Waitress Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 12th May 2026 Review
Waitress is at The Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tue 12 to Sat 16 May), and if you want your big slice of whatever is on offer today at Joe’s Pie Diner, off-Highway 27 somewhere in small-town Indiana, then take a seat and wait to be served.
Waitress the stage show was first performed in 2015 and made its way to Broadway in 2016. The show is based on the film of the same name from 2007 co-starring Adrienne Shelly, who also wrote and directed the film. Waitress was released posthumously after the never yet fully explained death of Shelly (officially recorded as suicide).
This show is celebrating its 10th year as a stage musical, and it is easy to see why it has been such a success with audiences. In the wrong hands, Waitress could all too easily have become just a light-hearted, coffee and pie filled, easily forgotten stage show, but thankfully it did not get this fate. Instead, this show with book by Jessie Nelson and music/lyrics by Sara Bareilles is a well crafted musical stage show with some fine songs, and musical theatre desperately needs new shows with specially written show songs like this one. Through the success of the stage show, the work of Adrienne Shelly is also being kept alive.
This show focuses on three waitresses at this diner, Jenna (Carrie Hope Fletcher), Becky (Sandra Marvin), and Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins) and a well written script makes an audience care about them as people, as stories and snippets of their lives outside the diner slowly unfold. Other main characters include Dr Pomatter (Dan Partridge), Earl (Mark Willshire), Cal (Dan O’Brien) and of course Joe (Les Dennis).
The starring role of Jenna is a demanding one to perform as she is the focus point of nearly everything in this story. This means that whether delivering dramatic dialogue or singing, Jenna is rarely off centre stage from start to finish here. Carrie Hope Fletcher simply owned this stage tonight, with equally impressive dramatic and vocal performances. Sandra Marvin (Becky) and Evelyn Hoskins (Dawn) also made the most of their spotlight moments here.
Jenna's days at the diner may be filled with waiting on tables and creating a seemingly never ending range of sugary sweet pies, but there is nothing sugar coated about this story and there are more than a few darker moments here.
I think it is fair to say that "Waitress" is a woman's show and if you strip away the songs for this show, there is still a very good stand-alone dramatic wok here(always for me the mark of a good stage musical). Add in the songs though, and a little magic happens in "Waitress". You really have to listen to the words of these songs though as they are so carefully constructed, and often, under the more upbeat melodies, there are very powerful and poignant lyrics which reflect the often very difficult life choices that Jenna has to make.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Waitress the stage show was first performed in 2015 and made its way to Broadway in 2016. The show is based on the film of the same name from 2007 co-starring Adrienne Shelly, who also wrote and directed the film. Waitress was released posthumously after the never yet fully explained death of Shelly (officially recorded as suicide).
This show is celebrating its 10th year as a stage musical, and it is easy to see why it has been such a success with audiences. In the wrong hands, Waitress could all too easily have become just a light-hearted, coffee and pie filled, easily forgotten stage show, but thankfully it did not get this fate. Instead, this show with book by Jessie Nelson and music/lyrics by Sara Bareilles is a well crafted musical stage show with some fine songs, and musical theatre desperately needs new shows with specially written show songs like this one. Through the success of the stage show, the work of Adrienne Shelly is also being kept alive.
This show focuses on three waitresses at this diner, Jenna (Carrie Hope Fletcher), Becky (Sandra Marvin), and Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins) and a well written script makes an audience care about them as people, as stories and snippets of their lives outside the diner slowly unfold. Other main characters include Dr Pomatter (Dan Partridge), Earl (Mark Willshire), Cal (Dan O’Brien) and of course Joe (Les Dennis).
The starring role of Jenna is a demanding one to perform as she is the focus point of nearly everything in this story. This means that whether delivering dramatic dialogue or singing, Jenna is rarely off centre stage from start to finish here. Carrie Hope Fletcher simply owned this stage tonight, with equally impressive dramatic and vocal performances. Sandra Marvin (Becky) and Evelyn Hoskins (Dawn) also made the most of their spotlight moments here.
Jenna's days at the diner may be filled with waiting on tables and creating a seemingly never ending range of sugary sweet pies, but there is nothing sugar coated about this story and there are more than a few darker moments here.
I think it is fair to say that "Waitress" is a woman's show and if you strip away the songs for this show, there is still a very good stand-alone dramatic wok here(always for me the mark of a good stage musical). Add in the songs though, and a little magic happens in "Waitress". You really have to listen to the words of these songs though as they are so carefully constructed, and often, under the more upbeat melodies, there are very powerful and poignant lyrics which reflect the often very difficult life choices that Jenna has to make.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com