--Hey y'all. My
name is Desi Oakley and this is the eighth and final episode of Pie a la Road.
In this episode you will meet the rest of the cast and you'll hear their two
truths and a pie and you will see what it's like for me to walk out the stage
door at night in Chicago. You'll follow me on my commute to work on a beautiful
summer evening here in Chicago, and you'll get a little bit more of the of
the backstage life here on the Waitress tour. Thanks for tuning in.
--It's a beautiful afternoon in Chicago
these beautiful arches woven to perfection, like a flaky crust.
It's like a maze. Mama it's amazing what baking can do
--You know Waitress is a story with really relatable characters. They're all like
real human beans
Jumping without a net, bottomless pie...
--Bean pie it's a bean
--Hey, Broadway.com!
You're in a bean.
--Okay, Broadway.com. This wish is for you.
--Hey, Broadway.com, I thought I would have you join me in my commute to the theater
here in this city. Check out the gorgeous views.
--These little hand pies
in this Donut shop, so cute.
--There it is.
Palace Theatre
in Chicago.
--
Look at this beautiful house. This is the Cadillac Palace Theatre here in
Chicago. Whoo-hoo. I'll just take you around backstage a little bit. Do y'all
know that on these racks, there's a whole bunch of stuff. A whole
bunch of stuff. Some of this we actually use butter. See, and it's labeled that is
the deep-dish blueberry bacon pie oh yeah. This is normally filled with tons
of pies they're obviously preset now before the show but there's some there
at the bottom. Here are these bins that we use a lot on stage. Oh, here's a bunch
of the pies that's the ones I think probably that the ensemble users yep at
the end in the finale force more pies pies galore.
Here's ones that come out with me on stage. Life's just peachy peachy keen pie
where there's a whisk there's a way pie. I love it because there's a little hard
on it. So these are called the gondolas so this is where the men and women
mostly of the ensemble but sometimes principals come back here too have their
other costumes set, so this is where a lot of people hang out.
They're always set almost always set up stage all the way and they're separated
men and women and yeah they're called Wardrobe gondolas it happens a lot too
on tour because we don't always know where the dressing rooms will be, so in a
lot of theaters sometimes the dressing rooms are up four maybe five flights of
stairs, and if you have a quick change it's much more convenient to do them
back here so most of the time even if the dressing rooms are closed we will
always set up gondolas so that it's convenient and that way it's really
consistent so it's kind of like an on-stage dressing room.
--Waitress are unbelievable they are first of all responsible for all of the
goodness and joy and love. I see pies. Oh, okay. Someone someone knows
me. Oh my goodness des licious with a cherry on top pie.
Can you even? There's another one. There's an out-of-the-blue blueberry pie okay
this this makes my life complete. Like. pies! I love it.
--They're almost life size.
they're almost life-size literally they're almost like the same size that
we use in the show ah I love you waitress fans I love you I love you I
love you I love you.
--Hi what's your name --My name is David
--David Huey and what do you do in Waitress? -- I am a swing
--Cool and just a little tidbit about what that
means just in case there are viewers that don't know?
--So, essentially, I am an
understudy for several parts. So I don't go on every single night, but I am
prepared to go on for any of the male ensemble tracks that may need to be
covered if someone isn't there, or two principals Joe and Cal, I also cover.
So it's like an understudy but like for multiple parts
--Love it. Well you're
very good at what you do so we're playing a game called two
truths ans a pie where you tell us two truths about yourself it can be a little
known or well known, anything you'd like to share.
--Okay, I once for a period of my life pay
like as an actor you find all these different ways to pay your bills. I was a salsa dancer
I used to dance on tables. --Yes!
--People don't know that. --You danced on
tables?
--I did. --David Huey!
--Got the knee injuries to oprove it. --Oh my goodness I'm
obsessed. Okay your second truth...
--People don't know... I spent uh
chunk of my career overseas in Germany. Iused to sing opera, so I worked for a
nice little period of time
--Goodness you've done so much. I'm learning things
too. Okay now tell us you're the pie is like your little slice of life, like a
slice of advice, you know, that you might tell your younger self or that you might
just want to tell like an aspiring artist who would maybe want to be in
your shoes one day?
--I hate to sound so cliche as to say don't give up,
but really it's a really challenging career, and there's a lot of rejection
there's a lot of all that and I also to add to that because that's really
generic. No knowledge is wasted. Sometimes you get so focused on what you think you
need to know, and what you think you need to do, but you don't realize any book you
read any exchange you have, any experience you have, any show you go to
can be used to put it to your art in some way shape or form. There's and no
knowledge wasted, there's no experience that's wasted
--That is beautiful David.
