WAITRESS | UK TOUR @ EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE
★★★★
“This musical will leave you with the biggest smile on your face…”
From the rich red cherry pie with perfectly baked crust that provides a tempting preset for Waitress, there’s little doubt this delightful musical is a love letter to the humble pie, and at Joe’s Pie Diner there are 27 different fillings to choose from thanks to baker extraordinaire, Jenna Hunterson, a warm and winning performance from Carrie Hope Fletcher on fine, fine form.
Now enjoying its 10th Anniversary Tour, Waitress, based on Adrienne Shelley’s motion picture of the same name, remains a funny, joyous celebration of hope with a huge heart.
Waitress and expert pie-maker Jenna is Joe’s Pie Diner’s secret weapon – no one can make a pie like her. Never happier than when dreaming up new fillings, baking provides her escape in life, as it did for her mother who taught her everything she knows… while keeping her safe as a child. However, when Jenna falls reluctantly pregnant the discovery she now has a hot new doctor to look after means life is sure to get even more complicated.
Not to worry, however, there’s always fellow waitresses Becky and Dawn to help her overcome the challenges fate throws in her path, but then they do say laughter, love and friendship can always be relied on to provide the perfect recipe for happiness.
At the core of the piece, Fletcher, Sandra Marvin and Evelyn Hoskins as the three waitresses drive the action with impeccable comic timing and an easy chemistry. Wonderfully dry, Marvin in particular knows how to deliver a wicked one-liner.
Elsewhere, Dan Partridge, as Dr Pomatter, ramps up the comedy with some nice slapstick as the haplessly smitten medic; as Jenna and her doctor explore their fledgling attraction both Fletcher and Partridge capture the innocent clumsiness of youth which, in adults, is hilarious.
Good support comes from Mark Willshire as Jenna’s controlling redneck husband, Earl. Injecting a degree of darkness into the role he contrasts menacingly with the lighter characterisations around him. Hoskins and Mark Anderson, meanwhile, go completely OTT for laughs as dorky love-birds Dawn and Ogie.
As Old Joe, owner of Joe’s Pie Diner, Les Dennis crafts a knowingly grumpy old man blessed with wisdom and a heart of gold. It’s a touching performance cemented by a compassionate and unexpectedly emotional rendition of Take It From An Old Man – a beautiful moment with Fletcher who later mesmerises with her show stopping delivery of She Used To Be Mine.
With those exceptions, however, songs, while pleasant and enchanting in the moment, fail to linger in the memory. Many are carried by the comedic set-pieces that accompany them courtesy of choreographer Lorin Lattaro.
Credit too goes to Scott Pask’s expansive set design, which brings a cosy authenticity to this slice of Americana while leaving plenty of room for director Diane Paulus to work her magic and lift this production above the norm while ensuring that, despite its darker themes, this Waitress is never sentimental or maudlin and boasts an ending that will leave you with the biggest smile on your face.
Slice of Marshmallow Mermaid Pie anyone?
Full tour details and tickets HERE
