WAITRESS at A.R.T. Thread- Page 4

[Bway_Mill_Fan]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 6:26pm

Did I miss the link? Jessie was interviewed recently for local  NPR and there are snippets of songs.

 

Here.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 6:45pm

If it's not a "finished product" why is there a paying audience?  I know certainly well what previews are but if you open your doors to paying patrons a certain level of completion is expected. And people who pay to see it are entitled to share their opinion. Good or bad, most people who see the show in Boston will be seeing it for the only time so to them it is finished.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 7:29pm

^ I guess you don't understand the purpose of a preview period.  The creative team may feel that the show is ready for an audience, but the audience may feel very different.  When an audience sees a show out of town, they should remember that there may be massive changes made before it reaches broadway.  I believe that it was Forum that went from being a flop to a hit (due to the addition of "Comedy Tonight") between previews and opening night.  

BTW.  You should stop trolling this thread.  No one is enjoying it. 

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 7:56pm

I totally understand , as I said what "previews" are for, but to most of the public these are PERFORMANCES. 

If you announce that these are works in progress (which is a stupid idea) people will start asking why they are paying for them

And I will "troll" anywhere I damn please.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:00pm

Show in previews=A work in progress

If the audience fails to recognize that, it's their own fault. 

[Different Drum]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 8:43pm

A show in previews is indeed a work in progress - especially an out-of-town tryout. And of course we should all appreciate and respect this critical part of the creative process.

But in this day and age it is extremely difficult to make meaningful changes to a show in previews due to the exigencies of tech rehearsals and the like. And thus a musical - especially a NFP production on a limited budget - must arrive at first previews in an advanced state of readiness.

Judging from the initial reports on this board, it's not clear that Waitress is there yet. When fans of Sara Bareilles call the show incredibly boring, flat, basic, rushed and without dimension, I shudder to think what the critics will say.

[thestatisticianandi]

Posted: 8/5/15 at 9:24pm

I attended the 1st preview and thought that the show had all the problems every show has after its 1st preview: it's too long, the 1st act is much stronger than the 2nd act (which felt a bit rushed), and some lines didn't work/were overly cliche. But there is a very strong foundation here and Jessie delivers an amazing, nuanced, and surprisingly humorous performance.

I think the score in the 1st act is immensely inspiring and creative (the choral trio "A Soft Place to Land" between Jessie, Jeanna, and Keala was light and gorgeous, and the game-show song "Door Number Three" was thoughtful and beautiful). It culminates in a really strong Act 1 closer, "Bad Idea," that I had stuck in my head. All of the songs are very clearly Sara's work and are in Sara's voice, but I disagree with the previous posters and don't think the songs all sounded the same or were boring.

On the other hand, I thought that the only really strong song in the second act was "She Used to Be Mine" (which [SPOILER ALERT] gets an ever sadder reprise). I think the final duet "You Matter to Me" and the finale "Everything Changes" can each use a lot of work, particularly lyrically, as they sound a little formulaic, which is all the more striking given the creativity found in Act 1 songs like "Door Number Three" and "The Negative." I wonder how much will change during the show's brief run here in Cambridge; Sara clearly worked very hard on the score for a long time and I'm not sure whether there's time for her to make the necessary and somewhat substantial changes to some of these songs. However, in numerous interviews she's demonstrated how much she cares about the show, and as someone who claims not to be precious about her material, I'm hopeful that those numbers can be improved soon. I'm curious to hear other opinions on this board.

I think it's too soon to call this an out-of-town flop. (It seems to be selling pretty well, anyway.) Have some faith, yall!

Oh, and one awkward thing was that they sang the opening number after the curtain call, "I feel the earth move"-style. The awkward thing was that no one in the audience remembered the words to that song...I doubt the curtain call reprise will be kept.

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:21am

I took a vacation from my vacation in Newport to see Waitress tonight. Totally unplanned, but not a bad night. I bought a ticket for $40 on Craigslist (I REALLY needed a break from my family).

It's early in previews and I'm keeping that in mind. As it stands, the production is no where near being Broadway ready--not because it's the first week of previews, but because the piece just isn't there yet. I came in as a big Sara Bareilles fan and I still am. However, I have to agree with the poster who said everything sounded similar. It was like being at a Sara Bareilles tribute concert. It's clear she wrote what she knew...if you know her music, you would know she wrote this immediately.

The book needs some work. It feels very uneven as it exists. Even though this is based off of a wonderful movie, the book felt predictable and almost formulaic. You knew what the sassy, brash character (Keala Settle) would say or do almost every time she spoke.

The first act seems pretty solid and I have few problems with it. The show is suffering from second act syndrome. It's just not nearly as good as the first. It seemed to go back and forth in either feeling long and drawn out or very rushed, where they're cramming in a lot of story elements all at once. The show, in general, needs trimming with a pretty heavy hand. It ran just about 2.5 hours on the nose, but it felt longer. I'm not saying it needs to be a 90 minute one act show, but it needs to become shorter.

