Review: Waitress - A slice of perfect theatre pie!

For one week only, Waitress is bringing it’s 10-year anniversary tour to the Palace Theatre in Manchester. A show bringing sweet delights and a heartwarming success story that will keep smiling for weeks.

The story follows Jenna, a waitress with a gift of pie making at a diner but finds herself stuck between unplanned pregnancy and a husband she despises. Although that can be read as a sad story but far from it and in fact, it is one of the most enjoyable narratives I’ve ever seen.

Everything in this show had that rustic American charm to it, and it was pitched at the perfect level. I loved the musical numbers too – It’s always great to have original songs in musicals, I always prefer that to the Jukebox musical standards, and some of these songs were excellent – even the nuance numbers and the small instances of ‘Sugar’ ‘Butter’ throughout had just a different energy to any other show I’ve had the pleasure of seeing.

I did notice that this musical wasn’t massive for ‘musical numbers’. The songs? All excellent and they were matched with not a massive amount of dancing which is very different but was very welcomed, it championed a real story rather than distorting reality.

On to some of these exceptional performances starting with the main event herself, Carrie Hope Fletcher playing the lead of Jenna. What a wonderful performance it was. Fisher had the perfect temperament for this role and had the audience on side with everything she did. All the songs she sand were wonderful but the most captivating song home and away of the evening was ‘She used to be mine’ – the ovation she received was so long and it still felt it deserved more. The emotion and the power in that number was just wonderful and something I will remember for a long long time.

Becky and Dawn, played by Sandra Marvin and Evelyn Hoskins respectively, were the two best companions of Jenna you could hope for and the two characters had such wonderful personalities that radiated the stage. The warmth and humour brought to the roles by these two were really special and it was a pleasure to be able to experience it.

Now – Les Dennis, what a bloke! An absolute gent of the industry and he was fantastic in this production. I don’t know what to expect with him playing Joe but he was wonderful and his rendition of ‘Take it from an old man’ was just one of the most precious things ever!

Finally Dan Partridge as Dr. Pomatter was the final piece to the perfect puzzle that was this show. His awkward manner and comedic timing made his every interaction with Jenna like the perfect rom-com. You know they did the perfect job when you leave the theatre wanting them to be together!

This show isn’t just a musical – there is an element of life, and what it means to be happy. The memories you carry with yourself as well as allowing yourself to do what you truly need to. It is a great piece of theatre and should not be missed. You can grab your tickets at:

https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/waitress/palace-theatre-manchester/