(upbeat music)
- Some of Broadway's biggest shows are already
back with a bang and we love it so much.
I'm Tamsen Fadal, but Broadway's got even more on tap.
("Bad Idea" from the musical Waitress starts playing)
Grammy Award-winning superstar Sara Bareilles
helped reopen Broadway in September
with the return of Waitress,
but now another big name is stepping
into the lead role of that musical.
Jennifer Nettles, a Grammy winner in her own right
takes over as Jenna in Waitress, October 19th,
Nettles is perhaps best known as one half
of the country music duo Sugarland.
She made her Broadway debut in 2015 in Chicago.
Of course, the whole cast of Waitress
is incredible right now.
Here's Charlie Cooper with the story.
- Thanks, Tamsen. Drew Gehling is back for seconds
as Dr. Pomatter in Waitress.
I met up with him here at the Barrymore Theater
to discuss his return to the delicious role
and so much more.
So Drew, thank you so much for joining us.
- Thank you so much for having me.
- Of course. So of course the curtains went up
for Waitress a couple of weeks ago.
- Yeah.
- You guys got a standing ovation.
What was it like to hear that roar from the audience
after coming back from such a long break?
- It was nuts. It was like ovations that night.
I mean, that was one of those things
where I think we were as excited as the audience was,
we were as excited as we could possibly be
to see each other.
I think that, we had a standing ovation
before the show even started,
which I thought was premature because I wasn't even sure
that I was going to remember my lines at that point,
it was a little messy and,
but the fact that like everybody has been
so starved for theater
and now finally gets the chance to come back and,
and welcome us back as we get to welcome audiences back
has been awesome.
When people are so hungry for it.
Pardon the pun, but like,
it is such a gift
and this show in particular really speaks to that.
And we get to, the thing that we get to be a part of
every night is spectacular.
- Can you talk about remembering lines for you,
with getting back on stage and kind of getting it right,
like riding a bike or did you feel like
kind of frazzled a little bit? - No
No, because we're all new.
I feel like after these past 18 months,
we all kind of have come back completely different people
or the same people, but grown and changed
in a lot of different ways.
And to revisit something that I'd had such a long,
like experience with, but to get to kind of
revisit it again through the lens of the past year
and a half that we all had lived through together
was really kind of beautiful,
but it made it really scary to come back
and do the show again, because you don't feel that,
it doesn't feel the same.
It feels like a completely new version
of the thing that we know.
- Of course, you guys lost Nick Cordero during this time.
Can you kind of talk about how the company
is honoring his memory through the show?
- The hardest part about coming back
was on the first day of rehearsal,
Chris Fitzgerald and Eric Anderson and I,
all kind of looked at each other
and couldn't help, but feel like something was missing.
But then we really quickly realized
that he's with us every day,
because he was such an integral part
of the creation of the, of the piece.
And so what we've been able to do, and it's been,
we've gotten a lot of people really excited about it.
We've named a pie after him in the show
and have actually permanently altered a set piece
of the diner in the show, in every company,
all over the world to include a big old slice
of "Live Your Life" pie.
And as a person who sang that song every day
for several months, this past year,
it still gets me when
Sara says it every night
and the audience responds in kind,
it's been kind of, it's kind of become a,
a huge part of the heart of what the show is.
And I know that he'd be, he would,
he would love it and make fun of it at the exact same time.
- We're going to sing one of Nick's songs right now,
if you know the words, please sing along.
It's called "Live Your Life"
♪ This hurts like hell but it feels right ♪
♪ Far's I can tell you've made up your mind ♪
♪ I'll wish you well but won't be on the other side ♪
♪ Biding my time ♪
♪ Live your life ♪
- Why should people come and see Waitress?
- Because this is a great
step back into the world of theater.
Seeing a show like Waitress, which is about rebirth
and family and finding the best in yourself.
Given the circumstances that you're in, is,
I can't think of a better metaphor
for theater,
a better metaphor for life,
a better score written in the past decade.
Then to come to the Barrymore Theater
and watch us make complete fools of ourselves
on stage for two and a half hours.
(upbeat music)