Waitress Musical Has Already Made Broadway History

Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva, courtesy of the American Repertory Theater

There are still three months before curtains go up for previews of Waitress at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City, but the musical has already made Broadway history.

Lorin Latarro has been hired as the choreographer for the production, joining director Diane Paulus, composer Sara Bareilles, and book writer Jessie Nelson. Together, the four form Broadway’s first all-female creative team.

“It’s kind of hard to believe it hasn’t happened, but my attitude is rather than dwell on what hasn’t happened, we’re here to say, ‘It’s the twenty-first century. So come on, everyone!'” Paulus told the Associated Press.

The 1978 Broadway musical Runaways was written, scored, choreographed, and directed by Elizabeth Swados, but Waitress is the first production to have multiple women in the top creative positions.

“It’s really fun to be an example of the way it can look,” Bareilles told the AP. “We’re a bunch of women who are deeply committed to finding a way to built a unified vision.”

Waitress‘s Broadway debut follows a successful first run at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, where Paulus is the artistic director. Both versions star Tony Award-winning actress Jessie Mueller in the lead role, which is played by Kerri Russell in the 2007 film by Adrienne Shelly that the musical is based on.