Mix together one poignant storyline, a heaping tablespoon full of great actors, sift in enchanting songs and you have baked the scrumptious musical, Waitress. The Engeman Theater in Northport has done it again and in the professional, grand style that it is known for with this tale that will keep you savoring every last drop.
These are ordinary characters with flaws and as such we are compelled to sympathize with them. The setting is a small-town southern diner with its exact location deliberately not given. Jenna is a waitress and expert pie maker, a talent she learned from her mother. Baking pies is Jenna’s outlet from an abusive, self-centered husband, Earl.
He is so unpleasant that her friends don’t invite him to their parties. Jenna dreams of finding a way out, and when a county baking contest is announced, her waitress friends, Dawn and Becky, encourage her to enter. Jenna decides to do so, thinking it might be her ticket to freedom. More complications enter Jenna’s life when she learns that she is unexpectedly pregnant. Instead of rejoicing, she is worried about bringing a baby into this miserable marriage.
When she finally reveals her pregnancy to Earl, he spits out, “You gotta make me a promise that you’re not going to love that baby more than me.” An audible gasp is heard from the audience at such a heartless warning.
Jenna has some support on her side with kind-natured Dawn, sassy Becky, and Joe, the owner of the diner, a curmudgeon but wise and caring. At her first gynecological appointment, Jenna meets endearingly awkward new obstetrician, Dr. Jim Pomatter. She offers him pie, but he turns it down, explaining he doesn’t eat sugar. Later, he takes a taste and falls instantly in love with the pie and Jenna.
Dawn and Becky have romantic interests as well. When Jenna and Becky help Dawn write a dating profile, she meets Ogie, an impassioned poet and amateur magician who falls head over heels for Dawn and their mutual obsession over Revolutionary War enactments seals the deal for both. Becky, who is in a loveless marriage, seeks alternatives and angrily tells the girls, “Don’t sit in judgment of what makes us human.” This stirring tale of struggles, empowerment, sisterhood and possibilities that lie just beyond is captivating.
The Tony-nominated musical Waitress, with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson, is based on the 2007 film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, starring Keri Russell. The musical opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in April 2016 and ran through January 2020. In September 2021, it returned to Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre starring Sara Bareilles as Jenna. Shelly, who was murdered in 2006, never saw her film’s premiere.
The Engeman’s director, Marc Tumminelli keeps us riveted and creates gorgeous tableaus with the lead actors and vibrant ensemble. Chessa Metz (Jenna), who recently appeared in Broadway’s Suffs, grasps hold of our hearts from the start and doesn’t let go until curtain call. Metz’s natural take on Jenna, combined with her stunning soprano, is irresistible. Laraisha Dievelyn Dionne’s wisecracking waitress Becky has a powerful mezzo soprano that explodes with emotion in her songs like “I Didn’t Plan It.” She’s a no-nonsense person and her scenes with Cal (Adam Du Plessis), the short-tempered, short-order cook, add humor and a measure of surprise.
Kalea Leverette as Dawn is adorable and her interaction with Ogie (Matthew Dengler), the quirky guy she meets from the dating site, is hysterical. Dengler really digs into his Ogie character and keeps the audience erupting in laughter. Jack Cahill-Lemme as Dr. Pomatter is delightfully awkward with an impressive tenor. Metz and Cahill-Lemme have obvious chemistry which makes their relationship and duets on songs like “It Only Takes a Taste” and “You Matter to Me” come alive.
Gregory North as diner owner, Joe, is just the right mix of cranky and caring. His “Take It From An Old Man” is so touching as he offers words of wisdom to Jenna. Trevor St. John-Gilbert creates an appropriately detestable Earl. He is so good playing this villain that he elicits gasps from the audience. T’Arica Crawford as Nurse Norma is so much fun as she spurts sarcastic one-liners with scrutinizing eyes.
The creative team has delivered on all cylinders. Felicity Stiverson’s choreography is poetry in motion. Conductor Brian Sweeney and the band drive on Bareilles’ intoxicating score with gusto.
Kyle Dixon has created a visually attractive set washed in pale turquoise and pinks with stack tables that smoothly roll in and out when needed. Lighting by John Burkland punctuates each scene with just the right mood while Laura Shubert’s sound adds crispness to the vocals.
Waitress inspires all of us not to settle, but to bravely reach for the happiness we deserve that might be waiting just outside our door.
Catch Waitress at The Engeman Theater now through April 27.
John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main Street, Northport. engemantheater.com 631-261-2900
