THEATRE REVIEW

JUNE 2025 | Volume 252

 

The Arts Club’s summer musical, Sara Bareilles’ Waitress, confirms a number of truths about Vancouver theatre. 1) Our region has a plethora of musical theatre talent. 2) Ashlie Corcoran is a terrific musical theatre director. 3) As the Arts Club shifts away from serious drama and vies with Broadway Across Canada for Vancouver’s lucrative musical theatre business, musicals are becoming more and more the company’s bread and butter.

Waitress isn’t so much a matter of bread and butter as it is flour, sugar and butter, the central ingredients of the imaginative, scrumptious pies Jenna (Rachel Drance) makes for Joe’s Pie Diner, the small-town eatery where she works as a waitress. Pregnant and trapped in a terrible marriage, what’s a girl to do?

Adapted from the 2007 movie, Jessie Nelson’s script combines serious themes and cartoon-cute characters in a combination that didn’t always work for me. But Bareilles’ music and lyrics plus an excellent Arts Club company, Drance’s strong central performance, and Corcoran’s snappy direction provide the recipe for a first-rate feel-good entertainment.

In the face of her grumpy boss Cal (Ben Elliott), the diner’s even grumpier owner Joe (Tom Pickett)—both turn out to have hearts of gold—and her nasty narcissistic husband Earl (Jacob Woike), Jenna has some girl-power alliesin fellow waitresses Becky (Ashanti J’Aria) and Dawn (Sarah Cantuba). But when Jenna finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy, the only way she can see escaping her unhappy marriage would be winning the big cash prize in a pie-baking contest.

Pies are everywhere in Waitress: in the lyrics that establish the roots of Jenna’s identity in her mother’s kitchen, as a guide to Jenna’s plot (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Pie; I Wanna Play Doctor with My Gynecologist Pie), in Shelley Stewart Hunt’s choreography as the dancers often have full pie plates strapped to their hands, in sex scene (oh yes), and in Jenna’s stage business. Often, as Jenna speaks and sings, she also mixes real ingredients in a bowl, casually, in real time—cracking eggs, pouring melted butter, chocolate, flour, sugar,whatever ingredients the pie calls for. This is very cool to watch. Kudos to the director and to the actors, Drance especially, for being so well rehearsed that they never miss a beat or fumble a prop.

Jenna will find her feminist strength in the end with the help of her waitress gal pals, tough Becky and very funny Dawn, but not before a couple of guys threaten to steal the show. As per one of those pie titles, Jenna does get involved with her handsome, humane gynecologist Dr. Pomatter (KamyarPazandeh), who is also very funny and harmonizes beautifully with Drance in their duets. And Dawn finds her Mr. Right in ultra-goofy, hilarious Ogie (Josh Epstein), a non-stop riot. Their wedding is a highlight of the show along with their Betsy Ross and Paul Revere costumes (Cory Sincennes’ design) and a three-couple sex scene (I’d rate it PG-13).

I haven’t said enough about Drance’s performance. This is very much her show and she carries it with a strong singing voice, fine acting and a lovely presence. But good theatre, especially musical theatre, takes a village. Musical Director Caitlin Hayes gets a very full sound from her six-piece band. Credit to Sincennes’ handsome set and the way the ensemble dances the seamless scene changes. And that ensemble shines. Other than New Yorker J’Aria, excellent as Becky, every cast member is local and there are absolutely no weak links.

 

 

 

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