OKLAHOMA CITY — In the world of stage musicals, it’s usually standard practice to focus on a story of monumental and epic proportions, allowing the songs and choreography to express all the grand drama and heightened emotions in ways that realism never could.
Whether that’s sweeping political revolution, magical machinations, or even tear jerking fantasy escapism, the musical is often reserved for the most dizzying heights of drama and whimsy.
But then something like “Waitress” comes along and reminds you that there’s nothing bigger or grander than the simple, starkly real lives of everyday people.
The newest hot, homemade production of the Broadway hit is being served up by Oklahoma’s own Lyric Theatre in the Plaza now through March 2nd, with all the passion, regret, laughs, and heart-swelling music, but also with your own chance to share in the sweet, simple joys of pie.
Based on late writer/director Adrienne Shelly’s 2006 indie film hit – and then surprisingly twice-baked into a rousingly emotional stage musical with songs by pop singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles – “Waitress” is simply the tale of a small town diner waitress and expert pie-maker and the unexpected pregnancy that changes her whole world.
There are no wizards or witches, no explosions or barricades, and no magic (unless those pies really are magically delicious.) There are just the believably human tragedies and triumphs and transgressions of everyday life in America.
But it’s all made so powerful by the strength of the songs, the depth of the largely local performers, and the impressive staging of Lyric’s wonderful new production.
Through a gorgeous, color-changing pie crust proscenium, we’re introduced to Joe’s Pie Diner and its run-ragged staff, centering on head pie-maker and longtime short-order waitress Jenna Hunterson.
Jenna’s the typical, trapped Midwestern dreamer, quietly ambitious, loyal to a fault, and able to pour untold depths of creativity and imagination into the recipes for her heroic daily pie output.
It becomes quickly clear that she’s newly pregnant and none too happy about it, owing to her grating, terribly abusive husband, Earl.
We’re told by her supporting players just how skilled Jenna is, but we’re shown how deep her heart and mind both go by lead Lindsie Vanwinkle-Guthrie, who brings a remarkably layered, world-weary soul to the character, never once overselling the drama or overplaying her hand. She never feels like a theatrical creation just waiting to belt out a song.
Her Jenna feels real and scrappy and expertly grounded, so when she raises her voice to sing, it feels like it’s actually coming from the boisterous, ambitious spirit inside of her.
Lyric has a knack for great staging and design and production, but above all else, they’re about the music, and with this “Waitress” they prove once again that their greatest strength may be their ability to find voices that blend and harmonize so beautifully.
Jenna’s coworkers Becky and Dawn (played by Jaleesa Beavers and Hannah Beth Baker) each threaten to steal the show by turns with their own tumultuous love lives and impressive pipes. But save for the few supporting showcases and showstopping comic relief numbers, the focus is on Jenna and the other voices are there to whisk and layer with hers.
And that becomes especially true when she strikes up an impromptu and ill-advised affair with her new OBGYN, played by opera-trained Andrew Barker, whose expressively controlled and wide-ranged voice feels perfectly paired to Vanwinkle-Guthrie’s.
None of which would mean much, of course, without some great songs to sing, and “Waitress” luckily boasts a full score and lyrics by Bareilles, herself a shockingly talented pianist and arranger and a brilliantly clever lyricist even her own pop releases.
Her songs feel modern and immediately catchy, but without resorting to recent pop tropes or attempting to transcend the stage. You can always feel the characters and the story’s world in each song, whether singing about a lost parent or a life of slowly whittled regrets, or even a breathless, madcap declaration of frenzied love.
One of Bareilles’ most modern musical touches actually provides one of the show’s freshest elements, with a choppy, pre-recorded refrain of “sugar, butter, flour” creeping in every time that the lights dim and Jenna begins to concoct a new pie creation in her head.
Coming from outside the traditional musical theatre world clearly helped Bareilles to sidestep the common pitfalls of musical lyric-writing, like clunky exposition in song or overly saccharine lyrical emoting. Her songs throughout are pointed and smart and refreshingly mature.
The whole show is pretty mature, in fact.
Lyric often does a great job presenting family-friendly productions aimed at instilling a love of theatre in young children, but “Waitress” is decidedly not one of those productions.
This show openly celebrates sex, revels in its scenes of rauchiness and vulgarity, and doesn’t obscure or water down its few moments of teeth-clenchingly scary – and tragically realistic – domestic violence.
It’s all in service of remaining stubbornly real and of bringing that stage-sized drama and musical whimsy to the realistically messy and humanistically complicated lives of simple people in a simple town, layering music and song into the lives that we build and bake for ourselves.
It’s a story about making decisions – even really bad ones – and about genuine friendship between women and about the spaces that come to occupy our whole lives just like the diner set that never changes or leaves the stage, no matter what other setting Jenna is in.
It’s a wonderful, quietly powerful and heartfelt show, bursting with foot-tappingly memorable songs and marvelous performances, and it may well be Lyric’s very best production in recent memory.
For times, tickets, and more information, visit lyrictheatreokc.com, and to order your very own slice of pie for the show’s intermission, visit piejunkie.com.
You can find out about local music and performance happenings in the OKC metro weekly in this music column by Brett Fieldcamp. | Brought to you by True Sky Credit Union.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
