Waitress Review Sunderland Empire

Waitress cast pic credit Matt Crockett

Based on an original story by the late Adrienne Shelly, and music by Grammy award-winning Sara Bareilles, Waitress is the story of a downtrodden waitress who is a great pie-maker, naming the pastry treats after what the customers need. She dreams of escaping an abusive marriage by winning a pie-making contest in the next county and having her own diner. County Durham-born Emma Lucia plays the lead role of Jenna, the Waitress (she was understudy for other tour dates). She was outstanding with the perfect combination of acting, singing and movement skills.

The show opens in the neon,1950s-style Joe’s Diner and pantry, with a great musical number, showcasing the cast’s singing and dancing skills. There is a live band on stage which also adds to the performance bouncing along at a rattling pace. The audience meet Jenna’s friends and colleagues in the diner including its owner, the curmudgeon, Joe. Les Dennis, the legend of entertainment, pitched this role exactly right and raised a good few laughs along the way. Fellow waitresses geeky Dawn and sassy Becky, played by Evie Hoskins and Sandra Marvin respectively, were also first class. Their voices and acting skills were among the best I’ve heard in a musical.

All of the cast gave strong, very well-judged performances. Dan Partridge as Dr Pomatter, Mark Willshire as Jenna’s thug husband, Dan O’Brien as diner chef Cal and Mark Anderson as Dawn’s boyfriend, Ogie, all hit every right note in the singing and acting department. Full credit must also go to the supporting cast who were equally strong. Their dexterity in dancing, singing, acting and general pie juggling added a huge amount to this musical’s success.

The sets, in particular the diner, were excellent and became magical when Jenna had scenes where she remembered baking with her mother. These were lit differently, with purple spotlights, and made good use of the different cooking ingredients so the flour became like fairy dust and spoons became percussion instruments. It worked well as a contrast to the dull browns of Jenna and Earl’s oppressive home.

I confess I’d never heard of the show until it arrived at the Sunderland Empire and didn’t know what to expect. I sometimes find the plots in musicals a bit lightweight but in Waitress it was a pleasure to go on a journey with all of the main characters. Jenna’s life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers she’s pregnant and the problems of this are not sugar-coated, as the audience might have expected. The finale also springs a lovely surprise.

The script was well-written with more humour sprinkled throughout and strong one-liners. Becky’s story had some of the funniest dialogue and Sandra Marvin milked it to great effect. There are also back stories and journeys for the other diner colleagues. There are a couple of particularly funny scenes with Dawn and her first love which got good laughs.

This show cracked on at an excellent pace and both the interval and the finale came before you knew it. Part of the reason for this was the variety in the musical numbers, often helped along by the actors using the kitchen and diner props to keep the beat. One particularly entertaining scene was where the principal cast played different kitchen utensils as a drum set. It was fantastic.

Waitress is such a total delight I have to give it six out of five stars. It is brilliant on every level, great fun and delivers exactly what an audience wants from musical theatre – pitch-perfect performances, super songs and charismatic leading actors. Warning – with all of the baking and pie talk you may leave the theatre feeling very hungry!

Review written for Northern Arts Review.