WAITRESS Will Officially Bow on Broadway in Spring 2016 — Page 4

I agree with a lot of what Whizzer said, though I think I enjoyed it a bit more than he did.

But he pretty much hit the nail on the head. I have faith a lot of the problems will be worked out before NY. There's something special there, for sure.

But, yeah, Jeremy Morse's character is grating and excessive. Which is odd because that character and storyline are so secondary in the film. Not sure why they decided to emphasize it so much in this version.

Updated On: 8/17/15 at 11:25 AM

And don't get me wrong, I was quite moved and emotional at the end, which surprised me considering I was thinking about 30 minutes earlier how rough some of this stuff was.

"She Used To Be Mine" really got to me though and then "Everything Changes" (? the song Mueller sang in the hospital) KILLED me. Goosebumps all over my arms and tears prickling my eyes.

If the whole show played at the level those two sequences were at this could develop some very strong word of mouth.

"She Used To Be Mine" really got to me though and then "Everything Changes" (? the song Mueller sang in the hospital) KILLED me. Goosebumps all over my arms and tears prickling my eyes"

You nailed it on the head. I cried during "She Used To Be Mine" and sobbed during "Everything Changes".

Updated On: 8/17/15 at 12:32 PM

Hmmm....caught this last night. I liked much of what I saw, but I certainly didn't fall in love with it.

Strengths: Mueller - giving a great and nuanced performance. I can't wait to see what she does with role next year. I liked the trio of women, together and separately. But wished Settle, in particular, was a little less cartoon-y. The men were fun but less fully realized. Eric Anderson (Cal) stole his scenes without upstaging, and Gehling was fine as the doc, but why was.he so drawn to Jenna?

I also liked the score, quite a bit actually. Quite a bit of it has been dancing through my head.could it use a little more variety? Yes, but I was prepared for a monotonous evening.

The weaknesses: the book is the biggest concern as to the focus issues. When Jenna's story is front and center, it got too distracted by itself with the sublots. I l ow they are still work I.g on the abusive relationship, but they aren't there yet.

The choreography was not my favorite. I thought it tried too hard to be clever and it just felt unconnected to me.

I liked the first waiting room scene very much, but the other two seemed to be a waste.

I won't be revisiting the show in Boston, but would definitely consider catching it again in NY, if nothing else to catch Mueller's performance - which will likely get her another nomination (and possibly) a win.

Completely agree with you about Settle being too cartoon-y (as well as a few of the other supporting cast members); I really loved her performance in Hands on a Hardbody, but thought she was too over the top in Les Miz and finally pushed some of my limits in Waitress. What makes her shtick stick out so much is that it's constantly juxtaposed with Mueller's quiet, thoughtful performance and the two styles mix like oil and water.

I was there on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the show. I loved the score and thought that it varied much more than previously posted. at one point, my friend and I thought the keyboardist looked a lot like Sara B......and wouldn't you know....it was!! What a thrill to see her perform her own score. We were both obsessed with the way she almost conducted the rest of the band on stage. It felt like she was another character to keep your eye on thru the performance.

The book does need some work. I agree that you really wonder what the Doc actually sees in Jenna as her character is pretty morose when she visits him. I suppose the pies did the trick!! It certainly wasn't the waitress uniform! I thought the 3 waitresses characters were fleshed out pretty well and enjoyed their individual personalities as well as their singing, both together and individually.

Comparing Waitress to Finding Neverland (although completely different shows), I seemed to enjoy every other number from FN.....first thrilled and then....snooze fest.....and then thrilled again. Waitress, although a much smaller show, kept a pleasant consistency that swept me up in its simplicity. It almost falls victim to the Bridges syndrome that if more than 2 or 3 characters are singing, then the quality drops significantly. I look forward to them tweaking the rough edges of the book and becomes the small gem that, I hope, Broadway would welcome.

Updated On: 8/20/15 at 11:27 AM

Tom, you're sure it was Sara conducting the show, and not the music supervisor/conductor Nadia DiGiallonardo (who does resemble Sara)? It seems unlikely that they'd have Sara guest conduct the show in previews without an announcement of some sort.

Nadia and Sara together https://instagram.com/p/4edwqdjGFx/

I would be thrilled to see her up there but I didn't hear anyone else mention this (not that I don't believe you!). May be a case of mistaken identity. Someone tweeted to her if she'd be up there and she said it would be Nadia.

I'm sure you must be right......I thought it was too good to be true that Sara would be playing, but boy do they look alike. I was so distracted, that I paid way too much attention to her and have been looking at pics of Sara ever since to try and confirm. Thanks for clarifying guys. Looking forward to seeing what the reviews say after tonights opening. Hoping they tighten things up because I really do like the score and am rooting for this show after seeing it.

dramamama, I really enjoyed Jeanna's reactions during that song too. It IS romantic and functional and safe within the context of the show, which is why it unsettles me -- it taps into the notion that refusing a repeated "no" answer is a great thing to do. I wish I felt that Ogie's nebbishyness made the concept less threatening. I can imagine a persistance song working well for me in that spot, even one with hyperbole, if it were different. I wish this one didn't set off my stalker-icky feelings.

^ totally agree that the character didn't deserve two songs.