This first half of he play seemed to be a demonstration of “yeeeeees Queen”; finger snaps: lip smacking and odd word pronunciations; that I am sure made perfect sense to those attuned to “street language” but sincerely did leave half the audience behind.  It was just so loud and so big with NO sense of subtly that I sure didn’t get to understand or begin to care for these characters.

But then we got to the last half of the play, and I began to understand the characters and feel for their history they bring to the play.  The story was then very interesting.  It told of a group of four former inmates who were grateful to find the job of working as cooks at the at a greasy-spoon – Clyde’s.  They were held in check here by the owner, Clyde, a former prisoner herself, played by Uzo Aduba.  She abused these three workers in every way possible – because she knew they had nowhere to go.  Clearly, she became the devil in this extreme, punishing world.  From the ranks of the prisoners, the character Montrellous took on the role of the angel as he led these damaged people to see the light and take pride in themselves as they meticulously created sandwiches that became an expression of their passion and creativity.  Sandwiches, much like the pies of Waitress, the musical, became the poetic metaphor for understanding the heart of the characters.

As I said this play hit me with a ton of bricks for the first ten minutes – – I mean they could have been playing a coliseum – – but once they calmed down I did truly enjoy the evening with them.