Inspired by Adrienne Shelly’s beloved film and brought to life by a trailblazing female-led creative team, including a book by acclaimed screenwriter Jessie Nelson, an original, uplifting score by Grammy winner Sara Bareilles and direction by Tony winner Diane Paulus, Waitress is the irresistible Broadway hit about resilience, friendship and hope that has captured hearts worldwide.
Here is part two of the group interviews from the Waitress: The Musical media call with Gareth Issac, John Xintavelonis and Keanu Gonzalez.
Gareth and John on their characters:
John: “I play Cal who’s the manager of Joe’s Diner and the boss of the waitresses, Jenna and Becky and Dawn. He comes across, to begin with, as a very gruff, fussy, grumpy, old sort of soul, but you eventually work out in the show that he’s actually quite a nice guy, and he really cares for these girls, their lives and where they’re at, but at the same time he’s got a very strong work ethic. It’s like a big brother type for these girls… that sort of goes astray with one of them in the second act. But yeah, he’s just your typical down-to-earth bloke who’s very, very focused on getting the job done, serving the customers and doing a great job, but at the same time making sure that these girls are happy and he deep down inside really, really cares about them.”
Gareth: “I play Oklahoma Eincorn, Ogie to his mates, hopeless romantic, tax auditor, [who] finds his way to this small town for a job, ends up staying and falling hopelessly, irrevocably in love with the waitress, Dawn. We have a will they/won’t they for about three minutes until it’s determined they will – that’s the best way to describe it. Ogie is, frankly, an honest character. He is described as a competitive clog dancer, amateur magician, only eats white food on Wednesdays, so we are working with a level of possible neurodivergence. We haven’t determined [that] but that’s okay though. The show takes all sorts. That’s one of the reasons I love this musical; it lets characters like this shine which audiences see themselves represented in ways they might not expect.”
John: “And we become best mates by the end of the show.”
Gareth and John on their favourite flavour of pie:
Gareth: “Gareth’s favourite flavor is a beef and Guinness. Ogie loves a choc cherry.”
John: “I can’t go past the lemon tart.”
Keanu on his character:
“I play Earl. He’s a really interesting, very unique character in this world [of Waitress]. He brings the bad news, so to speak. But him as a character, it’s interesting, because he’s one of those people that, at first glance you look at and you think, ‘Oh, he’s just an awful person.’ But as an actor playing a role like that, if I just look at him and go, ‘Oh, he’s terrible’, you’re going to get a really flat, bland version of this character, whereas I have to force myself to go back into his life and think ‘how could he have got here?’ ‘What things could he have gone through in the past for him to have turned out to be the man that he is?’ in a way that I don’t judge the character. In order to play him in a way that can help bolster up the story and push Jenna’s narrative and help the audience understand, I have to essentially justify his actions as an actor. Now obviously Keanu Gonzalez does not justify his actions, but in order to play him convincingly, you have to, which is why it’s such an exciting challenge.”
Keanu on the prep of getting into the mind of his character:
“Well, something I like to say, actually, I saw Meryl Streep say something like this, and it makes perfect sense, is that you never want to see or tell people how to build a house. You think you want to. You’re really proud of the plumbing and the sewerage. You need it to function, but you really want to show them the end result. So, I would say, come and see the end result, as opposed to getting into, you know, the nitty gritty of it all.”
Keanu on the feedback he’s gotten from audiences about his character:
“We’ve only done a few shows [so far], but the thing I get the most is ‘I hate you, but I love you.’ So that’s been the general feedback I’ve gotten so far. I’ve never had, for example, there’s a scene where I walk off, essentially, not gonna tell you how or why, but the audience applause. At first, I was like, ‘Oh, that kind of hurts.’ But then I realised, ‘Oh, no, I must be doing something right.’”
Keanu on if he now feels the need to play a nice, romantic lead in his next musical:
“Not necessarily. It’s like the character itself, the depth of the character, how interesting it is to me. Obviously, there’s going to be great characters that are good guys with depth and things, but it’s all about the character itself, as opposed to whether he’s good or bad or not good.”
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Waitress the Musical is playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne until July 9, then playing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from August 1st.
Read our review here.
Tickets and more information via waitressthemusical.com.au
Photos supplied/ by Jeff Bubsy
TINSEL and TAP SHOES 