Sara Bareilles songs in the Waitress

It was no surprise then that when plans were made to turn the motion picture Waitress into a musical, pop star Sara Bareilles was the prime choice to create the songs. Based on a much-loved indie movie that starred TV’s Felicity, Keri Russell, it tells the story of how a woman trapped in a loveless marriage with an abusive husband uses the joys of baking pies to cope with her problems.

With a mantra of flour, butter, sugar and surrounded by delicious tastes and smells, Jenna, the waitress and baker in a diner survives life beautifully. That includes a surprise pregnancy and a young, good-looking obstetrician who is everything her husband isn’t. Now, maybe, if she wins the pie-baking contest in the next county she will have the cash to start a new life. A nice, little film, it was also well known for the brutal murder of its director Adienne Shelley in her New York office.

Back then, Sara was known as the girl behind the big hit Love Song that came out in 2007 and for which she was nominated for Best Female Pop Performance at the Grammys. A cut from her first album Little Voice, Love Song was also nominated for Grammy Song of the Year. It established Sara as an important songwriting and singing presence. Early on in her career she was easily distinguished for her soulful vocals, versatility with rhythms and innate feel for how the female psyche responds to surroundings and relationships.

Proofs of these are in songs like Bottle It Up, Gravity and Once Sweet Love in Little Voice. Also in I Choose You, Brave, Little Black Dress and Satellite in The Blessed Unrest. And I must say, in the entirety of the lovely Kaleidoscope Heart. Sara seemed like a dream machine churning out one beautiful song after another. I have a feeling that when she was asked to write music for Waitress, she simply made new labels for her piano sheets and recording machines with the title Waitress and then continued to compose.

 The results, first heard in Sara’s album What’s Inside: Songs From Waitress released three years ago, are superb. Sara got the picture down pat. Twelve new songs distilled the story. The romance, When He Sees Me, the whimsy, What’s Inside, the happy lover, Never Getting Rid Of Me and two heartfelt ballads that The Waitress will forever be known for, the reassuring You Matter To Me and the theme of defiant resignation in She Used To Be Mine. It was everything Waitress was and more.

After Waitress opened to raves and SRO crowds two years ago, Sara got her hands on her first nomination for a Tony Award. She also ventured into another show, the amusing Sponge Bob Square Pants and kept up the work on her new album which is set for release this month. Sara has been a very busy girl but I am sure her next album will be at par with her earlier releases.

Now, still about Waitress. I do not know if it was intentional or if it just happened but when Sara signed on to do the music for Waitress, she completed a very special creative team of talented women. The tragic Shelley directed and produced the film. Jessie Nelson, who also did I Am Sam is the writer. The Broadway director is Diane Paulus, who did the new Pippin. And then there came Sara, composer and lyricist. Completing the circle in the role of Jenna is Tony winner Jessie Mueller, star of the Carole King musical Beautiful and Broadway’s newest golden girl.

Thus, it will be every time a new production of the show opens anywhere. An actress playing Jenna will complete a new circle. Now, we are so honored to have the first foreign production of Waitress open here in Manila. London will be next in 2019. Directed by Bobby Garcia, this plays at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati until Dec. 2.

And I am glad that we have a very special actress that will surely meet the circle’s approval in the part of Jenna. Joanna Ampil, just back from being Grizabella in Cats and one of the first girls to follow in Lea Salonga’s footsteps as Kim in Miss Saigon, stars in Waitress. Also a Best Actress winner several times over for her work in the film Larawan, I am sure that like Sara’s music, Joanna will be superb as Jenna.