Waitress’s score, by Sara Bareilles, runs from “What’s Inside” to “Opening Up (Finale),” with “She Used to Be Mine” as its signature ballad. Song by song, it follows Jenna, a small-town waitress and gifted pie baker, as an unplanned pregnancy, an unhappy marriage and a pie contest push her toward a life of her own.
The musical has music and lyrics by Bareilles and a book by Jessie Nelson, and it is based on Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film. Directed by Diane Paulus, it opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on April 24, 2016, and played 1,544 regular performances before closing on January 5, 2020 (IBDB, Playbill). It earned four Tony nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score (CBS News), and it made history as the first Broadway musical with women in the four top creative roles: Bareilles, Nelson, Paulus and choreographer Lorin Latarro (Playbill). A 10th anniversary North American tour opened on September 18, 2026, in Owensboro, Kentucky, with Samantha Lane Scruggs as Jenna (Playbill, BroadwayWorld). Manila saw it early, too: we covered the show’s international premiere in Manila in 2018.
A note on themes: Waitress is warm and very funny, but Jenna’s marriage is controlling and abusive, and the show treats that seriously.
What are the songs in Waitress, in order?
This is the Broadway running order, checked against the IBDB song list, the licensing list at Music Theatre International and the 22-track original Broadway cast recording. Three short pieces, “Pomatter Pie,” “Dear Baby” and “Contraction Ballet,” appear on the MTI list and the album but not in IBDB’s song list.
| Song | Sung by | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Act One | ||
| What’s Inside | Jenna, company | Sets up baking as Jenna’s private language |
| Opening Up | Jenna, Becky, Dawn, Cal, company | A morning at the diner |
| The Negative | Jenna, Becky, Dawn | The pregnancy test |
| What Baking Can Do | Jenna | Her mother, and why she bakes |
| Club Knocked Up | Women | A comic waiting-room welcome |
| Pomatter Pie | Band (instrumental) | The doctor tastes Jenna’s pie |
| When He Sees Me | Dawn, company | Dawn’s dating panic |
| It Only Takes a Taste | Dr. Pomatter, Jenna | The first spark |
| You Will Still Be Mine | Earl, Jenna | Earl’s possessiveness |
| A Soft Place to Land | Jenna, Becky, Dawn | Three women’s daydreams |
| Never Ever Getting Rid of Me | Ogie, company | Ogie’s all-in courtship |
| Bad Idea | Jenna, Dr. Pomatter, company | The affair begins |
| Act Two | ||
| I Didn’t Plan It | Becky | Becky owns her choices |
| Bad Idea (Reprise) | Company | Every couple, together |
| You Matter to Me | Dr. Pomatter, Jenna | Being truly seen |
| I Love You Like a Table | Ogie, Dawn, company | A diner wedding |
| Take It From an Old Man | Joe, company | Joe’s advice to Jenna |
| Dear Baby | Jenna | A short letter to her child |
| She Used to Be Mine | Jenna | Jenna’s eleven o’clock number |
| Contraction Ballet | Jenna, company | Labor, as comic chaos |
| Everything Changes | Jenna, Becky, Dawn, company | Meeting her daughter |
| Opening Up (Finale) | Company | A new morning at the diner |
Act One songs explained
What’s Inside
The show opens on Jenna and the idea that holds the whole score together: she understands her feelings by turning them into pie. The number is short and gentle, closer to a recipe than a showstopper, and it tells you this will be an intimate, singer-songwriter kind of musical.
Opening Up
The lights come up on a busy morning at Joe’s Pie Diner. Jenna, her fellow waitresses Becky and Dawn, and the cook-manager Cal get the place ready while the regulars drift in. It works like a classic “small town” opener, introducing the world, the routine and the people who will become Jenna’s real family. Its tune comes back at the very end, and by then it means something new.
The Negative
Jenna is feeling sick, and Becky and Dawn talk her into taking a pregnancy test in the diner’s restroom. As the three wait for the result, the song mixes jokes with dread, and the answer is not the one Jenna hoped for. The baby is her husband Earl’s, and she is not happy about it.
What Baking Can Do
Alone, Jenna remembers her mother, who also found comfort in baking during a hard marriage. This is the song that explains her: flour, butter and sugar are the one part of her life she controls, and making something good is how she gets through the day. It is Jenna’s first big solo and the emotional root of the score.
Club Knocked Up
At the obstetrician’s office, a group of expectant mothers in the waiting room greets Jenna with an over-the-top welcome to pregnancy. It is a short comic number, under a minute on the album, and it plays Jenna’s reluctance against everyone else’s glow.
Pomatter Pie
An instrumental played by the onstage band. Jenna has met Dr. Jim Pomatter, the new doctor in town, and left him one of her pies. The music covers his first bite, and it is the first hint that he will fall for her baking before he falls for her.
When He Sees Me
Dawn, the most anxious of the waitresses, has signed up for online dating and is terrified of what happens next. The song is a list of every way a first date could go wrong, and it is funny because she has planned for all of them. Underneath the jokes is a real fear of being seen and found lacking.
It Only Takes a Taste
Dr. Pomatter runs into Jenna and tells her the pie was extraordinary and that she could win contests with it. It is a duet of awkward compliments and growing attraction. For a woman whose husband dismisses her talent, praise from someone who means it lands hard.
You Will Still Be Mine
Jenna tells Earl she is pregnant. He softens, but only in his own way: he wants her promise that the baby will never matter more to her than he does. Coming after the warmth of the diner scenes, the song shows the control Jenna lives with at home, and it is unsettling because Earl believes it is romantic.
