Let’s be honest: when interviewers hear artists speak of channelling God’s musical inspiration, or communing with the departed, the cynical part of the mind often reaches for the off switch.
Not with Sara Bareilles. The singer-songwriter is entirely convincing when she talks about otherworldly encounters and how metaphysics informs her work.
And, of course, it’s evident in her output. The American artist is the pop chart star behind hits such as the searingly insightful Love Song, Brave and Uncharted. But when it comes to understanding – and reflecting – the human condition, her lyrical and musical work in the stage musical Waitress is exquisite.
Set in a diner, the internationally acclaimed musical follows the often sad and complicated journey of waitress and pie baker Jenna. She has an abusive husband – but loyal friends. Jenna also finds herself caught up in a new relationship, with difficult consequences. Yet it’s also a show about baking pies, hopes and dreams. Songs such as She Used to Be Mine ensure audiences’ spirits rise like perfect puff pastry.
Waitress is based on the 2007 film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, and is set to play the Edinburgh Playhouse this month, then tour Scotland later this year. It’s a musical which Bareilles admits changed the course of her life.
“In a way it feels almost like a happy accident,” she says of her crossover from pop star to theatre writer. “I was so naïve about what I was saying yes to, and I’m so grateful for what I didn’t know.”
Before Waitress, Bareilles toured relentlessly, trying to break through as a pop songwriter. How tough was it to keep going?
“I’m not long-visioned at all. I’m not looking at the horizon to see where I’m going. What I would say about the early years on the road is that I was in a van and trailer with my best friends in the world. I was with my family – this merry little band of rockers who laughed and cried together. I don’t know if I would have made it without them, because that stuff is hard and it will break you. But I also loved what I got back from audiences.”
She reflects: “There was something in that connection that was bigger than me. But it was hard.”
In 2007 she broke into the international charts with Love Song, its lyrics revealing her frustration with the demands of her label, Epic Records. Bareilles has since sold millions of albums worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
However, the songwriter, who grew up adoring musical theatre in Eureka, California, later moved to New York to explore new possibilities. “I thought it would be fun to do a play,” she says.
To begin that journey, Bareilles auditioned for Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods — with disastrous results.
“That’s a kind way of putting it,” she laughs. “I didn’t know anything. I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. For example, I didn’t know I was supposed to prepare. It was so embarrassing. But just as I’d decided I wasn’t ready for the stage, this project appeared.”
Bareilles was drawn to the story of Jenna, who enters a baking contest in the hope of winning enough money to escape her abusive marriage. But her life becomes increasingly complicated: she discovers she is pregnant with her husband Earl’s child and begins an affair with her gynaecologist, Dr Jim Pomatter.
Bareilles admits she underestimated the demands of writing for musical theatre. “If someone had explained that I was going to spend more hours on this than anything else in my life, I would have said no. I would have said, ‘I want to go to dinner with my friends. I want to have a life.’ But I had no idea of the rigour involved, and I’m so glad I didn’t.”
Is pop writing so different? “For me, yes. There was a big mental shift. I’d always written autobiographically, telling my own story. But my perspective had to open into compassion for stories that weren’t mine, but that I could connect to on a human level.
“When I began writing the show, I didn’t realise the ground we had to cover. It was huge. It was a beast. You put it together, take it apart, rewrite it again. It was dizzying – and definitely intimidating.”
Four years after Bareilles joined the project, Waitress opened on Broadway, where it ran for five years and earned four Tony nominations. Bareilles herself later took on the role of Jenna.
“It was both exhilarating and terrifying,” she says. “I loved feeling like a beginner. It forced me to be courageous, which helped me grow.”
There is, however, an undeniable sadness attached to Waitress. Adrienne Shelly was murdered shortly before the film’s release.
Read more
- ‘I had an 85 per cent breast cancer risk – so I threw a funeral for my boobs’
- The 20 most interesting arts events you need to be seen at across Scotland this month
- Glasgow pays poignant tribute to comedy great who couldn't wait to leave city
- This one night compendium of theatre, music and spoken word is a slick spectacle
- Pro-Palestine group demands Aberdeen theatre cancels show starring Maureen Lipman
“It’s such a tragedy, but we wanted to honour what was there,” Bareilles says softly. “We hope we’ve captured both the darkness and the light.”
She adds: “Most people I know live in that grey area. Life is good, and it is hard. It is joyful, and it is devastating. During the writing process, I found myself talking to Adrienne’s spirit. I felt very close to her and her family. It was a great responsibility – and a gift – to carry her story forward.
“One of the things I love about the show is that it tackles darkness with levity. It reminds us what it feels like to be human.”
Did the process deepen her understanding of grief?
“Yes, one hundred per cent. In fact, the theme of my next record is about processing grief — loss, transformation and resurrection.”
Bareilles, who has Portuguese heritage and was raised Catholic, says music has always been her church.
“Where I feel God most is in art, especially in the creative process. When something arrives, it feels like it’s coming from somewhere else. I’m just the vessel. And it makes me so happy when it resonates with other people.”
Her music in Waitress certainly resonates with audiences worldwide, earning admiration from artists including Carole King and Elton John.
The show also brought a personal twist: she met her husband, actor Joe Tippett — who played Earl — during the production.
“Yes, I married an Earl,” she laughs. “Not too shabby.”
Waitress runs at the Edinburgh Playhouse, May 12–16, and the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, October 6–10.
Share