NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� She was an admired pop star with a voice like butter. But writing a musical about a woman who bakes pies? When Sara Bareilles was approached more than a decade ago about penning the score for 鈥淲aitress鈥� on Broadway, she literally pictured a mountain in front of her, impossible to climb.
Bareilles hadn鈥檛 even yet seen the source material, the 2007 indie movie starring Keri Russell as Jenna, a small-town waitress in an abusive marriage who bakes for solace and self-expression. And though she loved musicals, Bareilles had never written from any character鈥檚 perspective but her own. But at that initial lunch meeting, theater director Diane Paulus suggested Bareilles go watch the film and then write something, anything: 鈥淲hatever pours out of you.鈥�
A few weeks later, an MP3 file from Bareilles popped into Paulus鈥� inbox. It was 鈥淪he Used to Be Mine,鈥� an achingly wistful, painful yet also somehow triumphant anthem for Jenna. And it was ready to go. Paulus thought: 鈥淥K, we鈥檝e got our musical.鈥�
Movie audiences will now see Bareilles, as Jenna, sing that song, which has taken on a life as a favored audition song and something people of all ages and genders, professional or amateur, It's the emotional highpoint of the live-capture version of that hits movie screens nationwide on Thursday for five days, a return to the big screen more than 15 years after the story began its life there.
To Bareilles, the full-circle moment means people who could perhaps never afford to see an expensive show will now have the chance 鈥� something she describes as 鈥渁 huge source of pride.鈥�
鈥淚 grew up in a small town,鈥� she said in an interview, referring to her youth in Eureka, California. 鈥淚 think it would have been off the map to be able to come to New York and see a Broadway show. So that was a big motivation."
Capturing the show, during a return engagement to Broadway in 2021 just as theaters were tentatively recovering from the devastating pandemic shutdown, was not an easy feat. Everybody had to stay healthy or the four-day shoot 鈥� two live performances plus some extra work for closeups and the like 鈥� would not work.
鈥淚t鈥檚 already hard to worry about getting sick when you鈥檙e in the theater,鈥� Bareilles said. 鈥淎nd we only had these four days.. But there was so much excitement and buoyancy ... people really wanted to be there and capture this moment to live in perpetuity.鈥�
Jessie Nelson, who wrote the book, says producers moved quickly once they were able to secure Covid relief funding. 鈥淲e realized that probably never again will we have this incredible group of people together and this beautiful cast,鈥� Nelson says. 鈥淚t was really this feeling of, we had lightning in a bottle.鈥�
In a sense, the whole story of 鈥淲aitress鈥� feels like lightning in a bottle. Both the show and the movie by Adrienne Shelly thread a delicate needle, blending the dark theme of domestic abuse with some outright raunchy comedy (for one thing, Jenna has trysts with her gynecologist 鈥� on the exam table.) It could have been a fatal mix, especially in a musical, but it was Bareilles, says director Paulus, who found the way to capture it all truthfully.
鈥淪ara鈥檚 musical score enabled us to ride that emotional journey,鈥� Paulus says. 鈥漌hat was attracting us all ... was that it was addressing this pervasive issue of domestic violence, but doing it in a way that was human and quirky and messy 鈥� in a Broadway musical.鈥� The director says some audience members told her they credited the show with helping them escape their own abusive relationships.
For Bareilles, 43, who only took on the role of Jenna after original star Jessie Mueller's run ended, it was an artistic journey that changed her career. Back in 2012, all she knew was that she was ready for something different.
鈥淚 was newly transplanted to New York City. I had left my band and my boyfriend and my manager and my house. I just was kind of clean-slating my life. And I didn鈥檛 really know why,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd so I think the themes of this woman sort of realizing she鈥檚 in a life that she didn鈥檛 quite recognize or maybe even entirely want 鈥� I was relating to those themes. 鈥楽he Used to Be Mine鈥� is as much a diary entry for me as it is for Jenna.鈥�
Bareilles adds that someone else helped her with the process of writing 鈥� a person she鈥檇 call on frequently, though they had passed away years earlier. Shelly, who wrote, directed and acted in her movie, playing the character of Dawn, was tragically killed by an intruder in 2006 at age 40 鈥� before she could learn that her film had been accepted by the Sundance Film Festival.
鈥淚 did a lot of talking to Adrienne Shelly during the process of making the show,鈥� Bareilles says. 鈥淚 did a lot of inviting her into the process and wanting her spirit to be very available and very welcome.鈥� The singer says she feels Shelly was deeply present in the work that emerged. 鈥淵ou become the vessel for it,鈥� she says.
A vessel 鈥� and also a musical theater actor. Last year Bareilles was nominated for a Tony award for her much-loved portrayal of the Baker鈥檚 Wife (yes, another woman who bakes) in 鈥淚nto the Woods.鈥� Conquering a Stephen Sondheim role on Broadway was something she could barely have imagined in 2012 when meeting Paulus. In fact, she had just come off what she calls a terrible audition for an earlier production of 鈥淚nto the Woods.鈥� The role 鈥� Cinderella 鈥� went to Mueller, eventual star of 鈥淲aitress.鈥�
Whatever she does next, Bareilles thinks this movie is likely her last outing as Jenna.
鈥淣ever say never,鈥� she says. "But in my heart, this capture feels like a nice bookend for my time as Jenna. I spent a lot of time in that apron and loved every second of it.鈥�
Bareilles and her colleagues are heartened that small productions of the show are taking place around the country, keeping alive what will always be the first Broadway musical led by an all-female creative crew.
鈥淲e broke that glass ceiling so that everyone else can walk through that opening ... to be able to say this is possible,鈥� says Paulus. Especially important, she notes, is that the show was a financial success. 鈥淪o often, my sense before 鈥榃aitress鈥� was that feeling of, 鈥楥an women really be in charge?鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淭he door just had to be opened.鈥�
To Bareilles, the guiding spirit will always be Shelly, who she imagines would now be feeling 鈥渞eally proud, really pleased to see that this brainchild and heart child of hers is having a life that is very clearly reaching a lot of people, and deeply resonant.鈥�
鈥淧eople have very emotional, almost familial connections to this show,鈥� Bareilles says. 鈥滻t鈥檚 a world they want to live inside of, touch base with, reconnect with. And I think this is all from Adrienne.鈥�
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
