Fall in Love with Jenna and Her Female Companions in Waitress
Let’s hear it for Jenna, the indelible heroine in Broadway Utica’s upcoming show, Waitress. Adorable, spunky, and culinarily talented, this feminist fable takes the audience by storm as she bakes up hilarious concoctions like My Husband is a Jerk Chicken Pot Pie.
As this all-female creative team understands, Waitress’s storyline wouldn’t be complete without highlighting the dynamic role that friendship plays among women. For Jenna, who struggles with leaving her abusive marriage and small town, those women just happen to be the fellow waitresses inside Joe’s Diner, Becky and Dawn. While their daily blue-collar work-life forces them to come together, it’s their own internal struggles that give the audience a feel for who they are and how their characteristics make them an asset in Jenna’s life.
Dawn, whose crucially shy, hides away in her studio apartment, indulging in TV dinners and her rare turtle collection, in an effort to remain unromantically involved with anyone. After years of watching marriages and relationships fall apart around her, Dawn has succumbed to a fear of emotional connections. And, since there’s no cure for relationship scars, as she witnesses firsthand from Jenna and Becky, the best form of protection for Dawn seems to be relationship avoidance altogether.
While Dawn works to make herself emotionally unavailable, Becky struggles to remain faithful to her husband Phil. The hilarious, and generous waitress inside Joe’s Diner, Becky struggles to understand the unplanned moments in life, guilt, and her sacred vow to remain committed to her husband.
While there’s great appeal in a show that highlights women’s support of one another, there’s an even greater allure to watching those women win. From new relationships and opportunities to Jenna’s knowledge of an out-of-town pie baking contest, Waitress serves up the drama in prairie blue-skied diner and tops it off with a delectable array of brilliant scores written by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles.
Funny, and surprisingly uplifting, Waitress’s irresistible slice of life motto has a poignant appeal that will leave audiences enwrapped in ‘what baking can do.’
Waitress | March 22-23
The Stanley Theatre
www.BroadwayUtica.org
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