Adelphi Theatre
Date: 17 April (Wednesday), 2:30pm
Seats: Stalls Row J 30-31
(Seen with Jess!)
Lulu was played by Fifi Christophers in this show.
Notes: After our success last night getting Rush for Six, we still planned to line up on Wednesday morning to get day seats for Waitress at the Adelphi. Jess and I had actually planned on going last week but we had both had to reschedule due to handypeople coming to do work on our houses. So even though we'd been out late the night before, we arrived at the theatre at 8:30am outside the Adelphi. Waitress isn't currently doing any offers on TodayTix or other cheap places, but they do day seats for 25 at the theatre itself. When we arrived, there were 5 people in front of us, which surprised me for a double show day in the holidays, so we managed to get J 30 and 31 in the stalls for just 25 each (the actual seats seem to be 72.50 full price!).
We spent the morning wandering around the city, until it was time to head into the theatre. One of the best things? The theatre smells like pie! They bake fresh apple pies in a room tucked away before every show and waft the scent into the foyer for that authentic pie smell. Our seats were on quite the angle, but the view was pretty great. During the interval we tried the pies that they sold in little glass jars - they were more like cheesecakes, and honestly, much too sweet for me! I ate about 2/3rds of my salted caramel one, but then spent the next 20 minutes or so feeling ill and regretting it (and I didn't end up finishing it in the end). I would recommend the souvenirs though, they have some really really sweet (pun fully intended!) things! I got a pair of tea towels which have pictures of pie and baking things on, which I thought were the perfect thing.
One thing I really enjoyed was the staging. With it being a show about baking, there are a lot of props, so the ensemble spent a lot of time flitting quietly around the stage handing bowls and ingredients to the main cast members. It worked really well, and they used real things on stage (sugar, butter, flour) so they must have uncooked mixtures after every show! The band also came on for all the diner scenes to add to the vibe for it, which added to it.
I adore the music for this show - I've known it a long time, having listened to the soundtrack for a while. The music is by pop singer Sara Bareilles, whose music I love already and it lends the show a really nice cohesive soft pop sound. There are also a few ballads which I love (What Baking Can Do is my favourite, I think). There are funny songs, but the show is a serious one which has a real proper message and that is the undertone throughout. It's all about living your best life, as they say, being happy and not just 'happy enough''.
Part of the reason I was so excited to see this show was to see Katharine McPhee! She was in one of my favourite short-lived series, Smash, a tv show about a Marilyn Munroe musical. And she is just so talented. Occasionally she came across as cold, but I think that is just Jenna withdrawing from the world and hiding so she doesn't have to feel. And her two best friends were phenomenal, almost more fleshed out than Jenna (I guess because they go through less of a journey?). Marisha Wallace (Becky) was so fierce and her song completely blew me away - I was just not expecting how punchy it would be! Laura Baldwin (Dawn) was wickedly funny and is almost the little anxious voice that everyone has in their head wondering if they'll ever be good enough. Their bond as friends was so tight and it was amazing to see great female characters supporting each other.
As to the gentlemen, I adored David Hunter (Dr Pomatter). He was super adorable and cute and kept making so many goofy mistakes which made everyone laugh as he was so earnest. Peter Hannah (Earl) was a great actor, but Earl is such an awful character (I mean, he's basically the bad guy) that his cheer at the end was actually equal parts cheer and boo! It was a great performance but it's hard to like him. And then there's Jack McBrayer. He is best known for TV and movies and was the 'star draw' for this show (while Katharine McPhee has also been in TV she is much less well known), and he was really hamming it up for the audience. It turned Ogie into such a caricature, which I didn't like. That being said, I also find Ogie a bit problematic at the beginning of his introduction, as he is overly pushy and doesn't allow Dawn to refuse him (with lyrics like "I'm not going, if it seems like I did, I'm probably waiting outside") which doesn't sit right with me.
But overall I adore the show as a whole, and it was sad to hear that despite the stalls being busy, that it isn't selling as well as they would like but they don't seem to have many offers for tickets other than day seats. I would definitely see it again, but it was a bit too cold to line up and I think I'd only go again if there was an online offer.
We spent the morning wandering around the city, until it was time to head into the theatre. One of the best things? The theatre smells like pie! They bake fresh apple pies in a room tucked away before every show and waft the scent into the foyer for that authentic pie smell. Our seats were on quite the angle, but the view was pretty great. During the interval we tried the pies that they sold in little glass jars - they were more like cheesecakes, and honestly, much too sweet for me! I ate about 2/3rds of my salted caramel one, but then spent the next 20 minutes or so feeling ill and regretting it (and I didn't end up finishing it in the end). I would recommend the souvenirs though, they have some really really sweet (pun fully intended!) things! I got a pair of tea towels which have pictures of pie and baking things on, which I thought were the perfect thing.
One thing I really enjoyed was the staging. With it being a show about baking, there are a lot of props, so the ensemble spent a lot of time flitting quietly around the stage handing bowls and ingredients to the main cast members. It worked really well, and they used real things on stage (sugar, butter, flour) so they must have uncooked mixtures after every show! The band also came on for all the diner scenes to add to the vibe for it, which added to it.
I adore the music for this show - I've known it a long time, having listened to the soundtrack for a while. The music is by pop singer Sara Bareilles, whose music I love already and it lends the show a really nice cohesive soft pop sound. There are also a few ballads which I love (What Baking Can Do is my favourite, I think). There are funny songs, but the show is a serious one which has a real proper message and that is the undertone throughout. It's all about living your best life, as they say, being happy and not just 'happy enough''.
Part of the reason I was so excited to see this show was to see Katharine McPhee! She was in one of my favourite short-lived series, Smash, a tv show about a Marilyn Munroe musical. And she is just so talented. Occasionally she came across as cold, but I think that is just Jenna withdrawing from the world and hiding so she doesn't have to feel. And her two best friends were phenomenal, almost more fleshed out than Jenna (I guess because they go through less of a journey?). Marisha Wallace (Becky) was so fierce and her song completely blew me away - I was just not expecting how punchy it would be! Laura Baldwin (Dawn) was wickedly funny and is almost the little anxious voice that everyone has in their head wondering if they'll ever be good enough. Their bond as friends was so tight and it was amazing to see great female characters supporting each other.
As to the gentlemen, I adored David Hunter (Dr Pomatter). He was super adorable and cute and kept making so many goofy mistakes which made everyone laugh as he was so earnest. Peter Hannah (Earl) was a great actor, but Earl is such an awful character (I mean, he's basically the bad guy) that his cheer at the end was actually equal parts cheer and boo! It was a great performance but it's hard to like him. And then there's Jack McBrayer. He is best known for TV and movies and was the 'star draw' for this show (while Katharine McPhee has also been in TV she is much less well known), and he was really hamming it up for the audience. It turned Ogie into such a caricature, which I didn't like. That being said, I also find Ogie a bit problematic at the beginning of his introduction, as he is overly pushy and doesn't allow Dawn to refuse him (with lyrics like "I'm not going, if it seems like I did, I'm probably waiting outside") which doesn't sit right with me.
But overall I adore the show as a whole, and it was sad to hear that despite the stalls being busy, that it isn't selling as well as they would like but they don't seem to have many offers for tickets other than day seats. I would definitely see it again, but it was a bit too cold to line up and I think I'd only go again if there was an online offer.
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