Filmed ‘Waitress’ Musical to Be First Tribeca Premiere to Screen Simultaneously in Times Square (Exclusive)

Abbey White
·2 min read

Waitress, the Musical – Live on Broadway! will make history when it debuts during the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival as the first film to be broadcast in Times Square as part of the annual New York festival’s programming slate.

The film will play simultaneously for free on TSX Entertainment’s 18,000-square-foot digital screen overlooking Times Square on Monday, June 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET, with sound for the broadcast available for viewers through the TSX mobile app. The broadcast will coincide with the world-premiere screening of the filmed version of the Tony-winning musical produced, starring and written by Grammy-winning artist Sara Bareilles at the BMCC theater.

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“Tribeca Festival and Broadway are both NYC institutions, and I’m proud to have Waitress, the Musical – Live on Broadway! bring together these audiences for the first time,” said Bareilles, who wrote the music and lyrics for the show. “It is a tremendous honor to get to celebrate this show that I love so much in a way that only New York City can do! This is a love letter to the vitality of the theater community and the great spirit of the Tribeca Film Festival, two essential constellations that make up this universe of a city.”

Presented by Tribeca in association with the Times Square Alliance and TSX Entertainment, the special event will have 300 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 47th Street. Attendees can download the TSX App and tune in to the broadcast using their own phone’s speakers or with the additional use of headphones. The broadcast will feature an introduction from Bareilles, who will also be performing live following the Tribeca premiere at the BMCC.

The musical, which was nominated for four Tony Awards, including best musical, best lead actress and best original score, was based on the 2007 film written, directed by and starring Adrienne Shelly, along with leading actors Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion. Waitress debuted on Broadway in April 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, and earned a Grammy nomination for best musical theater album before closing Jan. 5, 2020, following 33 previews and 1,544 regular performances.

In September 2021, after Broadway’s pandemic shutdown and reopening, it was remounted at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with Bareilles in the lead role of Jenna Hunterson. The musical’s filmed version was produced by Dear Hope Productions, National Artists Management Company and Night & Day Pictures during this limited engagement, with the staging’s run concluding Dec. 22, 2021.

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