North Shore natives’ return boosts NSMT’s ‘Waitress’

By Rich Fahey

BEVERLY – It’s always fun to come home. It’s especially fun if you can show off all you’ve learned since you left home.

The husband-and-wife team of Boxford native Matt DeAngelis and Lynnfield native Christine Dwyer have made their way back to the North Shore to play two key roles in  North Shore Music Theater’s lovely production of “Waitress,” now at NSMT through June 15.

“Waitress” is based on the 2007 movie written by Adrienne Shelley and the musical’s book by Jessie Nelson — a former waitress herself – deals with meaty issues such as an abusive relationship, a woman who’s unhappy at the prospect of becoming a mother, and a married woman having an affair with her also-married gynecologist.

DeAngelis was Turkey Boy in NSMT’s 1993 production of “A Christmas Carol” and Dwyer, making her NSMT debut, attended her first theater show at NSMT  when she was five. Both have been performing on Broadway, national tours, regional theaters and in other media all around the world.

Dwyer is Jenna, the feisty waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner, “somewhere off Route 27” in an unnamed town. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Jenna is a pie provocateur – a master baker who specializes in pies of every description  — and she assigns them the cutest of names, such as “The I Don’t Want to Have a Baby With Earl Pie.” Her creations are the star attraction at the diner. Early on, she learns she is pregnant, complicating her plans to ventually leave and open her own pie shop.

DeAngelis is her cruel and abusive husband Earl. He skillfully plays the villain whom Jenna is endlessly plotting to leave behind. DeAngelis, who has played Earl on Broadway, a national tour and in Bareilles’s “Waitress” movie, manages to avoid a hopeless caricature, imbuing the character with some humanity and softening his edges a bit, especially in his duet with Jenna, “You Will Still Be Mine.”

If a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Jenna has that part down, and while Earl appreciates her baking ability, that’s about all he does appreciate, stealing away her tips and her dreams after he crashes and burns at his construction job. Jenna hears about a pie-making contest with a prize of $25,000, which would be enough to give her and her child the chance for a  new start.

Jenna finds her female doctor has left the practice, and in her wake comes the handsome gynecologist Dr. Pomatter (Brandon Kalm). He falls for one of Jenna’s pies in the song “It Only Takes a Taste” before falling for her.

Nelson’s book resists the temptation to paint Jenna as a saint. She is willing to commit adultery with her married doctor and doesn’t appear early on to be a future candidate for Mother of the Year – with a very complicated relationship with the person she is carrying —  but we are still rooting for her to find happiness every step of the way.

The American Repertory Theater’s Diane Paulus took a chance when she tabbed singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles in 2015  to write her first theatrical  score for “Waitress,” but Bareilles was up to the task and nabbed one of the show’s four Tony nominations. It is a bouncy, country-flavored score and includes the show-stopping “She Used to be Mine” in Act II that earned Dwyer a sustained ovation. Other highlights include Act I’s “Opening Up” and “What Baking Can Do.”

There is also a healthy amount of another ingredient — laughter — in “Waitress,” thanks to a series of quirky characters who lighten the load whenever things seem to be getting too dark for Jenna.

There Jenna’s interaction in the Sisterhood of the Apron: her fellow waitresses, who have issues of their own with Becky (Brandi Chavonne Massey) caring for an invalid husband, while Dawn (Maggie Elizabeth May) has never really been on a date.

Becky), a brassy sort, trades barbs with diner manager Cal (Arnold Harper II), who is always threatening to fire anyone and everyone.

Dawn is a timid sort who takes a big swing on the internet and scores a catch that changes her life with Ogie (Courter Simmons), willing to play Paul Revere to her Betsy Ross at Revolutionary re-enactments and stealing every scene he comes near as a Dawn’s quirky but unrelenting pursuer. He stops the show with a charming novelty/comedy song, “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me.”

Keith Lee Grant Is Joe, a demanding, often ornery daily customer who owns the diner and offers Jenna advice in exchange for slices of her glorious pies.

As Dr. Pomatter, Kalm has awkward, gosh shucks charm and a vulnerability that makes it easy for Jenna to attach herself to him.  Unfortunately for both him and Jenna, the doctor’s nurse. Norma (Alana Cauthen) is onto them in a big way.

Director Kevin P. Hill recently won the 2025 Elliot Norton Award for Best Director for last fall’s “Titanic,” which also won the Norton for Best Ensemble, and here has played to the strengths of both the book and score.

Jack Mehler’s scenic and lighting designs are top-notch, easily transforming the in-the-round configuration into Joe’s Pie Diner.  

“Waitress” oozed charm and warmth in its previous stays in the area, and thanks to strong work by the principals, pitch-perfect casting, direction and design, NSMT has made the pie even sweeter. Have a slice.

The North Shore Music Theatre’s production of “Waitress.” Written by Jesse Nelson. Music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles. Based on the 2007 movie written by Adrienne Shelley. Directed by Kevin P. Hill. Choreography by Ashley Chasteen. At NSMT through June 15. Nsmt.org.