Thank you so much for sharing
--Yeah --Hey guys. It's a it's a Wednesday night here
in Chicago. We've been doing two shows on Wednesdays, which is like a Broadway
schedule. So that's super exciting. I am just brushing my teeth I just got
dressed, and I normally try to get dressed at five minutes to places
That gives me just enough time to brush my teeth. I had to put a little lotion on
my legs because they're kind of dry. I'm just telling you all the deets, just in
case you want to know, and uh I brush my teeth
put on a little lipstick,
and it's perfect. Lipstick time. This is my Sephora lip stain. It's number six pink souffle. I
think it really AM captures Jenna's you know super neutral. For a while there
I wasn't wearing lipstick, so if anybody caught the show in where were we before
this? The last couple of... I probably say the last month or so, I didn't wear
lipstick because I wasn't feeling it because for a while, over time, I just
continued to put on more makeup and more makeup and more makeup just cuz it's we
just celebrated our 300th show 300 shows! And over time it just it piles on and
then eventually I wasn't feeling like Jenna anymore, so I've stripped it all
back, and it is still a little lipstick, and no I no eyeliner, just just mascara,
no shadow, no liner, just a little a little lip and then little Rouge
just a tiny bit you know just cuz we're on stage. Okay they should be calling
places any minute.
--It's intermission. Okay, tell me who you are.
--Hi, I'm Mark Christine --Okay and what do you do with Waitress on tour? -- I am in
the ensemble, and then I understudy Ogie and Cal
--Wonderful okay so tell us your
two truths and a pie. --Sure.
--Two truths about yourself
--Okay okay truths. I
love cooking, and I'm not necessarily great at cooking, but I am learning to
get better at cooking. Particularly I love cooking Italian food
and I love pasta. My next phase is like learning how to make my own homemade
pasta. Yeah so that's one of my things. I love the foods and my
other career, in addition to being an actor is I'm a music director and
accompanist and musician and do all that kind of stuff as well.. --Wonderful
multi-talented.
--Trying --Absolutely, okay so speaking of multi-talented, tell us you
know the pie is like your little slice of advice or life for for someone who
does have talent, maybe they don't know what to do with it or they're aspiring
to be in a professional setting like you are?
--Great. I think my biggest piece of
advice would be try to look forward and back, and not side to side. There's
everybody you're gonna be surrounded by is gonna be wonderful to learn from, but
everybody's path is different, and everybody is on the road that they're on,
and often you don't know what the road is until you turn around look behind you
and you see all the choices you've made that led you to the moment you're in now.
And so I would say that even if there's something that seems like it
doesn't obviously make sense with what you think your life is doing, if it's
exciting to you in the moment and it feels like the right thing to just jump and go
with it, and you will find yourself where you're meant to be at any given moment
So I would say don't um don't be shy about trying new
things and exploring all the things that make you happy.
--Beautifully said Mark Christine --Hey!
--Yes. I love that slice of life. Thank you for sharing -- You got it
--You rock.
--Hi guys. I just wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so
much for tuning in, sharing with your friends, commenting, watching, for all of
your feedback. To every fan of the show, to strangers, friends of friends of
strangers of fans who have watched this, and who've encouraged me along the way, I
this was I gotta say a vulnerability out of my comfort zone. So
to to have you along for the ride and show you a lot of what goes on here in
my world has been so rewarding, such a privilege, so I just want to say from the
bottom of my heart, thank you for for watching, and for and for being a part of
it. It's been just an awesome ride so yeah from the bottom my heart thank you.
So, we're here in Chicago and the audiences here have been so amazing just
like wild fun totally with us on the ride, so now we'll go out the stage
door, which is what I do each night and say hi.
Hi!
--Is this for Broadway.com?
[cheers]
--Thank you
wig designers phenomenal and a new objects that are super proud of shoes
thank you you're so amazing --Thank you so much.
--And that's a wrap.
I want to give a huge shout out to Broadway.com and the editors of Pie a la Road.
You guys rock. You made all my dreams come true and you
made this really one of those, so I'm super super grateful for that and yeah
it's been a pleasure follow me on Instagram @desioakley for some more
adventures here on the Waitress tour and also with with my life, so it's signing
off from Chicago, Illinois. I'm Desi Oakley and this was Pie a la Road.
[music]