North East Theatre Guide: Interview: Les Dennis - Waitress at Sunderland Empire

Monday 4 – Saturday 9 May 2026

Durham-born actress Emma Lucia is set to make a homecoming to remember this May, stepping into the leading role of Jenna in the touring production of Waitress — the beloved and award-laden musical that has captured hearts around the world since its Broadway debut a decade ago. The show arrives at Sunderland Empire for a six-night run from Monday 4 to Saturday 9 May 2026, brought to the North East by producers Barry & Fran Weissler and David Ian for Crossroads Live.

Photo: Matt Crockett

For Lucia, this engagement carries a deeply personal significance. Having trained and built her career performing on stages across the UK, returning to lead a major touring production at the very theatre where she spent childhood evenings watching shows feels nothing short of full circle. It is the kind of story that the musical itself — warm, resilient, rooted in the power of finding courage within oneself — might have been written to tell.

“I’m very excited to take on the role of Jenna in the Northeast. I grew up watching shows at the Sunderland Empire, so it feels like a full circle moment to be back on home soil leading this wonderful and heartfelt production.”

— Emma Lucia

Based on the 2007 film written by Adrienne Shelly, Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a gifted pie-maker working in a small-town diner, who dreams of escaping a loveless and difficult marriage. When a baking contest in a nearby county and the arrival of the town’s new doctor each offer the possibility of something new, Jenna must find the courage to seize her chance. All the while, her fellow waitresses — the forthright Becky and the sweetly awkward Dawn — provide friendship, solidarity, and their own recipes for happiness.

Photo: Matt Crockett

The show is, at heart, a celebration: of female friendship, of the tenacity required to remake one’s own life, and of the quietly extraordinary comfort of a well-made pie. It is funny, tender, and deeply felt — and has a score by Sara Bareilles that is among the finest of any musical in recent memory.

Interview with Les Dennis

Screen and stage star Les Dennis plays Old Joe, the owner of the diner and pie shop where Jenna works. We sat down with Les to talk about the show, his career, and what the role means to him.

What do you love about playing Joe?

I played the father Wilbur in Hairspray who was devoted to his wife and daughter, and I love this show just as much. Joe is a surrogate dad to the main character Jenna. He’s described as curmudgeonly, but with a buttercream centre. He doesn’t give much away, he’s a bit snappy but he really cares about Jenna.

Photo: Matt Crockett

Why is the show Waitress like its famous pies?

It is a really lovely show, with so many layers. It seems more to me like a play with music than a full-on musical. It deals with so many issues, with domestic violence, with love, lost dreams and the power of female friendship. Audiences will both laugh and cry and see incredible singers. I mean, our cast is amazing.

Are musical theatre performers looked down on compared to straight theatre?

Absolutely right. And yet they are a triple threat, they have to be able to do everything at the highest level. I mean, the acting is paramount in this. The story really has to be beautifully acted.

Did you get the same comments as a comic rather than a straight actor?

Oh yeah. There’s definitely judgement and yet Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean said on his deathbed, “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” I think audiences get lulled into enjoying it so much, thinking, ‘Oh, he’s just having a good time.’ Yeah, we are all loving what we’re doing. But it doesn’t mean that, you know, it’s easy to do it! If you sing a song, you get applause. If you time a joke wrong, there’s nothing. And when we get the chance to play the drama, we can do it because it’s the flip side of the coin. You know, Les Dawson was a very good serious actor when he wanted to be. You had to hold him down if he got bored, though.

Do you feel you get more respect now for your acting?

I get a kind of respect. It’s not grudging, it’s confused because I do things they don’t expect me to. Denise Welch and I always used to ring each other after doing a play and say, ‘Were you a revelation?’

Have you ever surprised yourself?

Oh yeah. I did Anna Karenina last year. I loved that. I did Venice Preserved with my niece Jodie McNee playing my daughter. If my mum had been around to see her son and granddaughter onstage at the RSC she would have been so proud.

Are you starting your own acting dynasty?

I’m very supportive that my daughter Eleanor is interested in acting and my son Tom was really great in a recent school production of School of Rock. I offer to run lines with them and they go, ‘No. I’m fine.’ They appreciate what I do and they’ve been in to watch rehearsals for Waitress, but they want to go their own way, which is great.

What are you looking forward to on tour?

I’m looking forward to going back to Liverpool, my hometown. People there love their theatre, love their art. I used to go to the Everyman Theatre when I was at school, and I would watch Jonathan Pryce, Bernard Hill, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite. There’s so much great art outside of London, and people really love it. It’s an embrace of community, of the beauty of life.

What would you say to the government about regional theatre?

Theatre everywhere has had some knocks but should most definitely be funded outside London. We should appreciate what we’ve got.

Have you ever had any mishaps on tour?

I did three years of panto in Liverpool with Cilla Black, Henry Winkler and then Pamela Anderson. She was lovely. She’d go into the local pub for a cider every night. She didn’t arrive until dress rehearsal and on opening night she flew in on a Vivienne Westwood swing and said, ‘Good evening Wimbledon!’ which is where she was the year before.

Photo: Johan Persson

Joe’s big number ‘Take It From An Old Man’ tells Jenna how the scars from life made him stronger. What has shaped you?

I did a double act with a man who I absolutely adored, Dustin Gee (Gerald Harrison). He was my best friend for a very short time. We met on Russ Abbott’s Madhouse in 1982 and I was having the time of my life with one of the funniest men I’ve ever known. His life was cut ridiculously short in 1986 at the age of 43 when we were flying high with our own TV show. We were in panto at the Southport Theatre at the time. We were being likened to the new Two Ronnies and it suddenly all went away.

I was in a terrible state and actually went on stage the day after Dustin died, with Jim Bowen replacing him. Now I would not do that. I was convinced by promoters and agents that I had to do it. So, yeah, those scars are there.

Attitudes to masculinity and mental health must be so different today from when you grew up?

When I first talked about being in therapy, it was frowned upon. Now people would check that I was okay. But this was 1986 and I was just told you’ve got to get on with it. The whole company went to Dustin’s funeral, but we couldn’t stay for the wake, because we had to go back for an evening show. I look back at that and just think that was wrong, and I didn’t get a chance to grieve and that’s why my first marriage collapsed, because I was just totally lost.

What do you think of how Waitress presents so many different types of masculinity?

There’s so much depth to this show. There’s a tragedy to Earl, to his destroyed dreams and how he takes it out on his wife. I think men are in a difficult phase right now, but we’ve got to support each other. My wife, Claire, will say, ‘Hey, hold my hand,’ because I still fear public displays of affection. She’s amazing, looking after us all and looking after everybody, if she can.

What have you learned from her?

You’ve got to trust and love the people that you love, and you’ve got to show them that. I remember I stopped kissing my dad when I was about 13 or 14, because a school friend made fun of it. I really regret that. What I really love is that when I talk to Tom on the phone or he’s getting out the car to go to school, he always says, ‘I love you.’ That’s beautiful every single time.

It sounds like you’re in a great place?

I’ve got a great, lovely family, lovely wife. I’m still here, still doing it. I love being in this business. I love the different things that are thrown my way. I did HMS Pinafore with the English National Opera. I did a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company. If I get a challenge, then I run for it.