Hull New Theatre – until 5th February 2022
Reviewed by Catherine McWilliams
5*****
It may be set in a small-town American diner but Waitress provides the ultimate cordon bleu delight, a veritable smörgȧsbord of a musical that pulls at all the emotions. From the minute the cast sang in harmony about the need to switch off mobile phones they had the packed Hull New Theatre ready for desserts, and what a feast we were served.
With music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and the book by Jessie Nelson, Waitress is based upon the film written by Adrienne Shelley. This is not a sugar-coated light musical but one which will stretch your emotions and leave you at one moment horrified and in the next laughing out loud. Waitress is essentially a celebration of life and of the human ability to make the best of things and to rise above whatever life throws at us. The story revolves around Joe’s Diner and the waitresses who work there, Jenna (Chelsea Halfpenny), Becky (Sandra Marvin) and Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins). Jenna bakes all the pies for the Diner and this allows her to escape her life a little as she is not happy with her husband. No-one in Waitress has an easy time but their friendships sustain them, as is so often the case in life.
Chelsea Halfpenny is stunning as Jenna, her musical range is outstanding and the range of emotions she brings to her character is breath-taking. Her performance of “She Used To Be Mine” was utterly heart rending and the audience were totally engrossed as she sang, and I am sure I am not the only one who had goosebumps by the end of the song. There were periods when she was utterly silent and still on the stage and nobody moved a muscle in the audience either as we were too gripped by this story. Her fear of Earl (Tamlyn Henderson) was palpable as was the depths of joy and despair she felt with Dr. Pomatter (Matt Jay-Willis). The relationship with her friends Becky and Dawn were wonderfully believable.
Dr. Pomatter is played to perfection by Matt Jay-Willis, he has a stunning voice and the performance with Jenna of “You Matter To Me” was another breath-taking performance.
Sandra Marvin was superb as Becky, sassy and naughty but with her own hardships and sorrows. She has a fabulous voice, shown to its full advantage in “I Didn’t Plan It”. Evelyn Hoskins is suitably kooky as Dawn, seeking to find an on-line date and bringing much laughter to the performance.
Tamlyn Henderson oozed aggression and violence towards Jenna with minimal movement, at one point there was an audible gasp of horror from the audience. His desire that Jenna should promise not to love the baby more than him was frighteningly real.
Michael Starke as Joe, George Crawford as Ogie and Christopher D. Hunt as Cal, also played their parts to perfection.
Mention must go to the ensemble, who slickly and smoothly changed scenery, provided a variety of characters and the most sublime harmonies. This is a fast-moving performance, wonderfully choreographed, with an astounding number of props which were often flying around the stage. The orchestra led by musical director Ellen Campbell were on stage at all times and were excellent.
I was told that Waitress was a show I should not miss and I found this to be oh so true, I was totally blown away by the whole thing, sheer perfection from start to finish