If the singing and acting weren’t so enthusiastic and entertaining, this play might be upstaged by the hydraulics. The Olney Theatre has a stage that moves up and down in pieces, and they’re not afraid to use it.
Photo: Teresa Castracane Photography
Waitress features the titular character, Jenna (MALINDA), high atop one platform singing wistfully about piecrust ingredients (“Sugar, butter, flour….”) a motif that provides a throughline and recurring metaphor for the show. Another platform regularly rises from below to disclose props, furniture, and even a whole bathroom plumbing suite signaling scene changes. Adding to the visual feast, the “Waitress Band” provides live music in full view of the audience.
Jenna, much more than a waitress, is also a pie-making genius. Her emotions, wrapped up in this sugary outlet (she names her daily special to reflect her feelings: “White-Knuckle-Cream Pie,” “Deep-Shit-Blueberry-Bacon Pie”), substitute for the aspirations that were squashed by her marriage to the repressive Earl (Greg Twomey). He garnishes her wages and jealously guards her movements. She plots in secret to enter a pie-baking contest and leave him if she wins.
Photo: Teresa Castracane Photography
But even this ambition is thwarted by fate, for she finds herself pregnant with the due date falling very close to the contest, and she laments that she is Betrayed-By-My-Eggs (Pie). But since this is a Broadway musical, a plot twist results in a happy ending for all but the evil Earl.
Jenna’s frustration with Earl leads to an affair with Dr. Pomatter (David Sokolar), her gynecologist. Those scenes are a mix of soft-core (but fully-clothed) porn and slapstick humor, as Dr. P seems to have an adversarial relationship with furniture.
Her two fellow waitresses provide vocal variety and comic relief. Becky (Allison Blackwell) can belt out a number in contrast to Jenna’s plaintive laments, and Dawn (Ashley G. Nguyen), especially in concert with her boyfriend Ogie (Sam C. Jones), delivers helpings of humor. Their wedding scene is a highlight of the show.
Another highlight of Opening Night/Press Night at Olney: Pie. Cherry or Apple, supplied by Sunflower Bakery. Delicious!
Waitress at the Olney Theatre Center Extended! thru April 6.
Book by Jessie Nelson
Music and Lyrics by Sara Bareilles
Music Directed by Christopher Youstra
Based upon the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly
Directed and Choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge
Click here for my review of the touring production of Waitress at the National Theatre in 2018.
Oh, and one more thing: Olney Theatre will host a Pie Eating & Baked Pie Contest on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 4:30 PM in the lobby for a “sweet fun-packed event.” Free with RSVP.