"Waitress" Serves Up A Sweet Collaboration

FOR RELEASE Jan 3, 2025

Contact: Director of Marketing, Julie Gilliland, jgilliland@beckcenter.org

Beck Center For The Arts Serves Up A Sweet Collaboration With Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre Program With Waitress

Lakewood, OH–Beck Center for the Arts is pleased to announce another fabulous collaboration with the Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre program. This season, Waitress is on the menu.

This delightful musical was based on the 2007 indie film, Waitress. Producers Barry and Fran Weissler worked with Jessie Nelson as the book adaptor, and Sara Bareilles wrote the music and lyrics. From Mermaid Marshmallow pie comes a love story to save the day.

Nominated for 2016 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Original Score, Beck Center’s collaboration production with BWMT is full of local talent. Directed by Victoria Bussert, Music Direction by Matthew Webb, and Choreography by Lauren Marousek, the cast of Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre students will take the cake this Valentine’s Day.

Director Victoria Bussert says, “I have always been a big fan of the original film by Adrienne Shelly; seeing how Jessie Nelson and Sara Bareilles adapted it to the stage was a truly thrilling theatrical experience. It is an honor to have the opportunity to ‘bake’ our own unique production at Beck Center!”

Tickets start at $15 Smart Seats to $41 each, $37 (for seniors 65 and older), $20 for students with valid ID, and $15 for children under 12 years of age, plus ticket fees, available at 216-521-2540 and Beckcenter.org.

Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Preview performances are 7:30 p.m. the Thursday before opening night, with general admission seating for just $15. Smart Seats are available for each performance at just $15 per person. For more information on the 2024-2025 Professional Theater Season please visit beckcenter.org.

Waitress The Musical, Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre Program Collaboration, Directed by Victoria Bussert, Music Direction Matthew Webb, Choreography Lauren Marousek. Featuring music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, Book by Jessie Nelson. Senney Theater, Opening February 14 running Thursdays through Sundays until March 9, 2025.

The story of Jenna, the titular waitress and expert pie-maker who dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage. Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, Waitress features a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson (I Am Sam) and music and lyrics by Grammy Award® winner Sara Bareilles (“Love Song,” “Brave”).

“Waitress is the hit musical that’s “a little slice of heaven”—Entertainment Weekly.

All performances are at theaters inside Beck Center for the Arts located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland. Free onsite parking is available. For more information visit beckcenter.org.

Beck Center for the Arts is proud to be a part of Northeast Ohio’s professional theater landscape, operating under a letter of agreement with Actors’ Equity Association. We are a Small Professional Theater (SPT) based on the number of seats, number of our performances, and the maximum weekly hours of work we provide to actors. We produce every show on our stages, by choosing the play, casting and rehearsing it, building the sets, props, and costumes, directing and performing the live music, and designing lights and sound. We proudly utilize regional resources and talent. Beck Center for the Arts also offers arts education for all ages, all skill levels, and all abilities with classes and lessons in music, dance, visual arts, and theater, as well as creative arts therapies. Financial assistance is offered to qualified applicants so that these programs can be enjoyed by all.

Programming at Beck Center for the Arts is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council. Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the generous funding provided by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

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Beck Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that offers professional theater productions on two stages, arts education programming in dance, music, theater, visual arts, early childhood, and creative arts therapies for individuals with disabilities, free gallery exhibits year-round, and outreach education programming.