Adaptations
- Barry and Fran Weissler purchased the stage rights to the film 'Waitress' shortly after its release in 2007 and announced a musical adaptation to be in the works following the 2013 Tony Awards.
International Productions
- Waitress featured international productions including a non-replica debut in Manila, Philippines in November 2018, and a Spanish language version in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2019.
- The Japanese production of 'Waitress' was the first to open globally after the COVID-19 lockdown. It premiered in Tokyo on March 9, 2021, featuring Mitsuki Takahata and Mamoru Miyano.
- A Danish-language 'Waitress' production in Copenhagen was postponed to April 2021 and featured Maria Lucia Rosenberg and Lars Mølsted.
- Warsaw's Teatr Muzyczny Roma announced a Polish production of 'Waitress', becoming the fourth non-replica production worldwide.
- Waitress' Polish version, translated by Michał Wojnarowski, opened on May 30, 2021.
- In 2023, the Cameri Theater in Tel-Aviv scheduled the fifth non-replica production of 'Waitress', to be performed in Hebrew.
- The French-speaking premiere of 'Waitress' is set for the summer of 2024 in Montreal and Quebec City, starring Marie-Eve Janvier and produced by ComediHa!.
Production Facts
- Waitress is a musical that features an all-female production team including director Diane Paulus, composer and lyricist Sara Bareilles, book adaptor Jessie Nelson, and choreographer Lorin Latarro.
- The musical debuted on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in April 2016 following a successful tryout at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- Sara Bareilles played the role of Jenna during the 2021 limited Broadway engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, marking one of the few times a composer of a musical starred in their own work.
- During the Cambridge production of Waitress, Jessie Mueller, who played Jenna, won the IRNE Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
- On Broadway, real pies were warmed in the theater to create the aroma of a pie shop, enhancing the audience's immersive experience.
- The Broadway production of Waitress included multiple notable cast replacements, among them Sara Bareilles, Katharine McPhee, and Jordin Sparks as Jenna.
- The 2021 Broadway production of 'Waitress', starring Bareilles and Gehling, was filmed and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 12, 2023.
- In 2018, June Squibb's character in 'Waitress' on Broadway was changed from 'Joe' to 'Josie', leading to the modification of the song title and lyrics involving the word 'Man' to 'Ma'am'.
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