Waitress (2020 Tour)
Hi guys! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
On Wednesday (about 4 days ago, 3/4/2020) I had the pleasure of seeing the touring production of Waitress! And yes, of course, it was amazing. I will talk about what I liked and what I didn’t like about the show, but please keep in mind that I am not a professional and that these are just my personal opinions!
First off, Doctor Pomatter was incredible. He was probably my personal favorite in this cast, by far. It Only Takes a Taste was probably the best song in the show. However, my short attention span did get a little bored by the scene, because Jenna and Doc just sit there? Maybe that’s the script, but it was a bit bland.
This is an incredibly specific moment, but I’ll try my best to describe it. What Baking Can Do is my favorite song in the show, and seeing it visually is something different. When the ensemble members pull back the huge racks, whatever you call them, to reveal Jenna’s father hitting her mother, I got chills. I really liked the way that moment was staged.
I hate Lulu’s name, but her actress was incredibly adorable. The pigtails really got me. I am wondering how this touring production takes a small child around the country though? I know there’s probably more than one Lulu but the idea of that is crazy to me.
Hearing “Sugar, butter” for the first time before the lights go up is so crazy!! It’s pre-recorded so the sound of it (tone? quality?) is a bit different than Jenna’s voice. I guess after just listening to the cast recording for so long it feels so surreal.
This isn’t specific to the touring cast, but watching the actors play with the food and props is very cool. It’s just so fascinating to me, and I can’t really explain it. The movement of the pies and everything without dropping them is amazing too. And I’ve heard that the racks are heavy, so kudos to the actors.
I was wondering how the set movement would go as compared to the Broadway production and it was amazingly similar. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the Broadway set kind of moved on motors/tracks? Anyway, everything was pretty much set up the same way, except the huge set pieces were moved by hand (I think). I had a dress rehearsal in the same building where the show was being put on the day after (in another room, of course) and the sound equipment they have is crazy. There is a lot of it. Maybe the stuff I was seeing was backups or something? I can’t even imagine how they set up everything in a day. Extraordinary.
The funniest thing in the show wasn’t supposed to be funny, but I found it absolutely hilarious. Sorry. After It Only Takes a Taste, an ensemble member or running crew member takes off full sprint across the stage, taking the bench with him. He just ran so fast and was the opposite of nonchalant.
Another thing I noticed, seeing the show in person, was the juxtaposition between Jenna’s instrumentals and Earl’s. Earl’s has some percussion and grunge style guitar while Jenna has a more acoustic sound, namely piano. Again, not specific to the tour, but still pretty neat.
Similar to above, I finally realized that in the first act Jenna expresses her inner monologue with pies, while in the second act she writes letters to Lulu. I can be a bit slow to realize things sometime.
The only thing that really bothered me about the show was the casting of Dawn. Her singing voice was fine, but her acting was a bit annoying. When she spoke she emphasized every other word so her speech sounded super unnatural. It was also a little hard to tell her apart from Jenna at times because she was too tall, as compared to Dawn being tiny.
Anyway, if you’ve made it this far you’re amazing. I know this post is extremely out of order and convoluted, but this is pretty much my thought process. I haven’t been posting recently due to my extremely busy schedule, but I’ll have lots more content when I leave for New York! T-minus 4 days.
See you in New York, everyone!