The sound is still messy, but I expected it to me. The highlight here is the acting. Jessie Mueller is giving the type of performance we go to see from her--solid, a little understated, but very put together. I really enjoyed Keala Settle as well, even if she didn't have the best character to work with. She made what she had very enjoyable.  "She Used to be Mine" is probably the strongest song to me, but I really liked "Door Number Three" as well.

Some folks around me complained about the set, but I thought it was cute. It fit in well with the story and overall "feel" they're trying to give off.

Happily, there is nothing in the show that is so broken that it cannot be fixed. If it is announced they're moving to Broadway this season, they have some serious work to do on the second act and parts of the book. Many people have been predicting this to be a hit based on the names and movie associated with it, but I think they need to be cautiously optimistic right now. If the show, as it stands today, was open last season, I don't know if it would have ended up a Tony nominee. It needs work.

Ohhhh, and big ups to the selling of pie before the show. I truly feel pie is one of the finest foods on this planet, so I was glad they had it available.. It was in a cute little jar, all sealed up to be enjoyed on the way home.

I see it as a solid 2-2.5 star show right now. With the right work, I have absolutely no doubt that I would rate it higher. I'm anxious to see this again at some point down the road to see what was improved.

[LisaLB]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 7:16am

On Sunday, when we bought the pie from concessions, we were offered the option to get our pie "in the third act."  This meant we picked up our pie on stage right after the show.  We were allowed/encouraged to take pictures of ourselves on the set.  It was brilliant social marketing (and delicious pie in a jar). Not sure if this was just a one-time opportunity, or something they plan to continue through the run.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 9:30am

"Waitress is going into a Shubert house so the Brooks Atkinson is out of the question. It will either go into the Schoenfeld or Belasco"

As usual, here is the inside scoop from Philly, with no named or quality sources. He needs to be stopped!

Updated On: 8/6/15 at 09:30 AM

[Hairspray0901]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 2:44pm

I went to the first preview of Waitress with high expectations as I am a huge Sara Bareilles, Diane Paulus AND Jessie Mueller fan. I was not disappointed. I loved everything about it!! The cast is strong, I loved the score and the story was cute.

The ONLY complaint is that I wished they had somehow pumped the smell of pies baking into the audience! haha. That would have been GREAT. Jessie constantly explaining pies, plus "baking" some on stage made it seem like the perfect opportunity for them to add some sort of smelling effect. 

[trpguyy]

Posted: 8/6/15 at 4:51pm

Waitress going into a Shubert house makes sense, as the Weisslers have a long-standing relationship with the Shuberts. 

 

Unrelated, are we all just ignoring the fact that this set looks almost identical to "Diner?"

[David2]

Posted: 8/7/15 at 10:36pm

Wow, I thought that was incredible. Even though it is clear that there is work to be done, I still had an amazing time. Since I am a huge fan of Sara's work I thoroughly enjoyed the score, it is very her . I one hundred percent agree with the fact the the acting is the highlight. Jessie Mueller gives possibly the best performance yet in my opinion, i saw similarities between her Carole performance because of how broken down she is. Jeanna is absolutely hailarious. Overall I thought that it was an amazing and beautiful show. My favorite song definitely is She Used to be Mine. Jessie absolutely slays in that number. Door Number Three was also very good. 

 

As for the stage door I didn't wait except I ended up eating dinner next to Diane Paulus and a few others at Toscanos. At the end of show Diane sat in the back of the theatre and signed programs and talked. 

 

 

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 1:30am

just got tickets for this right after it opens...

 

 

 

[Smaxie]

Posted: 8/8/15 at 9:37am

>Waitress going into a Shubert house makes sense, as the Weisslers have a long-standing relationship with the Shuberts.<

They have long-standing relationships with all three of the major theatre owners.  As lead producers, they've had eight shows at Nederlander theatres (Your Arms Too Short to Box With God, Fiddler On the Roof, Annie Get Your Gun, Seussical, Macbeth, the original home for Chicago, and their revivals of Cabaret and Gypsy ended their runs in Nederlander houses). Seven of their shows - Grease, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, My Thing of Love, My Fair Lady, Gypsy (original home), Wonderful Town and Sweet Charity - played Jujamcyn theatres.  Plus, Busker Alley was slated for the St. James. Yes, Chicago has spent most of its life in Shubert theatres, and La Cage aux Folles, Scottsboro Boys, Pippin, Falsettos, Medea, Zorba, Othello, played Shubert theatres.  But they don't work exclusively with the Shubert Organization.  

 

[cjmclaughlin10]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 9:37am

They explicitly thank Nederlander Presentations,inc in the playbill

the page directly under the cast list. Headline "Additional Staff"  under the heading "Special Thanks"

 

 

 

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:24am

^Well, then it's seems likely to be a Nederlander!

