West End

London’s West End is the joint most well-known location for theatre goers worldwide, alongside Broadway in New York City.

Waitress the Musical opened for previews at the Adelphi Theatre on Friday 8 February 2019, before officially opening for press night on Thursday 7 March 2019. Competition winners were invited to attend a special preview dress rehearsal night on Thursday 7 February 2019. The set and staging is a replica of the Broadway production, with some minor blocking changes, and some local adjustments (the pie cabinets are lit with magenta, rather than blue light, whilst patrons arrive and during the interval/intermission) and some amendments to the script (Becky says ‘Liverpool’ instead of ‘New Jersey’ when suggesting where Jenna could open a ‘little pie shop’).

The main cast members were finalised in January 2018; aso of 4 January, only the roles of Joe, Male Swing #1 (Max Kumangai track) and Lulu, were unconfirmed. Rehearsals took place from Monday 7 January 2018, starting at the main hall in the American Church in London, on Tottenham Court Road, with David Massey working as Company Manager and Jordan James Taylor as Production Coordinator. Rehearsals took place with Diane Paulus; Sara Bareilles was unable to attend, as she was starring in the Broadway production, but flew over to London for the last week of rehearsals, ensuring she was present on the night it opened for previews. Sara personally introduced the show on 8 February 2019, and came on stage after the show ended for an impromptu thank you and acapella performance of part of her then-latest single, “Armor.”

The entire production team behind the musical, including Diane Paulus, Jessie Nelson and Sara Bareilles came on stage at the end of the official London press night performance on 7 March, with Sara leading the three tiers of the theatre in a three-part harmony of ‘sugar, butter, flour’ before she sang part of ‘What’s Inside‘. Others in attendance included Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Beverley Knight and Carrie Hope-Fletcher.

Guests who visited the diner during the preview period were issued with a special commemorative ‘Thanks for Being a Waitress Pie-oneer!’ pin badge.

The show was due to close on 4 July 2020, however, due to Boris Johnson advising that people should avoid theatres due to the global Coronavirus pandemic on the evening of Monday 16 March 2020, the Adelphi Theatre closed shortly before the scheduled performance at 7:30pm that evening.

On 27 March 2020, producers announced that it looked unlikely that the show would be able to re-open before 4 July 2020, leaving the final West End performance of Waitress being 14 March 2020, the last night that Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel were part of the cast, with the duo, and Natasha Yvette Williams, who only joined the cast that week, all leaving the show and returning to the USA due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cast

Original West End Cast

Cast Changes

  • Lulu – Fifi Christophers and Arabella Duffy
    Juliette Clemens-Lary, Annabelle Jones
    Lucia De Wan, Madison Worley

Milestones

On 6 May 2019, the London production celebrated their 100th performance, reporting:

  • 800 slices of pie eaten
  • 1700 cups of coffee poured
  • 230lbs of flour used
  • 2000 songs sung
  • 200 eggs cracked
TheatreAdelphi Theatre
Preview8 February 2019
Opening7 March 2019
Closed14 March 2020
‘Thanks For Being a Waitress Pie-oneer!’ Badge

Cast Album Karaoke

Following the success of Cast Album Karaoke evenings on Broadway, the West End production announced that they too would be holding monthly karaoke sessions, hosted by the cast and special guests.

On-Sale Pies

Mini Pie Jars were sold from the foyers at the Adelphi Theatre, based on the originals made by Cute As Cake in New York for the Broadway production. The original West End pie jars were created by The Theatre Café, London’s first-ever theatre-themed coffee shop. Three pie jars were available:

  • Apple Crumble
  • Chocolate Salted Caramel
  • Banoffee

On 20 June 2019, a new partnership was announced with London bakery Bread Ahead, known for its Borough Market, Chelsea and Soho bakeries. Three revamped pie jars were available:

  • Apple Crumble
  • Chocolate Salted Caramel
  • Lemon and Raspberry

Phone Message

As is usual with all Broadway and West End shows, Waitress has a pre-show message to ‘Now Turn Off Your Cellphone‘, recorded especially by Sara Bareilles, set to her song, “Cassiopeia” from her 2013 album, “The Blessed Unrest.”

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Following the success of supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Broadway, on Friday 18 October 2019, known a #WearItPinkDay, the London production changed the colour of the waitresses costumes from blue to pink, raising awareness for Breast Cancer Now.

Promotion

Selected members of the Waitress cast have promoted the show at various events.

Launch Party, Ronnie Scott’s, Soho – 25 September 2018

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.

Yamaha Music London, Soho – 27 April 2019

Katharine McPhee, David Hunter, Laura Baldwin and Marisha Wallace appeared at the Yamaha Music London store in Soho, performing ‘When He Sees Me‘, ‘I Didn’t Plan It‘ and ‘It Only Takes A Taste‘, as well as having a post-song Q&A, where they answered questions from the audience and from online fan questions. Katharine had her husband-to-be, David Foster, on FaceTime during the show so he was able to be present too.

TKTS Box Office, Leicester Square – 22 October 2019

Lucie Jones, David Hunter, Laura Baldwin, Joe Sugg, Charlotte Riby and Olivia Moore took part in an surprise outdoor performance at the TKTS Box Office in Leicester Square, performing ‘Opening Up‘ and ‘It Only Takes A Taste‘.