Musical ‘Waitress’ Shot To Be First Tribeca Premiere Screening Simultaneously In Times Square (Exclusive)

Waitress, the musical – Live on Broadway! will make history when it debuts during the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival as the first film shown in Times Square as part of the New York film festival’s annual lineup.

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 pm ET, with audio for the broadcast available to viewers via the TSX mobile app. The broadcast will coincide with the world premiere screening of the filmed version of the Tony Award-winning musical produced, performed and written by Grammy Award-winning artist Sara Bareilles at the BMCC Theater.

“The Tribeca Festival and Broadway are both New York institutions and I’m proud to have them Waitress, the musical – Live on Broadway! bringing this audience together for the first time,” said Bareilles, who wrote the music and lyrics for the show. “It is a huge honor to be able to celebrate this show that I love so much in a way that only New York City can! This is a love letter to the vitality of the theater community and to the great spirit of the Tribeca Film Festival, two essential constellations that make up this universe of the 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 serve basis at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 47th Street. Attendees can download the TSX app and tune into the broadcast using their phone’s speakers or with the additional use of headphones. The broadcast will feature an introduction by Bareilles, who will also perform live following the Tribeca premiere at the BMCC.

The musical, which was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Actress and Best Original Score, was based on the 2007 film written, directed by and starring Adrienne Shelly, alongside lead actors Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion . Waitress opened on Broadway in April 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theater and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album before closing on January 5, 2020, after 33 previews and 1,544 regular performances.

In September 2021, after Broadway closed and reopened due to a pandemic, it was reassembled at the Ethel Barrymore Theater with Bareilles in the lead role of Jenna Hunterson. The filmed version of the musical was produced by STEAM Motion + Sound during this limited engagement, with production concluding on December 22, 2021.