How ‘Waitress’ Changed the Way Sara Bareilles Writes Music, Even for Herself
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Sara Bareilles has always spoken openly about the fact that her work on the musical “Waitress” changed her life. “My life is in two categories: It’s before and after ‘Waitress,’” she said on the new episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast. “Everything about my life is different and better because of this show.”
Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:
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The singer, songwriter and actor (“Girls5Eva”) has had a chance to revisit “Waitress” and reflect on its impact on her life with the filmed version of the Broadway production, which was filmed with Bareilles in the lead role when the show played a return engagement in New York in 2021. The movie arrives in cinemas this week following its premiere earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Bareilles said her work on “Waitress” and in musical theater has even changed how she writes the songs for herself to perform on her own albums.
“In fact, I’m finding it harder to write songs for myself,” she noted. “It was really a relief to go into someone else’s psychology and to practice empathy and tell someone else’s story. I was so used to telling my own story, and don’t we all get sick of ourselves at some point? I’m like, ‘Oh my God, can I be sad about one more thing?’”
She continued, “I think what writing musical theater did is it just broadened or widened the aperture. It reminds me that there are so many different ways to tell stories and to write music, and so many different kinds of songs to write.”
In addition to writing the score for “Waitress,” Bareilles has also starred in the show four times over the course of its two runs on Broadway. This new, filmed version of “Waitress” may well mark her final time playing the part.
“I mean, I guess I would say ‘Never say never,’ but I feel like at this point, especially having this beautiful film that I’m so proud of… It feels like the grace note.”
The film also “feels like a love letter to this show,” she said at another point in the conversation. “It’s imperfect. We didn’t get everything just exactly right. I feel like karmically it really holds the essence of this project.”
Also on the new “Stagecraft,” Bareilles discussed the joys of performing with her partner (even if he stars in the “Waitress” movie as her character’s abusive husband); refused to reveal any details about the new musical theater project she’s working on; and revealed how her work on “Girls5Eva” brings to mind a beloved TV series from the 1980s.
“’Girls5Eva’ is a bunch of women of a certain age getting to be funny,” she said. “’Golden Girls’ was my favorite show — continues to be my favorite show — and I feel like I’m living my ‘Golden Girls’ dream.”
To hear the entire conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Broadway Podcast Network. New episodes of “Stagecraft” are released every other week.
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