Why I'm loving "Waitress" the musical

Broadway fans, listen to this! 

Waitress the movie came out in 2007. I remember wanting to see it, but never did. Cue spring 2016 when Waitress the musical debuted on Broadway. The score is written by Sara Bareilles, and I was surprised how much I loved it. I admit her songs like "Brave" and "Love Song" are powerful and fun — but a touch too pop-y and like something from a commercial for womens products for me to listen to on a loop. 

Well shut my mouth, I listened to her Waitress demo on repeat for two weeks straight. It was what finally lured me away from my beloved Hamilton, to be honest. I think that Sara's melodies are super catchy across the board, and her pop-y, romantic, kinda-Hallmark-card lyrics (I mean that in the best way) work perfectly for a musical. Not to belittle the lyrics — I love them and there are plenty of beautiful, subtle moments. But I think what fueled my obsession were the melodies and Sara's insanely beautiful vocals demo-ing the songs. 

Now there's an original cast recording, too, starring Tony-winner Jessie Mueller as Jenna. Here's a brief synopsis: Jenna is a young woman, unhappily married to a shmuck, who works in a diner and also happens to be a phenomenal baker of pies. We find out very quickly that Jenna is pregnant, and she goes on to have an affair with her also-married baby doctor. We watch Jenna find her footing, along with her two best friends and fellow waitresses. It's not really giving anything away to say there's a happy ending, and I like that.

The Waitress musical follows the movie, which I finally saw after becoming obsessed with the demo album. I ordered the movie on Amazon for like $8. It was pretty great. Keri Russell is charming as always, and Nathan Fillion is everything. Boy do I love that man. He takes a corny line like "I could find the whole meaning of life in those sad eyes" and makes your heart burst in the most sincere way. I love that Sara worked that same line into one of the show's sweetest songs, "You Matter to Me." It's such a simple truth — that what we all really need at the end of the day is to know that we matter to someone. 

Sappy alert! But really, Waitress is so much more than sap. It's funny, empowering, sweet, and sentimental. Of course I've only listened to the music, so I can't speak to the production as a whole. But if you're searching for a new musical to fall for, give Waitress a shot. And if you've got a new Broadway obsession of your own that I should check out, please share in the comments! Friends don't let friends not know about amazing Broadway musicals.