NEW YORK (AP) – Sara Bareilles’ songwriting skills are all over the new Broadway musical “Waitress” – even down to the cellphone warning.
The singer-songwriter of “Brave” and “Love Song” has recorded the 40-second please-turn-off-all-electronic-devices warning that most Broadway theaters now provide.
Over staccato piano notes and shrill ringing, Bareilles sings: “Do it now, while I sing, because no one’s going to like you if your phone rings. Hurry up so that we can start the show. Thank you so much. Now turn off your cellphone.” Fans can find it on SoundCloud.
Bareilles told The Associated Press that she was inspired to write the ditty after being frustrated by the current bane of Broadway: Cellphones chirping during shows despite demands they be turned off. One went off during previews at a particularly tender moment in “Waitress.”
“The team and I spoke after the show, and I suggested a cellphone announcement that I would write and sing myself. I decided to rewrite the words to a song of mine called ‘Cassiopeia,’ and try to make something funny, in the style of the show, but that would still get the point across,” Bareilles said.