Theater Review: WAITRESS (San Francisco Playhouse)

IF THE HEAT IN AMERICA’S KITCHEN IS GETTING
YOU DOWN, HEAD TO WAITRESS AT SF PLAYHOUSE

San Francisco Playhouse has delivered an incredible gift for the winter holiday season: Waitress, Jessie Nelson’s stage adaptation of Adrienne Shelly’s popular 2007 film of the same name, with a compelling rock score by singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles. The show opened November 27 and is slated for an unusually and deservedly long run, through January 18.

Ruby Day

Beach Blanket Babylon alumna and multi-talented Ruby Day stars as Jenna, a waitress in a pie shop/diner who has an exceptional culinary gift but limited opportunities. She also has an abusive redneck husband named Earl (Ben Euphrat) who can’t keep a job but demands her tip money so he can go drinking with his buddies. Then she discovers that she’s pregnant and her whole world turns upside-down. How can she deal with a baby, a loutish husband, and a dead-end occupation?

Tanika Baptiste, Ruby Day, and Sharon Shao

Jenny visits a handsome young gynecologist named Dr. Pomatter (Zeke Edmonds) who soon provides far more than standard medical treatment. Jenna enjoys sustained emotional support from two fellow waitresses and enduring friends—Dawn (Sharon Shao), a nerdy History Channel buff, and Becky (Tanika Baptiste) a sassy assertive force of nature who provides great advice, much of it hysterically comical. Stage and screen veteran Dorian Lockett appears as Cal, the irritable manager of Joe’s Pie Diner, often at his wit’s end trying to keep his kitchen productive and his customers happy.

Ruby Day

The four of them are exquisitely well-matched as core members in this story of a spunky underdog, made incredibly engaging by Bareilles’ melodic heartfelt songs, delivered with gusto from stage center by a great rock band under the direction of Dave Dobrusky, past winner of multiple SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, as are director Susi Damilano, and the show’s choreographer Nicole Helfer, and the Playhouse itself.

Ruby Day and Zeke Edmonds

The ensemble includes a superb collection of twenty or so additional members—most in multiple roles as they sing and perform Helfer’s delightfully quirky choreography on an elegant efficient set by Jacquelyn Scott, one that serves as diner, doctor’s office, and Jenna’s home, with only a few quick set changes. The small-town locale isn’t specific, but judging by the accents (Kimberly Mohne-Hill, dialect coach) it’s somewhere in the mid-south such as the Ozarks.

Tanika Baptiste, Ruby Day, and Sharon Shao

Standout performers include the charming and confident Edmonds; Michael Parrott as the goofy Ogie, a tax examiner and sometimes historical re-enactor who forges a bond with Dawn; Lucca Troutman as Dr. Pomotter’s deadpan assistant Nurse Norma; and Louis Parnell as Joe, the diner’s curmudgeonly owner. These characters are as fully depicted and emotionally engaging as are the leads under Damilano’s astute direction. She coaxes the best from her cast individually and communally. It’s an astoundingly satisfying and beautifully paced production.

Ruby Day, Zeke Edmonds, and Company

To say this Waitress is blessed with a surfeit of talent is a whopping understatement. Each of the story’s minor roles has a compelling, believable character arc, and even the dislikeable Earl proves to have at least one redeeming quality. His usual function in theater is offstage as a sound designer, but Ben Euphrat proves to be a good guitarist, singer, and convincing actor in his character’s moment in the spotlight. Parrott brings the house down with his odd singing and uninhibited dancing, while Shao and Baptiste shine as Jenna’s loyal  sidekicks.

Sharon Shao, Michael Parrott

But it’s no exaggeration to say that Ruby Day carries the show. She is absolutely convincing. Blessed with perfect timing, deep emotions, and a soaring, powerful voice, she brings Jenna’s struggle and triumph into the hearts and minds of the entire audience.

Milo Boland, Alexandra Rivers, Lucca Troutman,
Tanika Baptiste, Jordan Covington, and Ruby Day

SF Playhouse has a well-deserved reputation for offering great productions to the Union Square neighborhood. Waitress exceeds all expectations. A Broadway-quality show at reasonable prices, it’s an urgently needed balm for troubled times. This jaded critic would eagerly see it again.

Ben Euphrat, Ruby Day

photos by Jessica Palopoli

Malia Abayon, Ash Malloy, Lucca Troutman

Waitress
San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street in San Francisco
Tues-Thurs at 7; Fri at 8; Sat at 3 & 8; Sun at 2 & 7
ends on January 18, 2025
for tickets ($30-$125), call 415.677.9596 or visit  SF Playhouse

Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Circle and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: [email protected]