The 2016 Broadway musical with music by Sara Bareilles, based on the 2007 film about a waitress and pie baker trapped in an abusive marriage, becoming Broadway’s most female-driven production with an all-female creative team and starring role.
What Baking Can Do
“Waitress” opened April 24, 2016, with Sara Bareilles writing the score (her first musical), Diane Paulus directing, and choreographer Lorin Latarro leading an all-female creative team - a Broadway first for a major production.
Jessie Mueller originated Jenna, a small-town waitress who bakes pies with inventive names reflecting her emotions (“I Hate My Husband Pie”) while navigating an abusive marriage, unplanned pregnancy, and affair with her gynecologist. “She Used to Be Mine” became Bareilles’s signature song and a modern musical theater standard.
The show’s revolutionary moment came when Bareilles herself stepped into the lead role (2017-2018), followed by other high-profile women: Katharine McPhee, Stephanie J. Block, Jennifer Nettles. The rotating star strategy kept the show fresh for 4 years.
In January 2019, the show made Broadway history with an all-female band, all-female creative team, and women in every major role including producers. That night’s performance became symbolic of women’s progress in theater’s male-dominated spaces.
“Waitress” closed January 2020 due to COVID-19, with a planned return that never materialized. Its legacy was proving female-driven stories could be commercially successful without male creative gatekeepers.