It’s a show that has been the talk of the internet for a decade now. Waitress is returning to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in May, this time with Carrie Hope Fletcher leading the cast.
She takes on the role of Jenna, a waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of some happiness in her life. But when a hot new doctor arrives in town, life gets complicated. With the support of her workmates Becky and Dawn, Jenna overcomes the challenges she faces and finds that laughter, love and friendship can provide the perfect recipe for happiness.
Here we chat to the English singer, actor and author about her love for the musical, her excitement to return to Dublin and how being a mother has changed how she performs…
Hi Carrie! We can’t wait to see you in Waitress. What does it mean for you to be able to be involved in it?
Oh my goodness, I’ve been a fan of this show since the cast album dropped from Broadway in 2016. I was on tour at the time, and before our eyes were even open in the morning, me and my best friend Scott would literally put on Opening Up, and we would dance around to that in our PJs. I fell in love with the show like wildly and passionately. When I heard that it was coming to the West End in 2018, I was like “Oh my god, I would love to be seen for it. I don’t know who I’m right for but I would just love to be seen for it.” I auditioned for two different roles and didn’t get either. I just have been waiting patiently for the stars to align for me. Jenna was always like the dream role. Everything aligned with this UK tour! Every day in rehearsals has been a pinch-me moment. When I got to sing She Used To Be Mine for the first time in the rehearsal room, I needed 10 minutes afterwards to collect myself because I was so emotional.
That is such an emotional moment in the show. How excited are you for those kind of moments on the tour?
Oh, I’m so excited, and I think the wonderful thing about the show is that there are so many moments like that, that aren’t like your traditional show-stopping moments. She Used To Be Mine is obviously a big belty number; it is the 11 o’clock number. It’s what you expect from that moment in a show, but the moment I always talk about is Soft Place To Land. It’s one of those moments where you can feel everyone in the room hold their breath. Even though it’s this gorgeous, soft, like really floaty, ethereal song, it’s not a big belty number, I feel like it has the same effect on everyone. Everyone feels like their breath’s been taken away and I think Waitress is genius for that. It’s a completely female-created team; it always has been. I think Waitress was the first to ever do that and I think it’s just incredible. We really feel that in the room, the strength of female identifying people is incredible.
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This show has strong themes of motherhood. As a mother yourself, do you ever feel like you need five minutes to just compose yourself?
If you’re a fan of the show, you feel every moment of it so deeply, no matter which storyline you’re talking about whether it’s Dawn, Becky, Dr Prometer, Jenna. Everyone has such deep and really rich storylines that you can really connect with, so whether you’re a mum or not, there’s something that makes you go, “Oh I just need a second”. But being a mam, oh my God, the first time I did Everything Changes, the whole song was pretty much silent because I just couldn’t sing because the lump in my throat was like a bowling ball. Most of my work in rehearsals, aside from learning the show, has been desensitising myself to a point where I can actually get through it. It’s incredible getting to play a role like this after becoming a mum and having that sort of lived experience.
How do you decompress when you’re on tour?
It’s really weird on tour because you have to do what you need to do for yourself in a way that you don’t have to do if you’re in a show where you get to go home to your family every night. I’m very lucky that a lot of this tour that I’m doing, I can commute. So I will be coming home to my daughter and my husband every day. My parents live around the corner, and my brother lives close by as well. We’ve got like a really like tight-knit sort of community back home. So I will get to see them a lot. After a show, when I’m away, I like to have my own sort of space. I’ll go for a drink after the show and say my goodbyes to everyone after a night. But I’m a house cat. So no matter where I am, I will find my way to make it my own space. It means that I have the largest suitcase on earth! But it just helps when you’re touring.
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You’re coming to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in May. What are you most excited about coming to Ireland?
It’s one of my favourite theatres, maybe in the world. I just love it. I love the look of it. I love the feel of it. Singing on the stage is incredible. There are some venues where you sing out and it feels like you’re holding a pillow to your face because the sound just isn’t great. But the Bord Gáis, my God, the sound is just so incredible. It’s a dream to sing in that space. And Dublin is just such a beautiful city. I love exploring it. I always make a point of having one of the afternoons that we have off just wandering around and seeing where my feet take me. I still haven’t done the Book of Kells and I need to do it. I tried to book tickets last time and they were all sold out!
Do you have a favourite spot to go when you come to Ireland?
I know it’s really cliché, but Temple Bar, you’ve got to go visit it at least once. Even if it’s just during the daytime, I always get like a little woo every time I walk past. It’s so silly. I honestly love just wandering around and sort of visiting the Oscar Wilde stuff as well. I think it’s just such a gorgeous, like rich, almost like delicious city just to like wander and just see where you take you.
What would you say to someone who has no idea what Waitress is about? What would you tell the audience before they go see it?
Oh, goodness. Waitress is one of those shows that is just beautiful in every sense of the word. And I think sometimes it gets overshadowed by the big glitzy shows that have the big camp tap numbers, and they’ve got special effects. But the thing that I think is so special about Waitress is that it’s about people. It’s about humans. It’s about the human heart. It’s about relationships. And how deep and complicated we are and messy we are as people. And it’s told through the sweetness of pie and this woman who makes these pies and puts her everything into her craft. And I think it’s just it’s a beautiful show. You will laugh, you will weep, you will rejoice by the end of it. But I challenge you to be dry-eyed by the end. I can’t wait to be back in Dublin.