IT IS A rare treat that I get to review a musical about which I know very little – consequently seeing ‘Waitress’ the musical, was a bonanza of a discovery which is still ringing in my ears the morning after.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

The show is based on a 2007 movie written and directed by Adrienne Shelly.

Jessie Nelson wrote the book for the stage and Sara Bareilles supplied music and lyrics.

It seems fitting that director Diane Paulus and choreographer Lorin Latarro completed this all female production team to take it to Broadway and the West End.

Why fitting? It was a pre-Covid show at the height of the ‘Me Too’ uprising, which features a misogynist baddy.

The baddy in question is the narcissistic Earl, an intensely brutish outing from Tamlyn Henderson, the loathsome husband of Jenna our waitress, as in the title.

As well as waitressing, Jenna is the baker of fabulous pies at Joe’s Diner. She loves her job – it is her only respite from an abusive marriage. Jenna wants, indeed, plans to escape from Earl but disaster strikes when she discovers she is pregnant with his child.

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Wendy Mae Brown and Evelyn Hoskins play Becky and Dawn – the other two waitresses in Joe’s Diner.

They are both equally superb in their roles as supportive friends to Jenna with terrific back stories in their own right.

Chelsea Halfpenny is simply a tour de force as Jenna, faultless to the core and endearing in all she does – the applause that greeted her solo ‘She Used To Be Mine’ was roof raising.

Michael Starke as Joe the diner owner is downright endearing – he’s the polar opposite to despot Earl, an aging, caring gentleman of worth.  His rendition of ’Take It From An Old Man’ brought a big lump to the throat.

George Crawford is scene-stealing as the eccentric Ogie who woos Dawn after meeting online and finding they are kindred spirits and re-enactment geeks.

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Matt Jay-Willis gives a masterful performance as Dr Pomatter in a company that is just full of them. Jay-Willis captures the vulnerability of a shy, set-in-his-ways medic who discovers an all-consuming wild side. Having your pie and eating it is my ‘go see’ spoiler for you to muse on.

Everything about this show is joyous from the slick setting by Scott Pask to the fabulous orchestra under the baton of Ellen Campbell.

The story is as powerful as it is raucous and raunchy – it delivers on so many levels and develops like peeling an onion, with a fresh layer with every scene. It has impeccable pace and pitch and will have you laughing one minute and weeping the next.

Joe’s diner was indeed a delight and the waitresses delightful!

The show runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday, May 21. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

*****

Review by Euan RoseEuan Rose Reviews

WHEN the announcement came over the tannoy the show was going to be late starting due to ‘technical issues’, the audience waiting to get into the auditorium shared a smile – thinking it was all part of the performance.

For this is a comedy about a student theatre company staging a play that, as the title suggests, goes very wrong.

However, the technical issues were in this instance genuine and one can see why – this is a show that on the surface is all cleverly-timed slapstick, but underneath there are a myriad of props and staging that all have to be perfectly set in order that they can then go ‘wrong’ at the right moment. One prop incorrectly set can upset the timing of the whole show – and perfect timing is the key to getting the laughs.

The play is a play-within-a-play – The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society are setting the stage for their production of ‘The Murder At Haversham Manor’ and even as we enter the auditorium, things are not going well.

The company dog has escaped resulting in a search through the theatre, some of the scenery is not in in place necessitating the assistance of an unsuspecting member of the audience and the stage crew are panicking as curtain-up time approaches.

These antics have the audience giggling from the start. Once the play itself – a corny ‘whodunit’ – begins, we are treated to two hours of breathless entertainment that has the audience roaring with laughter.

The timing is perfection as everything on the stage begins to fall apart, actors are injured by falling sets, lines and cues are mistimed, props misplaced and the director has a breakdown as what should’ve been his theatrical triumph disintegrates around him. His actors take the ‘show must go on’ mantra to the max and this is what drives the comedy.

The writers of this piece of manic genius are Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the set designer is Nigel Hock and the tour director Sean Turner.

The ensemble cast work so brilliantly together that it would be churlish to single out any one performance. Each role requires huge amounts of physicality – not least when parts of the ‘set’ collapse, leaving them hanging literally on the edge as the audience gasp.

In fact, there were many ‘gasps’ mixed with the laughter as we marvelled at the technical wizardry – not so much a ‘whodunit’ as a ‘how did they do that’?

The Play That Goes Wrong runs at the Alexandra Theatre until Saturday, May 21. Click here for times, tickets and more information.

****

Review by Johannah Dyer.

Euan Rose Reviews