Review: A Comforting, Heartfelt and Homey WAITRESS

Sugar. Butter. Flour. The three ingredients form that beginnings of any pie as well as start off the the Tony-nominated musical WAITRESS, not playing the Cadillac Palace Theatre through July 22. And like the best homemade pies, the musical, based on the motion picture written by the late Adrienne Shelly and featuring a book by Jessie Nelson and music and lyrics by Grammy-nominated composer Sara Bareilles, is one hell of a comforting slice.

Desi Oakley is enchanting as Jenna, the damaged "girl next door" waitress stuck in a physically and emotionally abusive marriage. She copes much like her mother did before her: she channels all of her hopes, fears, and pain into the pies she makes for the small town diner where she works so that they can be --as she sings in the lovely ballad "What Baking Can Do"-"on someone else's plate for a while."

She works along side Becky (a fierce Charity Angel Dawson), a sassy, but also downtrodden woman with her own marital problems (she is caring for her invalid husband) and in the lyrics "Opening Up," she too lays her cards on the table " A small town like ours ain't much/but sometimes home is where your ass ends up."

The trio of waitresses is completed by Dawn (a charmingly quirky Lenne Klingaman), a shy, lonely and lovelorn woman fixated on order who spends her weekends playing Betsy Ross in Revolutionary War re-enactments.

The three have a tight-knit bond of shared commissary and when Jenna learns of an unintended pregnancy that seemingly closes the door on her hopes of leaving her abusive husband Earl (Nick Bailey), the other two rally around her as only true friends can.

All is not lost, however. A baking contest offers another chance of escape as does an affair with her gynecologist Dr. Pomatter (a likeable Bryan Fenkart). Fenkart is adorable and the neurotic tendencies that he chooses to embody his character with produce much laughs.

Moreover, he and Oakley share some real sizzle. In the passionate, frenzied and rocking song "Bad Idea," the pair recognize the affair for what it is, but realize sometimes you "need a bad idea -just one." It is a momentary escape from the mundane lives the both find themselves trapped in.

As Dawn's equally quirky love interest Ogie, Jeremy Morse is a bit too over the top and at times seems to be channeling Leslie Jordan (from "Will & Grace"). This is an easy fix by director Diane Paulus (assuming she is checking in from time to time with the national tour). I caught Morse as a replacement in the original Broadway cast and his performance was a little bit more nuanced. As Morse's performance currently stands, it is somewhat hard to see the truth of Dawn and Ogie's romance as he is coming across as a closeted, Southern gay man.

Larry Marshall (who appeared in the Goodman's production of "Pullman Porter Blues" in 2013) shines as Joe, the diner's surley owner and frequent patron. He has taken a shine to Jenna, seeing in her a spark of potential that only needs to be encouraged for it to burst forth.

At this point, I think it is fairly easy to be dismissive of singer-songwriters who try their hands at writing a Broadway musical, but Bareilles' lyrics here have been especially under-rated and are worth praise. Particularly in the traditional Eleven o'clock powerhouse number (so blisteringly heartfelt and honestly performed by Oakley), Bareilles hits on a universal truth: "Sometimes life just slips in through a back door/and carves out a person and makes you believe it's all true."

To keep with the show's pie metaphor, few of us are ever truly in control of the ingredients/flavors that life provides us. Your options are to take what's given to you as is, or to craft those things into something unique. Bareilles has achieved the latter.

Simply put, WAITRESS is a slice of musical deliciousness.

WAITRESS runts through July 22 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph. Tickets range from $27-$105.. 800.775.2000. www.broadwayinchicago.com. www.waitressthemusical.com/tour

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