also strong. The set, by Wilson Chin, works well with the stage turntable changing locales easily. Mike Tutaj’s video design compliments the set beautifully. Costumes, by Raquel Adorno, are also nicely done especially the transition of Jenna from newly pregnant to fully “showing”.

In short, the first act is somewhat lackluster with few memorable scenes. The show picks up in Act Two with some lovely moments. While the music is enjoyable, overall, this production left me hungry for something more.

 “Waitress” runs through August 5th at The Muny. For tickets and information go to The Muny website.