‘Waitress’ to Close in January 2020

“Waitress,” the long-running Broadway show about a despondent waitress in a small-town diner who finds solace in making pies, will close on Jan. 5, 2020, producers announced on Tuesday.

The final curtain will come down after 1,544 performances and 33 previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theater in New York, making it that theater’s longest-running musical.

The production’s box-office earnings were also significant: After opening on Broadway in 2016, “Waitress” earned its $12 million investment back in less than 10 months. The only other new musical from that Broadway season to go into the black was “Hamilton.”

Adapted from a 2007 film by Adrienne Shelly and with a book by Jessie Nelson, the show focuses on Jenna, a waitress mired in an unhappy marriage and who sees the prize money from a local baking contest as a potential means to escape her circumstances.

“Waitress” features music and lyrics by the pop singer and songwriter Sara Bareilles, who also made her Broadway acting debut when she stepped into the lead role in 2017. Ms. Bareilles’s score — including “She Used to Be Mine,” a ballad that inspired numerous fan-made covers — was nominated for a Tony Award that year.

Directed by Diane Paulus, with choreography by Lorin Latarro, “Waitress” became the first musical in Broadway history to be led by an all-female core creative team. (It is produced by Barry and Fran Weissler, and Norton and Elayne Herrick.)

It was also the first show to use a pie consultant, who coached the actors on how to handle dough and other ingredients.

The North American touring production and the West End production in London will remain up; “Waitress” is also open at the Ed Mirvish Theater in Toronto. According to producers, there are plans to stage the musical in Australia and the Netherlands in 2020 and in Japan in 2021, before expanding to other international markets.

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