The recipe for a successful musical has never been found before. Or Waitress, by New York singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, has enough good ingredients to pass the ramp. Unfortunately, the work is sprinkled with too many good feelings to compare to the canons of the genre, like The Producers, West Side Story and other Hamilton.
“Sugar, butter, flour! » This leitmotif recurs throughout the show created on Broadway in 2016, revived in London, among others, before being adapted for the cinema last year. Waitress tells the story of Jenna (Marie-Eve Janvier), a woman in search of happiness who works in a diner in a small town in the South of the United States.
The waitress has talent for cooking succulent pies which she distributes to everyone. A passion inherited from his mother. Unfortunately, she did not give him the recipe for happiness. Between her backbreaking work and her toxic relationship with a violent and manipulative man, Jenna seeks emancipation. When she learns that her husband is pregnant, Jenna decides to keep the baby… even if she wants to leave home. Her two colleagues at the restaurant, Becky and Dawn, as well as her gynecologist for whom she has a crush, will help her free herself from her fate.
Entirely created by women (libretto, lyrics, music, direction and choreography), something rare on Broadway, Waitress is probably the first successful feminist musical. So much the better ! Because the sorority around Jenna to help her in her quest has universal resonances. And happiness has no gender.
Waitress is produced for the first time in French (texts and songs), under the direction of Joël Legendre. With a large cast of 17 performers, in addition to 6 musicians on stage. Joël Legendre skillfully directed his actors. The pace of the production is a bit floaty at times; the numbers, repetitive. But Waitress is a country-folk musical, not a large-scale musical. The choreographies are minimalist; the costumes and decor neat, but not flamboyant.
The production also doesn’t feature big voices like in other musicals. However, the interpreters are very accurate overall. Marie-Eve Janvier, very touching in the role of Jenna, lights up when she performs Cachée au fond de moi, the French version of She Used to Be Mine, the most beautiful song of the show; pure moment of grace and introspection of this character created by Jessie Mueller and taken over by Bareilles.
Renaud Paradis, Jonathan Gagnon, François Léveillée and Julie Ringuette are also very good. A special mention to Jonathan Caron who got a slap from the audience in his first appearance in the role of the nerd courtier, Ogie, at the end of his song I’m never going to ever leave. Unfortunately, this number, the most memorable of the evening, arrives at the end of the first act and is defended… by a secondary character.
This explains that. In our opinion, the weakness of Waitress lies in its libretto, itself adapted from the screenplay of Adrienne Shelly’s film. This story has no strong dramatic arc, and its characters are poorly developed, even caricatures. We do not understand why Jenna, “the queen of kindness and goodness”, insists on staying with her torturer of a husband. Even more, what is the trigger for her sudden emancipation, after giving birth? The most improbable turnaround we have ever seen in the theater!
In short, despite the undeniable qualities of the production, the talent of its artists and designers, this light musical comedy on a serious theme did not really touch us.