Review: Actors’ Playhouse Serves up Fun with Musical ‘Waitress’

Lindsey Corey, Kareema Khouri and Becca Suskauer in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Coral Gables. The show runs through Sunday, April 20. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables serves up a great big slice of entertainment with its production of the musical “Waitress,” a fun and funny, yet deeply heartfelt, tale of life, love, family, and pie.

“Waitress” boasts terrific performances, a moving story, and more fun than can fit in a pie pan. The plot centers on Jenna (Lindsey Corey), a waitress at Joe’s Diner in a small southern town. Jenna is also an artist – sugar, butter, and flour are her tools, and her medium is pie.

Lindsey Corey stars as Jenna in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

She dreams up unique combinations and gives them fun names, such as Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, Kick in the Pants Pie, and A Little Wild, Wild Berry Pie. Jenna is also in an abusive marriage to Earl (Chris Stevens) and learns early in the show that she’s pregnant. And, like any artist, Jenna pours her life and emotions into her art, producing the I Hate My Husband Pie, and I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby Pie. Jenna’s life and her pies take off on a new tangent when she finds herself attracted to Dr. Jim Pommater, (Ryan Everett Wood) her new obstetrician.

Her closest friends are two other waitresses at the diner: mousey Dawn, (Becca Suskauer) who loves participating in Revolutionary War reenactments, and Becky, (Kareema Khouri) who’s caring for her bedridden husband. The bond between the three friends is formidable and inspiring.

Chris Stevens as Early and Lindsey Corey as Jenna in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

It is important to note that amid all the frisky fun, “Waitress” deals with the reality of domestic abuse. To Earl, Jenna is his property. He is not a husband so much as an owner, professing his love and ownership of her, oblivious or uncaring to the way she cowers in his presence. Those scenes, though important, can be difficult to watch. But “Waitress” is ultimately uplifting, it doesn’t shy away from the weight of Jenna’s predicament.

The Actors’ Playhouse production is excellent in every way. A few flubbed lines on opening night in no way detracted from the show during the initial performance and that sort of thing will sort itself out as the run continues. The show opened on Friday, March 26 and continues through Sunday, April 20.

One of the hilarious subplots in “Waitress” is between Dawn and Ogie, (Nick Cearley)  a magician, poet, and fellow reenactment enthusiast, who Dawn is matched with on a dating site. Their scenes together, played out at the diner, form an awkward, nerdy, dorky, yet adorable courtship. Suskauer’s performance makes Dawn’s evolution from meek to marvelously confident believable.

Nick Cearley as Ogie and Becca Suskauer as Dawn in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Coral Gables. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

She is matched by Cearley, who displays his gift for physical comedy with his odd convulsions when he feels a poem coming on and his full-on commitment to his love-at-first-sight relationship with Dawn. They are relationship goals, a couple who make each other better, in contrast to Jenna and Earl.

Khouri possesses a tremendous voice which she uses to belt out her big solo, “I Didn’t Plan It.” Her portrayal of Becky is warm and funny, full of sass and vinegar.

Wood is all goofy, nervous energy as Dr. Pommater, an unlikely knight in shining armor, and his performance is even funnier juxtaposed with Jenna’s no-nonsense demeanor.

Peter McClung doesn’t get a lot of time on stage, but he makes his scenes count. McClung plays Joe, the owner of the diner, a crotchety old man who forms a sweet bond with Jenna. McClung’s deep voice gives real meaning to his song, “Take It From an Old Man,” and he uses the gravel in his voice to portray Joe as someone  who has truly lived a life.

A very special shout-out to Cindy Pearce, who spends much of of the show as part of the ensemble but also plays Nurse Norma at Dr. Pommater’s office.  Nurse Norma  quickly catches on to the attraction between Jenna and Dr. Pommater, and Pearce’s deadpan, just-another-day-at-the-office delivery as she reacts to the goings on is one of the highlights of a show filled with many fabulous moments.

Don Seward, Jessica Sanford, Lindsey Corey, Ryan Everett Wood and Paul Tuaty in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

Corey’s performance is the centerpiece, and she clearly understands Jenna and her plight. She embodies Jenna, from her sweet southern drawl to her pragmatism regarding her situation, creating a fully fleshed-out portrait of a woman at the crossroads of her life.

There is a point in the second-act song “She Used to Be Mine” when Corey, alone on stage, sings a song in which Jenna looks back on her life and the girl she once was. The music stops, but Corey’s clear, confident voice continues, the raw emotion spilling from her lips and emanating throughout the theatre. It’s a stunning moment, a real showstopper, but one of many in which Corey wrings every bit of passion from a line or lyric. Jenna is a role Corey was born to play.

Brandon M. Newton’s realistic diner set is the main part of the scenic design, with key pieces that rotate to create Jenna’s living room and Dr. Pommater’s exam room. The band of local musicians are placed behind the diner booths, with the ensemble cast members acting as an ersatz Greek chorus.

Eric Nelson’s lighting design adds atmosphere, from the stark bright lights of the exam room to the darkness of Jenna’s home. Nelson’s lighting also translates Jenna’s inner emotions, especially the wilder ones, onto the stage.

Kareema Khouri in “Waitress” at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu/courtesy Actors’ Playhouse)

Reidar Sorensen’s sound design is crisp and clean. Ellis Tillman’s costume design illustrates each character, especially those of Corey, Khouri, and Suskauer, beyond their requisite waitress uniforms.

Under David Arisco’s deft direction, the stellar cast, spot-on design elements, and the incandescent performance by Corey, are the ingredients that make “Waitress” such a delicious treat.

WHAT:  “Waitress”

WHERE:  Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables

WHEN:  8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday through April 20.

COST:  $50, $60, and $70, weekdays; $65, $75, and $85, weekends.

INFORMATION: 305-444-9293 or actorsplayhouse.org

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