Review of WAITRESS at Theatre Cedar Rapids

 Waitress by Lots o people

Marita May O’Connell has a wonderful voice and a lithe winsomeness in the title role of Jenna in Waitress at the Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR), Still, she cannot carry a flawed book and a director who had a hard time controlling focus and keeping the supporting characters from going wild.

It is hard to know where to start here, but let’s note this adaptation from a long-shot winner at the Sundance Festival has been meddled with by a later film (which was pretty successful) and at least two Broadway re-incarnations. I haven’t seen any of them, but I find the coherence of the central image--a young woman from the south who has a lousy marriage and a penchant for making pies lacking. 

Think for a minute. Why pies? They are creamy sweet and happy. But a woman whose major goal in life is to bake them is consigned to the kitchen and apparently a group of men who want them to stay there and be pregnant. What would change in this piece if Jenna wanted to be a computer programmer? Earl remains a stupid redneck asshole with or without confining Jenna to the kitchen. Oogie would be an intolerable boor all the same. It is hard to believe that sensitive Jenna and shy little Dawn would find them attractive with or without a slice of pie, but if the women all had ambitions beyond waitress, those male creeps would be gone in a flash. And then there is our adultery-fueled sexual predator doctor. I am sure he would have jumped at the opportunity for some office nooky even if Jenna’s irrational smooch had not been offered? Pie does not deepen or help explain the plight of a pregnant woman in a bad relationship who tries to work through her issues by sleeping with her doctor? Is pie an aphrodisiac since her best friends are still copulating up a storm with nasty or looney men?  Let’s face it, this ship was leaking before it left the port. And that was before Jenna had apparently got drunk and been impregnated by her unprotected slob of a husband. 

I’ll mention two other areas briefly that contributed to my negative reaction. In the first act, the sound of the orchestra was so loud that it was hurting my wife’s ears. The amped-up mikes of the actors increased the din to the point that when I checked with several people in our group at the intermission, none of them could understand the lyrics or dialogue. Had we not been with the group, my wife and I would probably have left then and there. Thank goodness the sound engineer got that issue under better control in Act II and we could understand a bit more of what was going on and being sung about. 

I am still also bothered by the problem of figuring out what year this all took place. Pretty much before cell phones, but then Earl pulls one out to take a photo. Wierd! Certainly the woman's movement did not seem to have reached this southern town. Not much clue in the costumes either as the hemlines were all over the place. Dawn goes lime green stripes and pulls focus wherever she moves in the second act. Then there is the wedding in the cafe rather than a church. Maybe love is a table, but Evangelical Christianity which is a strong feature of the South, only gets a cursory treatment and a teenage pastor. . 

That brings me to the chorus or ensemble that meanders in and out at various times. They seemed to be more of a distracting background of unmotivated movement than a critical part of the action. Their contributions were limited to providing a desultory dance or two and some occasional backup vocals. The director appeared to have little interest in spending time with them. Most were young and needed a stronger hand on how focus works on a stage. My sense they were often marking time while waiting for their next contribution.     

TCR has done much better work than this.