It’s the performances that make Waitress a tasty treat at Florida Studio Theatre’s Gompertz. The plot centers on Jenna, leading baker and server for Joe’s Pie Diner. She (versatile Kaitlyn Davidson) longs to leave husband Earl (James David Larson, fully conveying Earl’s abusive taking of her earnings and insisting Jenna not share love with anyone but him). Unfortunately, he impregnates her and she wants neither a child nor abortion.
Jenna learns from Joe (dignified Scott Wakefield) who breakfasts at the diner each day and gives out the the latest info, that there’s going to be a pie baking contest with a prize of $20,000. It would give her enough to divorce and move. First, though, Jenna has to get enough tips to hide from Earl and enter the contest.
Jenna’s best waitress friends (Galyana Castillo’s strong, self-forward Becky and Charity Farrell’s timid, self-deprecating Dawn) promise to help her. When Jenna visits obstetrician Dr. Pomatter (slick, sexy Quinn Corcoran) their mutual attraction begins an affair of these marrieds. How will this affect Jenna’s plan?
Romances proliferate as Dawn is pursued by customer Ogie (hysterically funny Nick Cearley in a surprising standout performance). And what gives with the interaction between Becky and clever Jason Pintar’s seemingly unromantic diner manager Cal?
The final questions are what happens to Jenna’s marriage, husband, contest plans, pregnancy, affair with Dr. Pomatter, and all the relationships among her friends? How will the diner figure in the answer?
Being a musical, Waitress” has a proliferation of songs, but few are memorable. Some help forward the plot. But all are well sung, danced, and delivered musically, with no problems in accompanying, pleasant enough dancing.
The set is colorful but requires too many scene transitions to be consistently realistic, though the designers may do the best possible with a relatively small stage.
Costumes perfectly include the diner uniforms and the off-duty clothes reflect well the personalities of the wearers. Lights shift throughout gracefully and sound is okay, if occasionally musically overamplified.
Waitress should textually serve an abundance of audience tastes, but it owes most to the tasty performances at FST.
