STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY KIRSTEN SHULTZ PHOTOGRAPHY

If you tend to cry easily while watching theater or the movies, you might want to bring a box of tissues to The Liberty Theatre Company’s “Waitress: The Musical.”

“This show has a tendency to spark tears of sadness—and joy,” said Tess Makena, who plays the leading character Jenna.

The musical, which runs June 27-July 12 with a $20 Preview on Thursday, June 26, is based on the 2007 indie film “Waitress” which starred Keri Russell. It’s a heartfelt and yet hilarious story revolving around Jenna a waitress and pie baker at Joe’s Pie Diner in the Deep South.

Jenna finds solace from an abusive marriage in baking. Every day she comes up with imaginative new recipes with colorful names, but she’s stuck in the rest of her life. You know things are going downhill when she says she’s going to call her next pie “Betrayed by My Eggs Pie” after learning she’s pregnant.

But  her boss suggests she enter a pie-baking contest with a cash prize of $20,000, which would give her enough money to leave her husband. And, in the process, she finds the secret ingredient she’s been missing all along—hope.

Did we mention she has an affair with her quirky OB-GYN? along the way

“Waitress: The Musical is ultimately, for me, a show about finding hope out of hopelessness,” said Naomi McDougall Jones, The Liberty Theater Company’s executive and artistic director, and the director and choreographer of the production. “It’s hard to imagine a more timely theme. And, my abs are constantly sore these days--from both laughing and crying during these rehearsals.”

Jessie Nelson wrote the book for the musical with five-time Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter  Sara Bareilles writing the music and lyrics. Delighting audiences with the soaring ballad, “She Used to Be Mine,”  it was the first musical in Broadway history to have a female-led production team.

It was a Tony-nominated musical and was also nominated Best Musical of 2015 by the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama League.

“Our audiences are in for a masterfully written musical journey,” said Makena. “The music in Waitress does an incredible job of telling the story through instrumentation and Sara Bareilles' lyrics and vocal lines are deeply moving. It's truly an honor to perform these songs.”

Makena said The Liberty Theater Company has been wanting to produce Waitress for a couple of years.

“This musical is simply incredible. The book and music are so brilliantly written, the story is beautifully complex, and the characters are as human as can be. Personally, I think it's one of the best musicals ever written,” she said.

“Sara Bareilles’ ability to tell stories with music, from a simple melody conveying a mother’s love to rhythmic breaths creating a remarkable labor soundscape, is why this musical resonates so powerfully. Everyone can relate to the stories being told in this show, and her music elevates those stories to a level that only music can. It touches your soul.”

In addition to Makena, Norwegian Cruise Line performer Jonathan Acorn plays the quirky and charming Dr. Pomatter.  The rest of the cash includes:

https://tltctix.ludus.com/index.php?show_id=200487235.

Additionally, the theater company’s Pay-What You-Feel Pass and Premium Passes are available through July 15.