Broadway’s “Waitress” at Orpheum Theatre
By Corbin Hirschhorn, KVNO News
December 12th, 2017
Photo courtesy of Omaha Performing Arts
Omaha, NE—Based on the 2007 film by Adrienne Shelly, Broadway’s musical, Waitress, with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson graces the Orpheum Theater next week. Brought to life by an all-female creative team, Waitress is the story of Jenna, expert pie-maker looking to escape small town life and a loveless marriage. A baking competition and a new doctor in town might be her answer.
The musical deals with some serious themes, but that doesn’t detract from the comedy. Life at the restaurant has its surprises, especially with characters like clogging enthusiast and magician, Ogie, played by Jeremy Morse, who falls madly in love with waitress, Dawn.
“He’s a clog dancer, he’s an amateur magician, he is a tax auditor, he loves his mother—in my head he’s the living with his mother at 32,†Morse said. “It turns out he also does revolutionary war reenactments, and so they have these connections with their eccentricity is and they realize that their hearts are meant for each other and they end up kind of showing Jenna that pure true love can exist.â€
Morse has been with the show for over two years, starting in New York, now taking the role for show on tour.
To balance the show’s serious and comedic elements, what’s important is staying honest.
“The creative team is like, yes he’s over the top, but this all has to be rooted and grounded in the fact that he is in love with Dawn and he has a big heart and just want to show her that he cares and that he is head over heels for her, and he does it in the only ways that he knows how to, which is by showing her that he’s a clog dancer, that he can do magic tricks, that he recites spontaneous poetry.â€
Life on the road is an added challenge for performers, but preparation for the show remains the same, and sometimes there’re a few things to look forward to when leaving the main stage.
“For me it’s not really a different way in preparing for the show itself but it’s kind of his life outside of the show is drastically different than if—I mean having done the same show in New York having the stability of having your own place and not having to travel every week or every two weeks. My fiancé is back in New York, so I miss her a ton. I miss my apartment, I miss my friend the New York, but when you’re on the road you kind of create with your cast this bubble of friendship and we all travel with each other, we do the show eight times a week, we rehearse on some days of the week if somebody new is getting put into the show, so we’re spending a lot of time together we create this group of friends and then we explore these cities.â€
Waitress, brought to the Orpheum Theatre by Omaha Performing Arts, will show next week, Tuesday December 12th to Sunday the 17th with performances every day. For more information or tickets, visit OmahaPerformingArts.org
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