NB: This guest review comes from LibrarianJessi. This review is a little bit different as it’s not really a review of a book or movie. Instead, LibrarianJessi is reviewing a musical!

LibrarianJessi, librarian, bibliophile, romance evangelist, and Broadway nerd.I fangirl over every musical I can possibly see and review them through the lens of a romance reader. Musicals and romance novels have a lot in common: meaningful exploration of human relationships, obstinately optimistic worldviews, snide critical dismissal despite hugely devoted fans, and often (but not always on Broadway) a comforting HEA for the lead characters.

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Waitress: Touring at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Buell Theater January 2018

Synopsis: Jenna, pie baker extraordinaire, has been sleepwalking through life until an accidental pregnancy wakes her to the realities of her toxic marriage, dead end job, and bone-deep depression. With the help of her friends and a knack for pie making, she sets out to prove that she can bake a better life for herself and baby. Catch Waitress in NYC at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and touring in the US.

Review: Going into Waitress, I had the general excitement level that hits any time I’m going to the theater and a bit of interest because of all the hype surrounding the show. I saw Sara Bareilles and Jessie Mueller perform at the 2016 Tony Awards and was blown away. But still, I was a bit skeptical. I had a vague memory of dissatisfaction with the Adrienne Shelly 2007 film starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion (!!) – the inspiration for the musical, although it had been so long since I saw it that most of the storyline escaped me. This film is much beloved and I love a good rom com. I assumed my aversion was based on my own dislike of Keri Russell. Despite her curly hair and peppy demeanor with undertones of angst (all of which should work perfectly for my personal tastes), I have never connected with her as a performer. Turns out, though, it was due to more than a personality conflict. The musical adaptation held very true to the original material, so the same troublesome bits left me conflicted about the musical as well.

The show starts out strong – I was entranced from the first unearthly voices singing “sugar, butter, flour.” The show leads with best friends and coworkers, Jenna, Becky, and Dawn. The songs explore the pressures of daily life, realities of women as providers of emotional labor, and the support and silliness that true friendship can provide.

Desi Oakley, the actress who brought Jenna to life on the Denver stage pulled the audience in immediately. Jenna, as created by Nelson and Bareilles and performed by Oakley has a depth, a complexity that makes her engaging and relatable. In Jenna’s own words “she is messy, but she’s kind; she is lonely most of the time.” In moments, I was head over heels for her, and as she makes terrible decisions, one after the other, the show echoes every time I have watched a friend crash and burn. It left me with a desperate wish to save her from herself, but the only thing I could offer her, just as with life’s true friendships, is frustrated affection and faith that with a bit of tough love and an intervention, she would come out the other side wounded but stronger.

Lucky for Jenna, she has Becky and Dawn to offer interventions as needed. The song “Focus on the Negative” embodies the way that long time BFFs truly speak to each other – with love and frustration and sass. The show’s willingness to explore female friendship and women’s experiences in all their messy glory is its strength. Which makes perfect sense, because Waitress was the first all female creative team to take a show to Broadway.

Waitress does a gut-wrenchingly apt job of exploring the realities of domestic abuse. We ache and cringe for Jenna during every interaction with her husband, Earl. We know almost instantly that he is manipulative and demeaning, wearing away at Jenna’s self confidence with every action and comment. From the hunched and frenetic way she carries herself, I suspected physical abuse and this is confirmed midway through the show. It was nauseating to sit through his narcissistic declarations of ownership in “You Will Still Be Mine.” Even though this song is just as catchy as every other Bareilles song, I almost always skip it because it’s just too vile.

Jenna has effectively been sleepwalking through her life and knowledge of her pregnancy is a unwanted awakening to the danger and unhappiness in her life. Suddenly stripped of her mental fog, she dives head first into an affair with the first man who shows her even a smidge of kindness – her married obstetrician. Despite my own intense discomfort with ethical questions raised by their affair, the sexual tension between Jenna and Dr. Pomatter is palpable. Through him, Jenna is able to face her own sexual reawakening, rewrite her own story, and start to conceive of a different ending for herself.

