West End veteran, Ruthie Henshall, hosted an official launch event at jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, introducing producer, Barry Weissler, and composer, Sara Bareilles, to the stage to talk about the show’s opening in London.

Guests were served savoury pies (Chicken and Chorizo, 4 Bean Chilli, and Beef and Horseradish) and sweet pies (Apple Crumble, Banoffee, and Strawberry and Cream), alongside drinks on arrival and were given a copy of Sara’s album “What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress.”

Sara performed her hit singles ‘Love Song’ and ‘Brave’ at the piano, before Gavin Creel joined her to perform ‘Bad Idea‘ and ‘You Matter To Me‘, ending with a solo performance of ‘She Used To Be Mine‘ and a Q&A from influences and journalists.

Sara said: “To now be coming to London to have a West End opening is beyond my wildest dreams for this show.”

She was asked if she would be starring in the West End production, and said: “I say never say never. I love being here, I love this show and I love the idea. I know that I won’t be opening the show because I’m working on a record and launching other projects, so it just isn’t going to work. I keep doing it – they can’t get rid of me in this show. I keep doing it in New York. I’ve done it twice now, where I’ve stepped in. Maybe this will be my retirement plan where I’ll hop into the shows of Waitress all over the world.

“When I began I thought that I would feel more of an ache to be up there and share the spotlight, but I got so much out of the watching the cast interpret the material and realised just how good they are and how much they bring out of the songs that I didn’t even know was there. I feel I got a master class in interpretation.”

She also spoke about how the show introduced her to her boyfriend, Joe Tippett. “We met on Waitress. He is here with me now. It’s great, it’s great. Two years!”