Waitress - Adelphi Theatre / U.K. Tour / Cinema

This Broadway musical centres on a woman named Jenna, played by Katharine McPhee whose extraordinary voice is a thing of wonder. Jenna makes 27 pies a day for the American diner where she works, including a daily special that she gets to name. So there’s Believe in Me Pie, the Mermaid Marshmallow Pie or You Are Never Seeing Me Again pie. When she becomes pregnant by her loutish husband, the dish of the day is Betrayed by My Eggs pie.

This musical took me by surprise: I expected something much less touching, gritty and moving. It has heart (not to mention pastry) to spare and McPhee’s voice has the lilt and lift that takes you away from yourself. She is woman, hear her soar. At times, especially in the second half, in the lament She Used to Be Mine, she seems to lift the roof off.

This is one for the XX chromosome brigade, a grown-up Legally Blonde. The male characters are a bit shallow and cartoony and the women, particularly Jenna and her two waitress friends Becky and Dawn, have almost all the good lines. The exception is the hilarious man disaster who is Ogie, played with limbo-loosening panache by Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock fame.

The team behind the musical, which was nominated for four Tonys in 2016 when it first appeared on Broadway having been adapted from the 2007 film, is also all female: music and lyrics are by Sara Bareilles, the scriptwriter is Jessie Nelson, with Diane Paulus as director and Lorin Latarro as choreographer.

Needless to say, Jenna is not too thrilled when she discovers that she has her own bun in the oven. Her pies may be ab fab but her husband, Earl, is a nightmare and her doctor is a terrible (and very attractive) flirt. Life doesn’t come in neat packages: Becky’s husband has a long-term illness and she’s thinking of having an affair. Dawn, who is online dating, is an eccentric who loves to dress up as the American flag-maker Betsy Ross.

What a crew they are. There is not a weak link in the cast.

Marisha Wallace plays Becky with hip-swinging panache and Laura Baldwin has terrific comic timing as the hapless Dawn. David Hunter is funny as the heartthrob Dr Pomatter while Peter Hannah is the villain as the self-centred Earl.

The smell of apple pie pervades the theatre foyer when you arrive.

The idea of mom and apple pie is a cliché, of course, but this story really does end up centring on both. So anyone for a slice of Five Star Musical pie? Don’t mind if I do.