Lindsey Corey remembers her first encounter with the musical, “Waitress,” nearly 10 years ago.
“I was in the car with two of my girlfriends, and they said, ‘You've never heard ‘Waitress’ before? My God, you're perfect for this.’ And so they turned it on, and I thought, oh my, gosh, I have to do this. It's speaking to my soul. I just have to play this role.”
Fast forward to now. Corey is at Actors’ Playhouse in Coral Gables, the theater she calls home and where she’s done 11 shows, playing the lead role of Jenna, the waitress in a small southern town who sees her pie-making skills as her way out of an abusive marriage, a situation that becomes more complicated when Jenna learns she’s pregnant.
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Lindsey Corey plays Jenna and Chris Stevens plays her abusive husband Earl in “Waitress”
“Waitress” began its life as a 2007 movie starring Keri Russell, Andy Griffith, and Nathan Fillion. The musical theatre production premiered on Broadway in 2016 and ran for nearly four years. The book is by Jesse Nelson and the music is by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles.
“It's such a terrific story,” said David Arisco, artistic director at Actors’ Playhouse, and the show’s director. “Contemporary love gone wrong, people working hard and not making them money, falling in love with the wrong person, trying to make life work, and yet being funny and being fun and being real. And of course, Sara Bareilles’ music. I’ve loved her music from years ago.”
Early on in the process of bringing “Waitress” to Actors’ Playhouse, Arisco thought of Corey for the lead role.
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Matthew Michael Janisse and Kareema Khouri in “Waitress”
“We’d had a conversation about ‘Waitress’ a few years ago, and she said it was one of her bucket list roles,” said Arisco, who thought a scheduling conflict might make Corey unavailable. “She was one of my first choices for the role. She’s from Tennessee, and she’s got that little yodel in her voice. And she’s not only acting the hell out of it, she’s singing the hell out of it too.”
While Corey is thrilled to play her bucket list role on stage for a few weeks, she’s also aware of the importance of playing a character too many women can identify with, that of a woman in an abusive relationship.
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Ryan Everett Wood and Lindsey Corey in “Waitress”
“I’m a southern woman,” said Corey. “I grew up in a small town. I was surrounded by people who, like Jenna, felt stuck. Doing the research into the statistics of women who suffer from domestic violence and how much more dangerous it becomes whenever they’re with child, is staggering. It's terrifying. It's the most dangerous time to be in a domestic violence situation. I take that very seriously. I understand the weight that carries and how important that is, and it's very important to me to tell that story in the right way.”
Both Corey and Arisco agree that while “Waitress” deals with darker themes that are not typical for a musical, the show has many other facets that are sure to resonate with the audience.
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Lindsey Corey as Jenna while Ryan Everett Wood plays her OBGYN in “Waitress”
“There’s so much heart in the show as far as the way these people feel,” said Arisco. “There are things that people do in the show that aren’t nice. And yet, because you love them, because you care about them, and because they’ve got their foibles and their problems and their issues, even if morally you don’t accept what they do, you understand that it's done with some humor. It's just about life, and people, and love.”
Corey admires the way the show portrays the strong friendship between the three waitress characters.
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Lindsey Corey and Ryan Everett Wood in the musical, “Waitress”
“I find the theme of sisterhood so clear in this story,” said Corey. “Each one is looking for happiness, and wants happiness for the other two, and they’re so much stronger together. My favorite moments in this show is when all three of us are together, because I feel that sisterhood with these two other actresses. I just feel so much love for them, and I think the audience is not going to have a choice but to feel it too, because we feel it so strongly.”
Besides being southern and from a small town, Corey shares something else with her character, and that’s a love of baking. She spent a recent day off baking key lime pies for the cast of “Waitress.” Corey loves baking pies and cookies and she makes all the birthday cakes in her family. Recently, for her father-in-law’s birthday, she made her favorite cake.
“It was unbelievably fun,” said Corey. “It’s like a graham cracker sponge and a whipped, marshmallow meringue, and a chocolate drizzle … It’s heavenly.”
(Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Becca Suskauer and Nick Cearley in “Waitress”
Corey learned to bake from her mother, who made wedding cakes.
“I find comfort in baking,” said Corey. “That's my happy place. It's quiet, it's just me and these ingredients, and I know how it's going to come out every time.”
IF YOU GO
“Waitress”
Actors’ Playhouse, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables.
Through April 20