Bleecker Street has released the trailer for Waitress: The Musical, a Hamilton-style big-budget blockbuster shot using the cast, book, and sets of its Broadway presentation. The movie, which will star Bareilles, is based on the 2007 movie of the same name, in which Keri Russell starred as a small town baker and waitress named Jenna, who is looking for a way out of an abusive relationship. After becoming pregnant, Jenna begins an affair with her doctor. Desperate for the money and opportunity that could get her away from the bad situation, she puts her hopes on a pie-making contest.
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In a The Producers style switcheroo, the play based on a movie, will now get a movie based on the play’s book, complete with music by Bareilles. Unlike The Producers, though, it won’t be a big-budget feature film. Instead, as Disney did with Hamilton, the Waitress movie is a filmed version of a special performance of the play.
Waitress debuted on Broadway in 2016, and then had a national tour from 2017-2019. In 2019 and 2020, the play was performed at London’s West End. The performance filmed for commercial release took place in 2021. In 2016, the show was nominated for Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Performance By a Leading Actress (Jessie Mueller), and Best Performance By a Featured Actor (Christopher Fitzgerald) at the Tony Awards. The next year, the soudntrack was nominated for a Grammy.
You can see the trailer below.
Here’s the synopsis: Waitress: The Musical brings the Tony-nominated Broadway phenomenon to the big screen. Featuring composer-lyricist Sara Bareilles as Jenna Hunterson, a waitress and expert pie maker stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage. When a baking contest in a nearby county offers her a chance at escape, Jenna fights to reclaim a long-forgotten part of herself. Through the support of her fellow waitresses and an unexpected romance, Jenna begins to find the courage to take a long-abandoned dream off the shelf. Waitress celebrates the power of friendship, dreams, the family we choose and the beauty of a well-baked pie.
Besides Bareilles, Waitress stars Eric Anderson, Charity Angél Dawson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Drew Gehling, Caitlin Houlahan, Dakin Matthews and Joe Tippett. Michael Roiff, Barry and Fran Weissler, Bareilles, Nelson, and Paul Morphos serve as producers, with Alecia Parker as an executive producer.
Waitress: The Musical will have a one-week theatrical engagement beginning on December 7.
