Katharine McPhee Will Return to WAITRESS on Broadway for Final Weeks

The producers of the hit musical, Waitress, announced today that Katharine McPhee will lead the company as Jenna for the final weeks of the Broadway run. Katharine McPhee returns to Waitress, where she made her Broadway debut last year.

She subsequently made her West End debut in March 2019, reprising the role of Jenna for the show's UK premiere. Since vaulting to fame as a captivating singer on "American Idol," Season 5, she's become a successful recording artist, landing numerous songs and albums on Billboard's pop, jazz, holiday and adult-contemporary charts. Her latest album of timeless American standards "I Fall in Love Too Easily" was released by BMG in 2017.

As an acclaimed actress, she was the breakout star of the 2013 NBC-TV musical series, "Smash," Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) and starred in the hit CBS dramatic series "Scorpion."

Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a Waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage. Pouring her heart into her pies, she crafts desserts that mirror her topsy-turvy life such as "a??The Key (Lime) to Happiness Pie" and "Betrayed by My Eggs Pie." When a baking contest in a nearby county - and a satisfying run-in with someone new - show Jenna a chance at a fresh start, she must find the courage to seize it. Change is on the menu, as long as Jenna can write her own perfectly personal recipe for happiness.

Waitress opened April 24, 2016 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street). Based upon the 2007 motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly, Waitress is the first Broadway musical in history to have four women in the four top creative team spots, with a book by Jessie Nelson, a score by six-time Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, choreography by Lorin Latarro and direction by Tony Award-winner Diane Paulus.

Waitress currently stars Jordin Sparks, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Caitlin Houlahan, Drew Gehling, Ben Thompson, Larry Marshall, Benny Elledge, Christopher Fitzgerald, Dayna Jarae Dantzler, Tyrone Davis Jr., Law Terrell Dunford, Andrew Fitch, Molly Hager, Jessie Hooker-Bailey, Arica Jackson, Molly Jobe, Brandon Kalm, Raigan Olivia Saunders-Newton, Sophia Rodriguez, Stephanie Torns and Dan Tracy. Al Roker joins the company on November 1, replacing Larry Marshall.

Waitress is now playing in London's West End at the Adelphi Theatre and on a North American tour.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy