Local Theatre Company Serves Up A Sweet Musical

Photo: Gene Schilling

With a slice of heart on the menu, a local musical is offering audiences some tasty baked goods.

Taking place at the Chrysler Theatre (located at 201 Riverside Drive West) on Friday, May 2nd, Windsor Light Music Theatre (WLMT) will kick off its two week run of Waitress. Nominated for several Toni Awards after debuting on Broadway in 2016, the contemporary show features music by Grammy nominated musician Sara Bareilles. Including hit song She Used To Be Mine, the story of friendship, discovery and growth is bound to immerse audiences with its heartfelt drama, humour and musical numbers.

Based on Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film of the same name, it’s a production director David Burrows has wanted to stage for a long time.

“As a director, I am always drawn to a good story,” he said. “I was already familiar with the original movie starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion and enjoyed the intimacy of the story and its uplifting message of hope. When it comes to musicals, I always say that a good musical begins with good music. Being a longtime fan of Sara Bareilles, I immediately was attracted to the beautiful songs she crafted to help tell this story. I had the opportunity to see the musical on its national tour and knew immediately that I wanted to direct the show and hoped that WLMT would someday give me the opportunity.”

Revolving around Jenna, Waitress finds the titular character working at Joe’s Pie Diner. Baking pies and using it as a way to distract from her unhappiness, a series of events is set into motion after co-workers Dawn and Becky urge her to take a pregnancy test. Finding out she’s indeed expecting, Jenna realizes it most likely happened with her abusive and selfish husband Earl while drunk.

Keeping the news from him at first, she soon becomes involved in an affair with her doctor while hoping to leave Earl by winning $20,000 in a pie baking contest. In the meantime, Dawn attempts to find love through online dating and Becky enters a romantic affair of her own. Although the end result may not be what anyone expects, the journey along the way will give audiences lots to enjoy and think about.

Despite having plenty of humour, the play doesn’t shy away from sensitive themes either. As a result, an intimacy director was sought out to address any issues before casting began.

“When I first proposed to direct the show, I was clear that I needed two things: A female assistant director and an intimacy director,” said Burrows. “I knew that they would bring a perspective to the sensitive themes of the show as well as help our cast deal with those issues in rehearsal and performance. I reached out to a friend who had worked with [intimacy director] Rebecca [Lashmar] in a previous production — they highly recommended her and gave me her contact information. [Lashmar] and I first spoke by phone and it was clear right away that she would be a great asset to our production.”

Using an open process, WLMT saw well over 100 people apply to be in Waitress. Upon starting in early December, auditions included vocals and dance. This resulted in a select few from the group being named to portray the musical’s main characters. In addition, an ensemble of 16 actors will also help tell the story and work like a Greek chorus. Rounding things out, a separate audition was later held to cast Jenna’s daughter Lulu.

With how Crucial music is to Waitress, this element was treated seriously during the process.

“From Day One, we knew we needed a cast of strong singers and not just strong voices,” said Burrows. “We needed people who could convey character through song, whether it meant being able to show Jenna’s vulnerability or tenacity or heartbreak, Dawn’s quirkiness, or  Becky’s more world-weary resignation. On top of that, we needed the three to be able to sing together and produce a strong vocal blend to give the sweet harmonies we hear in songs like Soft Place to Land. We were extremely fortunate to find three women in Alex Raisbeck, Sydney White and Lia Pizzutti, who deliver on all counts.”

Still, it wasn’t the only factor considered when casting the play.
“It isn’t just about singing, either,” said the director. “This is a show about relationships —  Jenna’s relationship with her friends, her husband, her doctor, her boss, etc. We are blessed to be able to have Alex’s real-life husband Justin Raisbeck play her doctor with whom she has a romantic entanglement. This is while also bringing in talented newcomer Tyler Jaques to play her on-stage husband.”

Focused on music, rehearsals with lead actors, the ensemble and pit chorus began in December. Learning complex harmonies quickly and confidently, it wasn’t long before the main cast moved onto discussions surrounding their characters.

Shaping each portrayal, in-depth conversations revolved around things like who the characters are, where they come from, how they know each other and their individual desires out of life. Putting a lot of thought into such backstory, the results have come through in everyone’s performances so far.

From there, a big part of putting the play together was approaching its mature themes. Exploring domestic abuse, infidelity and emotional trauma, Lashmar was a pivotal part of the process. Relying on her experience, Burrows was able to make actors feel comfortable as these topics were handled with care.

It also resulted in the development of protocols to maintain professionalism and ensure all voices were heard.
“Early on, we held an intimacy workshop where [Lashmar] taught us how to check in with our scene partners and talk about our comfort levels with physical touch,” said the director. “She also met with each of our leads privately to find out more about their comfort levels and boundaries. This has really helped us establish a framework for how scenes were staged and choreographed.”

Given how serious the musical is at times, finding the right tone in the lead-up to opening night was often challenging. Containing plenty of humour, the cast found itself laughing out loud at many scenes while also crying during sad songs and vulnerable moments at their first read-through. Even so, it’s how the director knew everyone understood the subject matter and why he thinks audiences will connect with it too.

Coming back to the music, however, having such high-quality songs also helps.

“It’s hard to pick a favourite song in a score as strong as this, but I’ll say that there is such charm and humour in the songs sung by the comic characters in the show,” said Burrows. “Dawn sings about her anxiety with dating in a song called When He Sees Me, but it is very funny. When she then meets her very persistent suitor Ogie, he explains that [and breaks into] You’re Never Getting Rid of Me and that song gets laughs at every turn. On the flip side, there is such beauty and heartache in a song like She Used to Be Mine that it’s hard not to list it as a favourite.”

Opening on Friday, May 2nd at the Chrysler Theatre, additional performances of Waitress will take place on May 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th and 11th. showtimes for Fridays and Saturdays are 7:30pm, while 2:00pm  matinees will be held on Sundays. Admission starts at $35 and tickets can be purchased online. ASL interpretation for the deaf and hard of hearing will also be provided by STAGE HANDS Windsor on May 9 with support from the City of Windsor’s Arts, Culture and Heritage Fund.

Debuting on Mother’s Day weekend, the director thinks it’s a perfect fit to mark the occasion as well.

“Above all, Waitress is a story of hope,” said Burrows. “At the beginning of the show, Jenna feels hopeless, stuck in a dead-end job in a small town and trapped in a loveless marriage. To top it off, she finds out she is pregnant. But she has a talent for baking that leads to an opportunity for a better life for her child. Meanwhile, she meets a man who makes her feel beautiful and desirable again. With the support of her friends, she seizes both opportunities and finds there is hope after all. In all of this, she takes inspiration from the memories of her mother and the lessons she learned from her. That makes this show a wonderful celebration of motherhood and a perfect Mother’s Day show.”