The show’s creators take time to round out some of the secondary characters. Dawn explores life with social anxiety and the dangers of modern dating in her heartfelt song “When He Sees Me.” Every choice is a potential minefield of danger and every man a threat to her sanity. The song has an unusual rhythm, and some hilarious moments like when she exclaims, “He might sit too close/Or call the waiter by his first name/Or eat Oreos,” and a crescendo into one of the most heart wrenching lines in an admittedly heart wrenching play, “If when he holds me, my heart is set in motion, I’m not prepared for that. I’m scared of breaking open.”

I developed a protective streak for Dawn and was instantly pissed when she is offered a hero whose love song, “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me,” is steeped in stalking tendencies. Waitress creators tried to convince me that he is exactly what Dawn needs, that his very persistence to break down all of her walls was the solution to her anxieties. The tune is catchy, the lyrics are funny on the surface, and the actor who plays Ogie is delightfully charming.

But when you listen closer, it’s simply the tale of another man who is determined not to hear no. Long time romance readers will recognize this type of forced courtship from Old Skool romance days and know that there are so many better ways to craft a hero and a love story. This element is exactly true to the original movie and is a direct product of 90s culture. The musical creators could have twisted this just a bit, remaining true to the original Dawn and Ogie while also creating a story much more palatable to 21st century viewers.

On top of this gaffe, there are several rather insensitive and uncreative instances that, when added together, sink the show. This includes two comments about an off-stage character with an unexplained combination of physical and mental disabilities used for comic relief; not one, but two sassy black women characters who were not granted the depth of character development given to Jenna and Dawn; and a deus ex machina in which instalove hormones for new baby magically fix everything. The first could be eliminated altogether. The second could be solved by more creative casting – I would love to see any number of actresses of color play Jenna. And as for the ending, the Waitress creative team handled so many other elements of women with complexity that they certainly could have crafted an ending more in line with the beginning.

Waitress has some of the most fabulous and unique music of any musical I have experienced in recent years and parts of the story were exquisite. Although I did not get a romantic HEA for Jenna, I was satisfied by her awakening and reclaiming control of her life. In the end, Jenna is surrounded by her child and a found-family built from the amazing women in her life. Still, it left me frustrated with the several elements that are especially off key in a world where we are just starting to find the courage to speak up about violence and harassment against women and to redefine what romance can be. In the end, my recommendation is to skip seeing this live. Instead, serve yourself a slice of pie and listen to the cast recording on repeat, skipping over “You Will Still Be Mine” and “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me.”

Top Songs:
What Baking Can Do
Bad Idea
She Used to Be Mine

Waitress fans should read:

When Waitress leaves you craving sweets, bake Jenna’s whimsically named pies in Sugar, Butter, Flour: The Waitress Pie Book ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), from Deep Shit Blueberry Bacon to A Little Wild, Wild Berry Pie. No need to share.

For romance steeped in baked goods, A Taste of Honey by Rose Lerner ( A | BN | K | AB ) is for everyone who loved the pie-based flirting in “Bad Idea.”

Chocolat by Joanne Harris ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is for Waitress fans who want the combination of sensuality and food and who don’t mind the lack of an HEA.

If your favorite thing about Waitress is the friendship between Dawn, Becky, and Jenna, then don’t miss Dahl’s Jackson Hole books.

Sonali Dev wins at both delightful modern romance and the world’s most delicious food scenes. Any of her books will strike a chord with Waitress fans who want romance done better.

Waitress fans should watch:

Original source material + Nathan Fillion!

I always think of Dolly Parton when I’m listening to Waitress. Any of her movies will scratch a similar itch and 9 to 5 is another story of women in a service field sticking it to the men in their lives.

I’m still hoping to see the musical Bright Star. It’s another example of country music styles finding their way to Broadway.

Support female-created film through the Arienne Shelly Foundation.