Review: Waitress at The Palace Theatre

Venues can get a rep that can be hard to shake. The Palace Theatre was long known for being really freaking hot, even on a temperate day. I attended opening night for Waitress on the hottest day in May and as temperatures soared to 32 outside, I was genuinely petrified I’d be speed cooked inside. Indeed, the general vibe from everyone I told I was going to the theatre that night was that it would be an inferno and I was mad as a box of frogs. Grilling aside, I went anyway.

Thankfully, as the hoards piled in, and the layers came off the ‘Big Girls’ Night Out’ audience, it was cool, airy even. Thank f—- the cooling system did its job. Ignore the ancient TripAdvisor temperature reviews, it was the coolest I’d been for days.

An adaptation of the 2007 film (originally written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered in NYC during a robbery before the film was even released), the musical Waitress (with a book by Jessie Nelson and music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles) is now on its 10th Anniversary tour, restaged by Abbie O’Brien.

All kitchen puns intended, the story follows Jenna (Carrie Hope Fletcher), a waitress who must create 17 different versions of pie to get in the oven at Joe’s Pie Diner every single day… and wait on tables! What a woman. She discovers early in the show that she has “a bun in the oven” to her brute of a husband Earl (Mark Willshire), who nicks her hard-earned tips at the end of her shifts.

For aeons, Jenna had tried to avoid intimacy with Earl at all costs; until one random night she wore that red dress, had a few too many drinks, and got carried away. We’ve all been there, girl! Red dresses are a nightmare for unexpected frolicking. (Cue sighs of recognition from the audience.)

Jenna has a supportive girl gang at work in the form of the brazen Becky (Sandra Marvin), and ditzy Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins). They’re the kind of friends that will give you pure shit one minute but have got your back the next. Oh, those were the days, before we all became nauseatingly pleasant to everyone.

Jenna gives the pregnancy game away by spewing in the work’s toilet and there is a fantastic scene about peeing on a pregnancy test stick. (Been there, done that, got the babygro, came the chuckles from the audience.)

Her Joe’s Pie Diner Crew includes Cal (Dan O’Brien) the hapless boss and manager, and owner Joe (Les Dennis), who wants special service every single day. He’s a right c—-. the kind of old-school sexist curmudgeon you meet at family parties, smile at, and dream about battering like a saveloy.

The weird twist in this story is that as an emotional escape from her husband, pregnant Jenna somehow has an affair with her hot, charming, hapless married obstetrician, Dr Pomatter (Dan Partridge). A few hilarious romps on the medical bed follow, stirrups come out, and ‘Loca’ Nurse Norma arrives on cue to interrupt coitus. Unfazed by the patient/doctor transgressions, she is simply there to munch on Jenna’s amazing pie; an innuendo that is later used to rambunctious effect by Jenna and the doctor.

There’s a lot of talk about Jenna entering a pie-making competition to win 20k to set her and her unborn baby on the path to financial freedom from Earl. There are more holes in this flaky story strand than I can cover here… still, the drama ends with a sweet cherry topping that might make you cry. Les Dennis, as Joe, really tugs at the heartstrings in his final song, ‘Take it From an Old Man’.

As the story develops, Jenna’s friends are wearing more lipstick than they had in scene one and before you know it, everyone is ‘at it’. There is a gloriously rollicking montage of romping on stage that the cast deliver perfectly, much to the delight of a fabulously entertained audience.

Directed by Diane Paulus, the comic timing is effortless and the cast cling together in the kind of joyous harmony that reaches the soul. Jenna (Carrie Hope Fletcher) delivers saccharine sweet vocals and brings sombreness when needed. In Jenna’s life, there are flashes of domestic violence in her marriage and flashbacks to a childhood tainted by aggression. And whilst some criticisms might fly that these dark issues need more depth, the reality is that women carry many of the challenges experienced by the women in Waitress without fanfare.

Sandra Marvin as Becky delivers outstanding one-liner after one-liner; the laughter will replay in my mind for some time. Marvin’s performance is lovable, sharp, and holds the audience in comic rapture. With ditzy Dawn as her foil, Marvin’s Becky is the straight-talking friend we all need in our lives.

In its 2026 form, Waitress‘ storyline veers into bonkers territory at times. The second act feels a little chaotic, and the dodgy gender politics are hard to ignore. Still, Waitress serves up happiness on a plate with a side of candyfloss. On opening night, the audience gave a deafening standing ovation — no doubt recognising that even women with the most vanilla expectations often tolerate shocking treatment at the hands of the men in their lives.

Waitress is at The Palace Theatre until 30 May 2026. Tickets from £36.