Review: WAITRESS at The Overture Center

"Waitress", for those who may not know, is the tale of Jenna (Desi Oakley), a waitress/expert pie maker (more about this later), who finds herself impregnated by her emotionally, psychologically abusive husband. It's often saccharine sweet and at times tear-inducingly real. It is touching and moving, and with the original score by Sara Bareilles, the vocals are incredible.

There is a beautiful sub-plot concerning one of Jenna's co-workers, Dawn (Lenne Klingaman) who fills out an on-line dating profile and gains a stalker, Ogie (Jeremy Morse). Ogie goes so far as to actually sing "Never Ever Going to Get Rid of Me", which is how he wins the heart of his love. Awkward and sweet, it is a pleasure to watch their relationship develop. Jeremy Morse steals the show.

The other relationships that develop during the course of the play are less beautiful. Jenna enters an extra-marital affair with her physician (Bryan Fenkart), at his office, while his wife is nearby serving her residency. In the script and staging of this affair, they show absolutely no discretion. At the same time, Jenna's other co-worker, Becky (Charity Angel Dawson), has an extra-marital affair with their boss/cook, Cal (Ryan G. Dunkin), in the restaurant. This affair is also not discrete. And in both affairs, there are zero consequences. Here we see four people cheating on their respective spouses, with no consequence at all. Oh, sure they all had justification for their indiscretions; Becky's husband is an invalid (In valid?), and Cal's wife is gay, (yes, you read that right...GAY), of course Jenna is in an abusive relationship. And the good doctor? Well, we don't really know his justification and are lead to assume that he's just a jerk.

This brings me to the main issue I have with this show: Consent. To ignore the issue of consent in our society is to invalidate millions of men and women who do not consent or could not consent due in part to differences in power levels and status. We all know and acknowledge that a movie mogul can lord power over an actor; the actor is NOT in a position to give consent. It is the same with professor and student, or more to the point... doctor and patient, boss and employee. So, in this show we see two sets of extra-marital affairs in which the females cannot possibly grant consent.

There are other issues I have with the storyline (my partner tells me that I'm just being unnecessarily fussy here because I have a restaurant management background). There are bakers and there are servers. (I don't like the genderization of titles by adding "ESS" to them; waiter-waitress, steward-stewardess, actor-actress, host-hostess... you get the point). Bakers begin their jobs around 3 am; servers do not. Am I to believe that she bakes pies all morning before they open, showers, changes, and waits table until her shift ends? When does this poor woman sleep? There is also a giant Pie Baking Contest mentioned in act one, the winning of such is Jenna's financial hope to escape her abusive relationship. That contest that simply vanishes from the plot around the same time the play is wrapped up nicely by the curmudgeonly owner/regular customer, Joe, who simply gives the diner to Jenna.

All in all, it's a fun, sweet little show that is wonderfully performed (if you don't delve too deeply into it).

Brought to life by a groundbreaking all-female creative team, this irresistible new hit features original music and lyrics by 6-time Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles ("Brave," "Love Song"), a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson ("I Am Sam") and direction by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus (Finding Neverland, Pippin, Hair).

Inspired by Adrienne Shelley's beloved film WAITRESS tells the story of Jenna - a waitress and expert pie maker, Jenna dreams of a way out of her small town and loveless marriage. A baking contest in a nearby county and the town's new doctor may offer her a chance at a fresh start, while her fellow waitresses offer their own recipes for happiness. But Jenna must summon the strength and courage to rebuild her own life.

"It's an empowering musical of the highest order!" raves the Chicago Tribune. "WAITRESS is a little slice of heaven!" says Entertainment Weekly and "a monumental contribution to Broadway!" according to Marie Claire. Don't miss this uplifting musical celebrating friendship, motherhood, and the magic of a well-made pie.

Tickets are now available for WAITRESS at the Overture Center box office (201 State Street), by visiting overture.org, or by calling 608.258.4141. Group orders of ten or more may be placed by calling 608.258.4159.

WAITRESS is part of the Broadway at Overture Series, presented by Lexus of Madison and Broadway Across America with additional support from Rare Steakhouse and media partner WMTV-NBC15.

Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wis., features seven state-of-the-art performance spaces and five galleries where national and international touring artists, ten resident companies and hundreds of local artists engage people in nearly 700,000 educational and artistic experiences each year. Overture.org

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