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:14am

I thoroughly enjoyed this show.  Performances uniformly excellent, with Jessie Mueller the heart of the show.  I honestly believe she was better in this than in Beautiful...it provided more of an opportunity to show her acting chops.  

The only issue I have is with the score, which may be a 'first hearing' thing.  I thought several of them were quite nice, but I could not pick up the melodies for most of them.  I definitely did not leave the theatre humming a single song (unlike the last much maligned show at ART, which had me humming half a dozen songs over the next few days). Again, this may be my tin ear, but I don't think so.

I think this can work on Broadway, but definitely calls for a smaller theatre, since it is a smaller show.  Can definitely see it in an 800 to 1,100 seat theatre, nothing bigger.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:17am

If it's a Nederlander house, then the Brooks Atkinson Theatre would be a safe bet.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 11:24am

That would definitely be the right size.

i wonder if Jessie Mueller has any box office draw yet, i.e., assuming this goes to Broadway, will it have a decent advance?  Probably will depend on two things: whether Jessie is any size draw (I bet not yet) and when it opens...the further away from the spring glut, the better.

 

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:26pm

I saw today's matinee and I agree with David2: It's pretty great! I say that as someone who isn't really all that familiar with Sara Bareilles' music. The score is quite nice overall. She Used to be Mine is definitely the number that'll be remembered and I did find myself hearing it again on the way home. Hummable? Maybe not, but definitely memorable, as is Take It From An Old Man. There's still a bit that could and should be cut and Keala Settle's Becky could be fleshed out a lot more. I bought my ticket for the final performance on my way out of the theatre today. I'm eager to see it again. 

'

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:42pm

I am glad to be hearing all the feedback, good and bad, on this. It really sheds a lot of light (at least for me) about out-of-town tryouts and the magic that goes on BEFORE Broadway. Just when you feel like you know a chunk about how the industry works...as they say in Brooklyn...fuhgeddaboutit!

Incidentally, I find it hilarious that two shows called DINER and WAITRESS have opened up in the same season...

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 8/9/15 at 10:56pm

"That would definitely be the right size.
i wonder if Jessie Mueller has any box office draw yet, i.e., assuming this goes to Broadway, will it have a decent advance?  Probably will depend on two things: whether Jessie is any size draw (I bet not yet) and when it opens...the further away from the spring glut, the better.
 "

 If Jessie is not a draw now, she won't magically become one before this transfers. I wouldn't say she has a wide appeal box office draw, but she's definitely got the Broadway community in the palm of her hand. 

Beautiful's numbers have maintained steady and good, but I definitely think they aren't selling out the way they were when Jessie was in the show. Correct me if I'm wrong. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/10/15 at 12:42am

I took a class with a casting director and one of the girls sang a song from this and i loved it. 

I hate this idea that if you don't walk out singing a song, then it's a bad score. C'mon. If it's a sophisticated score, it's complex. You can hear a One Direction song once and probably sing the melody back to me. That doesn't make it a great song. 

[weaselprince71]

Posted: 8/10/15 at 12:46am

trpguyy:  "Unrelated, are we all just ignoring the fact that this set looks almost identical to "Diner?""

Judging by the photo of Pask's model for Waitress (posted on an earlier page of this thread), and production pics of McLane's set for Diner, the resemblance isn't any stronger than one would expect:  both musicals are set in vintage diners, which means they're operating in the same distinctive visual world.  But McLane's diner is sleek and neon-shiny while Pask's is all faded pastels, pie-crust trim and dotted-Swiss wallpaper; and their groundplans differ significantly: Pask's diner appears to have been cut longitudinally (the set's removed "fourth wall" would be one of the long walls), while McLane's looks more like a transverse section.  The only vaguely notable similarity seems to be that both designers chose to crown their sets with vintage signage -- but again, in the conventionalized world of vintage diners that's hardly a maverick choice.  Countless productions of Bus Stop, Pump Boys & Dinettes, Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and probably half a dozen others (those are just the first three that come immediately to mind) might equally strike you as looking "almost identical to [McLane's set for] Diner" -- for the simple reason that their stories all share the same rather specific type of milieu, and the same broad approach to that milieu: slightly "sweetened" (or in some cases bittersweetened) realism.

More to the point, it does seem mildly remarkable that two different small-scale musicals opened within an eight-month period, both at NFP regional theaters but both likely harboring B'way ambitions, both composed by popular female singer-songwriters attempting their first theatrical scores, both based on small, sleeper-hit comedy-drama movies, and (the mildly-remarkable coincidence part) both set largely in midcentury-Americana-style diners -- a setting which, in both stories, lends itself logically to a simple unit-set staging.  Given all that, it's hardly surprising that their sets share a generally similar architectural idiom.

 

Updated On: 8/15/15 at 12:46 AM