Ciara Renée is the Next Jenna in WAITRESS on Broadway

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 9:44am

FIRST IN THE BRIEFING: Ciara Renée will take over the role of Jenna in Waitress. She will assume the role on November 29. Current lead Jennifer Nettles will play her final performance on November 24.
 

[mattmarkowski99]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 9:50am

Any sort of source or link?

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 9:51am

mattmarkowski99 said: "Any sort of source or link?"

I copied and pasted directly from this morning's Broadway Briefing email! No link just yet because it's just a newsletter, but I would imagine that articles will start popping up on all the outlets over the next few minutes.

[ellbellthomps]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:07am

I was really thinking it would be someone more well-known, seeing how much tickets have dropped since Sara left.

[massofmen]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:09am

Without Sara B, performing in this show during the slow times, waitress would have closed after the first 2 years. She was like Billy Joe in American Idiot who had to keep coming in to make money for the show. 

[ellbellthomps]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:12am

massofmen said: "Without Sara B, performing in this show during the slow times, waitress would have closed after the first 2 years. She was like Billy Joe in American Idiot who had to keep coming in to make money for the show."

Oh, I know but I would say there is a 0.1% that Sara comes back before close. 

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:17am

I’m very curious about if this means she’ll close out the run…replacements rarely come in for less than a month and a half!

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:17am

Ciara is playing the role for the final 6 weeks. They probably tried to get a name, but she'll have to do for the show's final weeks.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:18am

ACL2006 said: "Ciara is playing the role for the final 6 weeks. They probably tried to get a name, but she'll have to do for the show's final weeks."

Not upset about that! Thank you!! So exciting for her!!! 

Updated On: 11/2/21 at 10:18 AM

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:24am

I'd be happy if Ciara closes the show, it'll be nice for her to actually know when her show is closing, unlike when Frozen permanently closed on her.

[dadaguza]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:27am

Never heard of her. I'm disappointed they didn't cast a bigger name to close out the show too. 

[ellbellthomps]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:53am

dadaguza said: "Never heard of her. I'm disappointed they didn't cast a bigger name to close out the show too."

I've heard of her and think she was great in Frozen, but as a longtime and returning fan I am disappointed that they didn't have Stephanie or Molly take over or a previous Jenna from the original run. 

[Lunalaaaaaaaa]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 10:58am

I wonder who's going to do the show Nov 25 - 27 before Ciara takes over?

[rkade21]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:06am

I’m thrilled, and surprised so many people saying they haven’t heard of her or “not a big name”…. even if her run was unfairly short, being chosen as the Elsa to take over for Caissie Levy should’ve made her a fairly (Broadway) household name, either that or you all need to have about 1,000 listens to the masterpiece Hunchback of Notre Dame cast recording. I’ve listened to her Someday more times than I can count.

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:23am

While I’m excited to see her in the role, it does seem like she is about as big a name as Stephanie (not big at all) so I wonder why not just close the show with her.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:23am

Lunalaaaaaaaa said: "I wonder who's going to do the show Nov 25 - 27 before Ciara takes over? "

Usually I’d say Stephanie but I saw an Instagram post where she said she had a few Jenna dates in November which were likely to be her last scheduled Jenna dates so it doesn’t sound like her. 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:24am

Lunalaaaaaaaa said: "I wonder who's going to do the show Nov 25 - 27 before Ciara takes over?"

Likely Stephanie Torns.

This is exciting. Good for Ciara. She deserves this after the sudden closure of Frozen. 

Also of note, all three full time lead waitresses (Jenna, Becky, and Dawn) will be black women for the rest of the run! I believe any other time this happened was with understudies on.

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:34am

BCfitasafiddle said: "Lunalaaaaaaaa said: "I wonder who's going to do the show Nov 25 - 27 before Ciara takes over?"

Likely Stephanie Torns.

This is exciting. Good for Ciara. She deserves this after the sudden closure of Frozen.

Also of note, all three full time lead waitresses (Jenna, Becky, and Dawn) will be black women for the rest of the run! I believe any other time this happened was with understudies on."

I’m SO THRILLED about that and just saying…now would be an excellent time to bring in Leslie Odom Jr. as Dr. Pomatter….please? 

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:38am

I don’t get the impression that’s something Leslie would be willing to do, especially if it’s not opposite his wife.

[Tag]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:44am

And don't forget Leslie would only do it for "white boy" pay.

[Lunalaaaaaaaa]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:48am

BCfitasafiddle said: "Lunalaaaaaaaa said: "I wonder who's going to do the show Nov 25 - 27 before Ciara takes over?"

Likely Stephanie Torns.

This is exciting. Good for Ciara. She deserves this after the sudden closure of Frozen.

Also of note, all three full time lead waitresses (Jenna, Becky, and Dawn) will be black women for the rest of the run! I believe any other time this happened was with understudies on."

Leslie as Ogie and Nicolette as Dawn would also be really cool. If they weren't having scheduling conflicts.

 

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 11:56am

I am happy for her. She just got to play Elsa in Frozen for a month before Broadway closed down and Disney pulled the plug on re-opening. And this will also just be for a month but at least this is planned. Congrats.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 12:00pm

Have they announced Erich Bergen’s replacement? He’s only with the show until Sunday. I’ve always thought Ciara’s The Wrong Man Co-Star, Joshua Henry, would make a great Pomatter. Not that it matters, but he was featured on Sara’s Instagram back in September.

Eta: Calling Ciara the first BIPOC Elsa is not only lousy reporting, it’s highly inaccurate, and inconsiderate towards the current actress playing Dawn. You can simply change it by specifying principle Elsa.

Updated On: 11/2/21 at 12:00 PM

[ellbellthomps]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 12:09pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Have they announced Erich Bergen’s replacement? He’s only with the show until Sunday. I’ve always thought Ciara’s The Wrong Man Co-Star, Joshua Henry, would make a great Pomatter. Not that it matters, but he was featured on Sara’s Instagram back in September."

Erich was just taking over while Drew was out for however many weeks it was. Last I heard, he was coming back. Don't know if that's changed. 

 

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 11/2/21 at 12:10pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Have they announced Erich Bergen’s replacement? He’s only with the show until Sunday. I’ve always thought Ciara’s The Wrong Man Co-Star, Joshua Henry, would make a great Pomatter. Not that it matters, but he was featured on Sara’s Instagram back in September."

He sounded AMAZING in that clip that she posted!! I wouldn’t be upset if he was Dr. Pomatter!