Musical theatre fanatics have been hotly anticipating the Australian premiere of Broadway’s smash-hit musical Waitress, which opens at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre from 1 May and the Sydney Lyric Theatre from 1 August.
Now, in a slice of news that comes fresh and hot out of the oven, Crossroads Live Producer John Frost has today announced the performers who will make up the show’s Down Under cast – and this line-up is all killer, no (pie) filler.
Waitress musical Australian cast – quick links
Meet the Australian cast of Waitress
Leading the cast as our leading lady – playing Jenna, an unhappily married waitress in a small US town – will be Aussie darling of the stage and screen Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Chicago, Shirley Valentine).
Playing Becky and Dawn, Jenna’s co-workers at the diner, will be Gabriyel Thomas, who comes direct from her acclaimed performance as Grizabella in the national tour of Cats, and Mackenzie Dunn, most recently seen on stage as Lily St Regis in the Australian tour of Annie.
Rob Mills (& Juliet), star of stage and screen (and the hearts of anyone who was there for the first season of Australian Idol), also joins the cast as Jenna’s endearing but neurotic gynaecologist Dr Pomatter, while legendary actor John Waters (The Woman in Black, Play School, All Saints) will be Joe, the curmudgeonly diner owner who has a soft spot for Jenna.
It’s good to be Bass
A prolific leading lady of the stage, the screen and the music charts, Bassingthwaighte (aka ‘our Nat Bass’) is on a roll lately. She’s having a Bassingth-naissance, if you will.
From entering the public conscience as Izzy Holland on Neighbours (a role she recently reprised in the second season of Network Ten’s spinoff series, The Wrong Girl) to topping the ARIA Album Charts, Bassingthwaighte was most recently lauded for her performance on stage in the title role of last year’s Australian tour of Shirley Valentine.
Prior to this, she captivated audiences with her raw performance as Mary-Jane in Alanis Morissette’s Tony Award-winning musical Jagged Little Pill, earning a nomination for the prestigious Green Room Award for Best Leading Artist. Her many memorable characters in the world of musical theatre also include Roxie in Chicago, Sandy in Grease and Florence Vassy in Chess.
Here come the drums, here come the drums…
In addition to her starring role in Waitress, this year will also see 50-year-old Bassingthwaighte getting back to her electro-rock roots as the frontwoman of The Rogue Traders – with the MTV-award-winning, UK-chart-topping, break-out Aussie band reuniting for a national 21st anniversary tour that will be sure to have millennials across the country getting down to Voodoo Child.
Also coming in 2026 is the release of Bassingthwaighte’s memoir, Love Like This, which promises to ‘reflect on her personal and professional life with vulnerability, offering readers a powerful insight into the experiences that have shaped her both in and away from the spotlight’. (Presumably, this will also offer new insights into her experience of ‘coming out’ in 2023, when she revealed that she was in a ‘beautiful relationship with a woman’.)
Waitress the musical: a recipe for success
Waitress is the irresistible musical hit about resilience, friendship and hope that has captured hearts worldwide. Inspired by Adrienne Shelly’s beloved film, the show made history on Broadway with the four top creative spots being filled by women – with the trailblazing creative team seeing music and lyrics by Grammy-winner Sara Bareilles (Love Song, Brave), book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson, direction by Tony-winner Diane Paulus, and choreography by Lorin Latarro.
This heartwarming and empowering musical tells the story of Jenna, a small-town waitress and expert pie maker who longs to escape her rocky marriage and start again. When a baking contest, an unexpected new romance and the support of her fellow waitresses offer her a taste of change, Jenna discovers that the secret ingredient to happiness might be closer than she ever imagined.
It opened on Broadway in April of 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran until January 2020. Sweet, sassy and soul-stirring, Waitress is a feel-good celebration of second chances, and the magic of a well-made pie.
