One of Milwaukee’s best-known theater companies, Skylight Music Theater, opens its 65th season in one of the city’s most beautiful venues, the Broadway Theatre Center. Their inaugural production, Waitress: The Musical, opened October 4 and continues until nearly the end of October.
Waitress is, in many senses, a “small” musical. It deals with family and work relationships in a certain small town. But Waitresshas always attempted to be something bigger, too.
Indeed, the most positive thing about Waitress is the spotlight it casts on domestic violence. This important topic is told with candor and far more dignity than one could expect from a show that often goes for laughs.
Waitress began its journey as an independently produced 2007 film. Impressed by its message and characters, Grammy Award-winner Sara Bareilles (music, lyrics) and Jessie Nelson (book) began turning the film into a musical. The musical opened on Broadway in 2016, and not long afterwards, a national tour was announced. In the following years, the musical played in London and was subsequently revived briefly on Broadway. In the 2021 production, Sara Bareilles took the role of Jenna, the pie-baking heroine of this show.
Not only does Jenna bake the most delicious pies in the world (all of the characters agree on that), she’s trying to scrape together a living as a waitress. But that’s not all: she learns that she’s pregnant while in the midst of trying to get away from an abusive husband.
Throughout all the turmoil, Jenna (played in the Skylight version by Julia Levinson) is supported by a couple of loyal co-workers: the loud-mouthed Becky (in a nicely done turn by Raven Monique Dockery), and the shy, demure Dawn (Alex Merkel, whose performance eventually rises to comic heights). Both actors get plenty of chances to flex their comedic skills amid all the goings on at Cal’s diner, where they work the day shift with Jenna.
In the Skylight production, Cal, the diner’s manager, is played by one of Milwaukee’s leading men, Andrew Varela. While Varela hits the mark in terms of the cranky yet soft-hearted Cal, it’s a shame that he doesn’t have a song to call his own. Varela’s voice has been used much more effectively in other Skylight productions, such as Candide (Dr. Pangloss), Evita (Peron) and Les Misérables (Javert). Nationally, Varela has performed as both Javert and Juan Valjean in national tours of Les Misérables.
Skylight newcomer Julia Levinson makes a very positive impression as Jenna. Levinson makes Jenna a particularly sympathetic figure, who tries “not to hurt anyone” as she makes difficult decisions about her future. Some of the hard decisions involve her husband, Earl, a buffoonish braggart and narcissist. Actor Jared Brandt Hoover wisely tempers his portrayal of “bad guy” Earl. Earl reminds Jenna that he” rescued” her years ago after her mom died and her father slid further into alcoholism. However, he is oblivious to the fact that his temper only pushes Jenna farther away. The desperate Jenna tries to save money for her entry into a baking contest. Winning the contest could free her from Earl’s grasp.
While Jenna may earn sympathy points from the Far Right for going through with her pregnancy regardless of the circumstances, she probably bends her halo a bit when she finds love in all the wrong places. Affection-starved and worried about her future, Jenna has an affair with a married male gynecologist, Dr. Pomatter (played with charm and an appealingly boyish manner by Matthew Kacergis).
More surprises are in store, but there’s enough foreshadowing to see where this musical is going. Eventually, Jenna manages to break free from both Earl and Dr. Pomatter to strike out on her own.
After the audience becomes acquainted with most of the characters, a late arrival by Dawn’s would-be boyfriend, Ogie (Brade Bradshaw), upsets the apple cart and brings a new level of hilarity to the proceedings. If nothing else, Bradshaw’s performance alone is a reason to see Waitress.
Director/choreographer Lisa Shriver crafts Waitress into an appealing mix of comedy and reality. Best of all, the rarely-considered topic of domestic abuse is both talked about and seen, to a point where some audience members can undoubtedly relate. Skylight administrators recommend this production for audiences age 13 and up.
While most of Skylight’s musicals manage to “get by” with a handful of musicians in its live orchestra, this production seemed to need a richer sound. In any case, Janna Ernst’s music direction is pitch perfect. A piecemeal set design by Jonathan Berg-Einhorn seems to import just enough elements to be believable. Costume designer Lisa Quinn gives proper attention to the entire cast, whether it means waitress outfits or Revolutionary War re-enactment costumes.
