Waitress Previews — Page 10

Back Row said: "In Cambridge, the pies in a jar were really just a couple of bites of pie. For $15, I hope there's a little more there."

They are no bigger then they were at A.R.T.

One long, pleasantly tuneful, forgettable cliche. And we have Jessie as a musical doormat once again, only this time the Tony prize will not be awarded to her (yeah, never got over Kelli NOT winning for BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY), when it belongs to someone else (Cynthia Erivo, get ready). Each of the stock characters does and says exactly what you expect them to; this is one long predictable ride to the finish. The best moment belongs to the amazing Chris Fitzgerald, who has less than nothing to work with and gives the show some real humor.

Wearing your down-home emotions on your sleeve for two long acts doesn't add up to much, sorry. If you like the music, download the album. For great musical theatre with a heart and a soul, go see FUN HOME.

I don't know about the show but She Used to Be Mine is a wonderful song.

Finally someone who felt the same way as I did throughout the evening, which for me is one of the biggest disappointments of the season. I've been scratching my head since leaving the theater wondering how an acclaimed songwriter with a musical theater background could write such a bland score. And the show itself is soooo predictable, it's like watching an old tv sitcom. You have the heavyset wisecracking best friend and the funny charming character actor show up for a song, every cliche in the book. I wouldn't mind if it all wasn't so bland. I almost found it insulting that the producers think if you just throw these stock ingredients together, it will be enough for an audience. Even the song they give Jessie at the end - its a nice ballad, but it's almost like they had no choice but to turn it into an 11:00 number so there was something to showcase her voice. It's really just a simple ballad. The audience seemed to be enjoying it, but when I talked to a few people afterwards, no one really loved it.

I kind of enjoyed it, but mainly for Jessie's performance. The sound is AWFUL though. I couldn't make out one word of what was being sung. Also the music is so dreary and tuneless. That's why her big last number was so welcome- finally an actual melody.

The audience reaction was pretty amazing though and it seemed like everyone was saying how much they loved it on the way out. It's been selling out every night so it's looking like a hit I'd say.

I'm a big fan of the film and a big fan of Sara Bareilles, so I was pretty excited for this show. In the end, I generally enjoyed it but didn't love it, and I feel like it has some fairly distinct missteps.

The biggest one for me was how Earl was played. I didn't go through this entire thread, but I did skim a bit and saw some others expressing a similar sentiment that he was a bit too comedic, almost cartoonish. Jeremy Sisto played Earl brilliantly in the movie in that he felt like an absolutely real person and an absolutely real abuser. He was never played for laughs, but neither was he just played as a one-note sort of evil villain. He wasn't sympathetic, because he was clearly ruining the protagonist's life through manipulation and emotional abuse, but there was a subtlety to him that really made the situation seem real. And Jenna's reaction to him was very precise in the movie. She was clearly a woman who had developed a whole set of scripts to carefully handle her husband with as little blowback onto herself as she could manage. She was exhausted. Sometimes she was almost monotone in her responses to him. There was a carefulness in every single word she chose with him.

I was a bit disappointed with the score, with some exceptions. "She Used To Be Mine" remains remarkable (although I kept wishing Jessie Mueller would stop bending over and singing at the floor so much), and there were a few specific numbers I really loved, but yeah the sound and diction is a big issue. I'm usually someone who loves coming into shows blind, even with super dense lyrical shows like Hamilton, but I came out of this one feeling like I missed half the lyrics. I really didn't like Becky's big number, which is sad because Keala is great. I liked Dawn's number more, as well as Ogie's first one.

One thing that I did feel like they nailed, maybe even more than the movie, was Dr. Pomatter. Nathan Fillion is always great, but I actually feel like he was just a little miscast in the movie. I felt the overall sense of his nerves and awkwardness a bit more clearly in the musical.

I was able to snag a standing room ticket yesterday and all in all I thought the show was good. It was nice to see it stay pretty close to the movie, which I've seen and love, and all the actors are legit AMAZING. #JessieTheGoddess

The only downsides to the show were I really did not like the set, like I hated it, the choreo was weird at times, it was too "So You Think You Can Dance" artsy, and didn't seem needed. It made sense during Jenna's "pie making dream sequences," but during other parts it just didn't work for me. Sara's music was great, there were some catchy tunes, but also some forgettable ones, and like what other people said, a bit one note.

But again, I have to say, it was a good show and I think it will be a crowd pleaser!

If anyone was wondering about standing room, I got to the theatre at like 11 AM and there were about 10 people in front of me, but as time passed a lot of people gave up so by the time they sold out and started selling standing room tickets (at like 1:15) there were about 4 people in front of me! I believe they sold 8 tickets yesterday morning but I heard them say that they said they may sell more, so there might have been more standing room available, not sure.