Reviews

What happens to Adrienne Shelly's iconic movie when a resolute pie-baking heroine is turned into a singing doormat in Sara Bareilles' musical "Waitress"?

What'll it be?

"Waitress" owes its sweetness to the mouth-watering goodness of Jessie Mueller.

One’s sorely tempted to praise the delightful new musical Waitress using lots of bakery metaphors. After all, its hero is a pastry genius with relationship woes named Jenna (Jessie Mueller). She’s a perky Southern gal who can confect a mouthwatering Mermaid Marshmallow Pie but can’t measure the right ingredients for happiness. So, unable to resist, here I go: Fresh and delicious, Waitress has an excellent ratio of sweet to tart; supporting characters who provide crustiness (Dakin Matthews’s grumbly store owner) and flakiness (Christopher Fitzgerald’s loony admirer of another waitress); and cooked-to-perfection staging by Diane Paulus. The whole dish is—please forgive me—love at first bite.

Jessie Mueller stars in a new musical that breaks new ground both on and off stage

This musical, set in a diner and scored by Sara Bareilles, centers on a woman stuck in an unhappy marriage.

First came Cyndi Lauper and “Kinky Boots.” Now Sara Bareilles and “Waitress” look ready to double down. Women dismissed for writing fluffy pop hits —...

Jessie Mueller is perfectly cast in “Waitress,” a big-hearted but heavy-handed new musical about a woman trying to change her life.

For a musical-comedy about a battered wife, an unwanted pregnancy and multiple spousal betrayals, “Waitress” is really very sweet. Sometimes, like the pies our beleaguered

Jessie Mueller's Jenna is an expert pie-maker dreaming her way out of a loveless marriage, in a musical based on Adrienne Shelly's 2007 film. Songs are by first-time composer-lyricist Sara Bareilles. You'll want

The Tony-winning actress is the strength that helps the new Broadway musical find its footing and shed some of its corny, Southern-fried trappings.

Picture a heaping slice of fresh Deep Dish Blueberry Bacon Pie just out of the oven, topped by a mound of whipped cream. The theatrical equivalent of that delectable treat—or maybe you’d prefer Devil’s Food Oasis Pie?—can be found at the Brooks Atkinson just now, where Jessie Mue

Tony winner Jessie Mueller plays an unhappily married diner server pouring love into her pies in this musical based on the 2007 indie hit, featuring a score by Sara Bareilles.

Sugar, butter, flour — there are plenty of those ingredients, particularly the sweet stuff, in the musical Waitress, which opened Sunday night…

"She is gone, but she used to be mine." I don't think anyone, hearing that lyric from Waitress, could escape feeling a rush of sadness and exhilaration.

There are good reasons to savor Waitress, the sweet and tart new musical confection about love and pie, deliciously performed at Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theater. Some of the reasons have nothing to do with what’s on stage.