Meet Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of some happiness in her life. When a hot new doctor arrives in town, life gets complicated. With the support of her workmates Becky and Dawn, Jenna overcomes the challenges she faces and finds that laughter, love and friendship can provide the perfect recipe for happiness.
Starring Lucie Jones who reprises the role of ‘Jenna’ having recently played the part in the West End production of the show at the Adelphi Theatre. Lucie first came to prominence in 2009 when she reached the finals of ITV’s The X Factor. Since then, her many West End theatre credits include ‘Cosette’ in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre, ‘Victoria’ in American Psycho at the Almeida and ‘Maureen’ in RENT at The Other Palace.
Having played ‘Jessie Grant’ in ITV’s Emmerdale for two years, Sandra Marvin joined the West End production of Waitress to play ‘Becky’. Her many other West End theatre credits include most recently ‘Mrs Fezziwig/Mrs Mops’ in A Christmas Carol at the Dominion Theatre, City of Angels and Committee at the Donmar Warehouse, ‘Miss Motormouth Maybelle’ in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre, ‘Queenie’ in Show Boat at the New London Theatre. Sandra also sings the title track on the Grammy Award winning soundtrack for the George Clooney film, Gravity.
Evelyn Hoskins most recently played the role of ‘Dawn’ in Waitress in the West End at the Adelphi Theatre. Her other theatre credits include the title role in Carrie at Southwark Playhouse, Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith and in the West End, The Boy Who Fell Into A Book at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and The Secret Garden at Birmingham Rep.
Matt Willis is probably best known as a member of the double Brit Award winning band Busted, who have released four No1 UK singles, two platinum albums and sold over four million albums in the UK. No stranger to the musical theatre stage, his West End credits include ‘Fiyero’ in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria, ‘Nick Hurley’ in Flashdance at the Shaftesbury Theatre and most
recently ‘Bob Cratchit’ in A Christmas Carol at the Dominion Theatre.
WAITRESS is based on the 2007 movie written by Adrienne Shelly. Music and lyrics are written by GRAMMY award-winning, singer-songwriter sensation Sara Bareilles, wIth a book by Jessie Nelson, direction by Tony-award winner Diane Paulus and choreography by Lorin Latarro, Waitress has garnered multiple awards and nominations in both America and the UK, receiving acclaim from both audiences and critics alike.
WAITRESS opened on Broadway on 24th April 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran until 5th January 2020. Waitress celebrated its official opening night at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End on 7 March 2019.
Waitress is at The Milton Keynes Theatre until Sat 9 Oct (2:30pm & 7:30pm)
Box Office: 0844 871 7615 Online : ATGTICKETS.COM/MiltonKeynes
Review:
Some people like musical comedy, others like romance or drama or pathos or all four. Well you’re in luck because the best new musical for ages, Waitress has the lot!
Singing, or a particularly dramatic piece of acting, yes – but I’ve never witnessed applause just for a bit of business before and in this show it happens often!
The Director (Diane Paulus) and Choreographer (Lorin Latarro) must have not only worked very closely together – and they must both have an eye for detail! We saw props being handed out and put away as part of a dance routine, very neat! The set changes happen smoothly and seem to carry the audience from one situation to another seemlessly!
its very difficult to pick out a member of the cast that deserves special mention, because they all do. Lucie Jones, as Jenna was a revelation! She took us all through Jenna’s trials and tribulations beautifully with plenty of humour and when there was a need, brought the packed audience to tears.
Matt Willis as Dr Pomatter proves that after the success of Busted he is still guaranteed very good living in musical theatre. The duets between Matt & Lucie were a joy – especially the potential hit “You Matter To Me”
Sandra Marvin (Becky), Evelyn Hoskins (Dawn) and George Crawford (Ogie) added a huge amount both in the comedy and musically and were all so perfectly cast!
The whole ensemble deserve a mention, I could go on for pages – but the best idea is to go to MK Theatre and enjoy one of the best nights in the theatre you’ll have this year!
Ernie Almond.
Waitress is at The Milton Keynes Theatre until Sat 9 Oct (2:30pm & 7:30pm)
Box Office: 0844 871 7615 Online : ATGTICKETS.COM/MiltonKeynes
