Keri Russell dodges 'Waitress' musical despite movie role

Keri Russell, the star of the 2007 film 'Waitress,' has expressed a peculiar reluctance to see the Broadway musical adaptation. Russell, who played pie-making protagonist Jenna Hunterson in the original movie, finds it 'weird' to witness the character's transformation into a stage musical. She playfully referenced her film role by singing, "And now I'm making a pie..."

The film 'Waitress,' written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, was a sleeper success, grossing over $22 million worldwide. Its popularity surged when Sara Bareilles, along with book writer Jessie Nelson, developed it into a Broadway musical. This production made history by being the first to have women in all four top creative roles: composer, book writer, director, and choreographer.

The musical 'Waitress' premiered on Broadway on April 24, 2016, and became a critical and audience favorite, running for nearly four years. It closed on January 5, 2020, after 1,544 performances. The show later returned for a limited engagement in September 2021 following the COVID-19 shutdown but closed early on December 20, 2021. A filmed version of the stage production, 'Waitress: The Musical,' was released in movie theaters in December 2023.