The return Broadway engagement of Sara Bareilles' Waitress, which currently stars Ciara Renée and Tony nominee Joshua Henry, will not reopen at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre due to new cases of COVID-19 detected within the company and crew.
Waitress had previously extended its cancellations to December 23, following initial announcements of December 21–23. The production has now closed, effective immediately. Visit WaitressTheMusical.com for more.
Waitress returned to Broadway in September for a limited engagement that had been scheduled to run through January 9, 2022, at the Barrymore. Bareilles, who penned the score for the musical, played Jenna through October 17. Grammy winner Jennifer Nettles took over as Jenna October 19. Renée began her run as Jenna November 25.
The current cast of Waitress also included Eric Anderson as Cal, Ashley Blanchet as Dawn, Dakin Matthews as Joe, Tyrone Davis, Jr. as Ogie, Ben Thompson as Earl, and Maiesha McQueen as Becky, alongside Mark Christine, Matt DeAngelis, Andrew Fitch, Henry Gottfried, Brandon Kalm, Emily Koch, Olivia Webber Olesen, Gerianne Pérez, Olivia Lucy Phillip, Grace Stockdale, Charlotte Surak, Cherise Thomas, Curtis Thomas, Stephanie Torns, Nyla Watson, McKenzie Melia Calderon, and Ava Kacey Thomas.
The original Broadway production opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre April 24, 2016, making history as the first Broadway musical to have women in the four top creative spots: composer-lyricist Bareilles, book writer Jessie Nelson, director Diane Paulus, and choreographer Lorin Latarro. The production played 33 previews and 1,544 regular performances before closing January 5, 2020, earning four Tony nominations including Best Original Score and Best Musical.