A Soft Place to Land
Jenna tells Becky and Dawn she plans to enter a pie contest and use the prize to leave Earl. The three friends each picture the life they would choose if they could. It is the score’s loveliest trio, and it shows that these women are not only coworkers but each other’s support system.
Never Ever Getting Rid of Me
Ogie, Dawn’s date, turns up at the diner and announces that he is not giving up on her. He is persistent, eccentric and completely sincere, and the number is built for comedy. Christopher Fitzgerald, the original Broadway Ogie, earned a Tony nomination for the role (CBS News), and this song is a big part of why Ogie steals scenes.
Bad Idea
Jenna and Dr. Pomatter, both married, give in to their attraction. The song plays it honestly: they know this is a mistake and do it anyway. It closes Act One on a charge of energy and a lot of complications.
Act Two songs explained
I Didn’t Plan It
Becky gets her solo after Jenna catches her with Cal. Becky is married too, and she refuses to apologize for wanting something for herself. It is bluesy, brassy and funny, and it gives the show’s most grounded character a voice of her own.
Bad Idea (Reprise)
The whole company picks the “Bad Idea” theme back up as the affairs and romances continue: Jenna and the doctor, Becky and Cal, Dawn and Ogie. It is a quick, playful montage that moves the calendar forward.
You Matter to Me
Jenna worries that the affair is wrong, and Dr. Pomatter tells her how much she means to him. The song is the emotional core of their relationship: what Jenna needs is not escape so much as someone who sees her as a person. Whether this is love or a stepping stone is a question the show leaves her to answer later.
I Love You Like a Table
Dawn and Ogie get married at the diner. Ogie’s vows compare his love to everyday objects, which is exactly how his brain works, and the number is pure comic joy. Jenna brings a towering pie to the reception.
Take It From an Old Man
Joe, the grumpy diner owner and Jenna’s most loyal customer, tells her what he hopes for her life. It is a short, warm song from a man who has said very little kind about anything, and it matters because he can see more clearly than she can that she deserves better.
Dear Baby
A brief solo, under a minute on the cast album, drawn from the letters Jenna writes to her unborn child through the show. It is a moment of quiet honesty before the storm of the next scene.
She Used to Be Mine
Earl finds the money Jenna has been hiding for the contest and takes it. Alone, she takes stock of who she has become and who she used to be, and she resolves to fight for that person. It is the show’s eleven o’clock number and its best-known song; Bareilles released her own recording as a single on September 25, 2015, months before the show reached Broadway (Playbill, BroadwayWorld). Its power comes from its plainness: no villain, no rescue, just a woman deciding to begin again.
Contraction Ballet
Jenna goes into labor, and the hospital fills with everyone in her life at once. The scene is staged as comic chaos, a short musical sequence that clears the way for the show’s turning point.
Everything Changes
Jenna meets her daughter, Lulu, and finds the love she feared she would not feel. With that, she finds the strength to make her own decisions about Earl and about Dr. Pomatter. Becky, Dawn and the company join her as the song builds from wonder to resolve.
Opening Up (Finale)
The opening number returns, but the diner has changed and so has Jenna. The final image is a new morning in a life she has chosen. Bringing back the first song is a simple trick, and it pays off beautifully.
Want to play these songs yourself? Sara Bareilles writes at the piano, and “She Used to Be Mine” and “What Baking Can Do” sit on chord patterns that reward a little practice. If you want to learn chord-based piano, try Pianoforall.
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What makes the Waitress score different?
Bareilles came to Broadway as a pop singer-songwriter, and the score sounds like it: songs built on piano and guitar, conversational melodies, and a small band rather than a big orchestra pit. Playbill calls it a “Tony- and Grammy-nominated score” (Playbill), and the Tony nod came in the same year Hamilton swept the category (BBC).
If you like scores that sound like the radio but tell a theatrical story, try our Dear Evan Hansen songs explained and Hadestown songs explained guides, or the bright pop of Hairspray songs explained. For an older look at the show, see our 2015 piece Waitress the Musical by Sara Bareilles.
Sources: IBDB; Playbill Vault; Music Theatre International; Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre study guide; Broadway.com; Wikipedia (third check).
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous song from Waitress?
“She Used to Be Mine.” Jenna sings it in Act Two after Earl takes the money she has been saving, and it is the show’s eleven o’clock number. Sara Bareilles released her own recording as the lead single from her 2015 album What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress.
How many songs are in Waitress?
The original Broadway cast recording has 22 tracks, including the instrumental “Pomatter Pie” and the short “Dear Baby” and “Contraction Ballet.” IBDB’s Broadway song list counts 19 numbers, 11 in Act One and 8 in Act Two, because it leaves out those shorter pieces.
Who wrote the songs for Waitress?
Sara Bareilles wrote the music and lyrics. Jessie Nelson wrote the book, adapting the 2007 film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly. Diane Paulus directed the Broadway production.
Is Waitress still on Broadway?
No. The original production closed at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on January 5, 2020, and a return engagement starring Bareilles played Broadway in late 2021. A 10th anniversary North American tour began on September 18, 2026; check the official tour site for current cities.
Is there a filmed version of Waitress?
Yes. The 2021 Broadway return engagement, with Bareilles as Jenna, was filmed and released in US cinemas from December 7, 2023, as Waitress: The Musical (Playbill, Bleecker Street).
