Interview: WAITRESS' Erich Bergen Tells the Tale of His 22-Year Journey to Broadway

Erich Bergen made his first Broadway bow at last earlier this month as Waitress' new Dr. Pomatter. Just last week, BroadwayWorld's Steve Schonberg checked in with Broadway's newest MD to find out what's cookin' at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre!

It's been twenty-two years since your first Broadway audition and your finally making your Broadway debut.

Yeah, it took a minute. I always intended on being a Broadway performer, that's how I started in theater and I think I had my first audition for a Broadway show in Big the Musical. I was ten years old, it was a fantastic show and it turned out to be the first Broadway show I saw. But it did take twenty two years to actually end up being on Broadway.

It's not like you've been unemployed on anything, you've been keeping busy with TV, films, concerts...

Yes. Well a lot of theater is in the mix, a lot of Broadway National Tours, but there was always this thing that there was this little box I had to check off of actually being in a Broadway theater. Not just walking up to the stage door to visit a friend in the show, but to actually be going to work. That was a big bucket list item for me, the number one bucket list item, and I'm thrilled to finally be able to do it.

You did the Las Vegas version of Broadway, you were in Jersey Boys for two years?

I did two years in Las Vegas. Prior to that I did a year on the road in Jersey Boys. I launched the first national when I was twenty years old in 2006 and opened in San Francisco and was there for a couple of months and then went all around and then did two years in Las Vegas.

And now you're three weeks in at Waitress?

Yes, three weeks in.

And how is it going?

It's going really well! It's a very interesting process to join a show that is not just already in progress but it has been a healthy run of this show. Someone said to me recently, I didn't realize it, it is the only musical other than Hamilton from that season still running, it's the only show from that season still running.

It's a terrific show!

It is a terrific show and it's found its audience. There is a lot of repeat customers, which I love, but there is a lot of people seeing it for the first time and maybe people who have seen it on tour and now coming to see the Broadway company.

Is the repeat customer a diner joke?

There is a lot of diner jokes. The first week the whole cast was saying to me "welcome to the diner, welcome to the diner" and I had to say "stop saying that. You can stop saying that line" and then I found myself saying that because we have a new cast member that joined earlier this week. I'm now part of the "staff" as it were.

Now you talked about cast members, your Jenna, your co-star was Katharine McPhee up until the 17th, she's coming back, but Stephie Torns is in with you right now?

Right exactly. Kat McPhee had originally signed on through whatever it was, it was only two weeks into my run because she was expected to go back to her TV show. When it didn't get renewed, she decided to stay longer. She had a little vacation planned so she is still going on that and the incredible Stephanie Torns is playing Jenna up until July 3rd or 4th and then July 5th Katharine is back.

What do you think of the messages of Waitress and Jenna's journey that is strife with crisis and emotions and where we know where she ends up. What do you think of those messages?

Waitress is a little bit of a complicated layed show because it's obviously fun and fluffy at times and right and its got this incredible score but these are not simple people and these are not good people, and maybe that's the question. There is this love story being rooted for by the audience between my character and Jenna, spoiler alert, but what I found myself as an actor kind of realizing afterwards after reading the script was why are we rooting for these people when they are both having an affair and what does that say about Jenna and the pursuit of happiness and even my character and the pursuit of happiness? There is a lot of questions when you really start to think about the show. It really is very layers and very complicated and does have this dark side to it which is not obvious what we push. We push a musical comedy, a musical romantic comedy which it is, but there are side questions which is what I love about this show.

You've done film, theatre, episodic TV, concerts, recordings, etc., which is most enriching? Which is most challenging?

Well each of them truly do have positives and negatives. I think there is nothing like being on the stage. There is nothing like being on a stage in front of 1,000 people every night. That energy to have than many eyeballs staring at you, it's a lot and some people register that feeling as stagefright, I register it as positive energy that I thrive off of. For me, the theater is most enriching. With that said, being on a show that is as widely beloved as Madam Secretary, when you run into people in the airport and stores and the coffee line and whatever it is, we get to reach people all over the world. I've been on a plane and seen people watching my show on the back of headrest or on their phones even. That is a very different experience.

The enrichment from doing a show always comes after the fact when it gets to live on forever and people are flipping through channels. I do love doing concerts, I do love being on stage. It's funny when I started Waitress I had to remind myself do not talk to the audience, do not look at the audience, just say the script because my work on stage the past six years I've been able to sing and then say "oh, how are you?" and talk to the audience which is what I love to do. So when I had to put that fourth wall up it was.

Click here to watch the full interview with Erich!

WAITRESS marks Erich's Broadway debut. He currently plays Blake Moran on the CBS drama, Madam Secretary, beginning its 5th season this fall. In 2014 he starred as Bob Gaudio in the film Jersey Boys, reprising his performance from the National Tour and Las Vegas productions of the show.

WAITRESS tells the story of Jenna (Katharine McPhee), an expert pie maker in a small town, who dreams of a way out of her loveless marriage. A baking contest in a nearby county and the town's new doctor may offer her a chance at a new life, while her fellow Waitresses offer their own recipes to happiness. But Jenna must find the courage and strength within herself to rebuild her life. This American musical celebrates friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie.