Waitress the Musical's national touring production features Maiesha McQueen (who also appears in Portland Center Stage's production of "The Color Purple"), Desi Oakley and Bryan Fenkart. (Joan Marcus)

Mix together one unhappily married waitress who expresses herself by baking pies, one unexpected pregnancy and one handsome doctor, and you have the recipe for "Waitress," the hit musical that Broadway in Portland is bringing to the Keller Auditorium Sept. 18-23.

The musical, based on the 2007 movie of the same name written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, owes much of its success to Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. As the musical's composer and lyricist, Bareilles can take credit for one of its four Tony nominations, Best Original Score.

Bareilles talked recently with The Oregonian/OregonLive about "Waitress." Here are highlights from the conversation.

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Sara Bareilles speaks during the 49th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards gala at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on Thursday, June 14, 2018, in New York. (Brad Barket/Invision/AP)

Q: How did you come to be the one who wrote the music and lyrics for "Waitress"?

A: I had just recently moved to New York and had been looking for opportunities in the theater and my agent told me that there was this project in the works and I had a meeting with the director. I fell in love with the world that Adrienne Shelly created. I was really burnt out from touring and wanted to find a new project and something different to do, and this just arrived at the perfect time.

Q: What spoke to you most about the story?

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Waitress the Musical's national touring production features Charity Angel Dawson, Desi Oakley and Lenne Klingaman. (Joan Marcus)

A: I liked that it was a story about messy people. The world that was created is not something that is heroes and villains and black and white. It's good people doing the best they can and making mistakes along the way. Ultimately, it's a story about learning to love yourself and your community.

Q: What were the biggest challenges in telling this story as much through songs as through dialogue?

A: I'm so used to writing songs for myself; I've always been an autobiographical songwriter. It was a challenge to find my way into each of these other stories and see what the abusive husband does and what the patriarch of the diner does and how it all feels from inside a character that's a little bit further away from me.

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Waitress the Musical's national touring production features Desi Oakley, Charity Angel Dawson and Lenne Klingaman in the debut musical by Sara Bareilles, based on the 2007 film and the book by Jessie Nelson. (Joan Marcus)

Q: Can you talk a little about the process of writing the songs? Did you write them sequentially?

A: We would talk about places in the film where it felt like there was a musical moment and something to mine. I started the very first song (to be written), "She Used to Be Mine," at (director) Diane (Paulus)' direction to write toward what feels the loudest. The last song that got finished was the opening number ("What's Inside"). I wrote it over and over and over again - that song had so many revisions.

Q: How did you put your personal stamp on the music and lyrics? What makes them Sara Bareilles songs?

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Waitress the Musical's national touring production stars Bryan Fenkart as Dr. Pomatter and Desi Oakley as Jenna. (Joan Marcus)

A: My approach was trying not to write quote-unquote musical theater songs. I just wanted to write songs for these characters and give their inner dialogue a place and a chance to sing. So stylistically, I just wrote songs that I was responding to. I wasn't trying to fit into a mold or some design, so I think that it naturally just had my cadence and it has my spin on things.

Q: What do you hope audiences take away from this show?

A: I hope that audiences see themselves in this story somewhere. I think what we all attempted to do was to create a show that has a lot of heart and a lot of hope. I hope that people love the show and feel that they are a little closer to themselves in some way. Every night I watch the show, I take something different away. Our touring cast is absolutely incredible and they work so hard every night to bring all the nuance and depth of these characters.

I'm such a fan of Portland. It's always been an incredible place. The audiences up in Portland have always embraced - at least in my experience of being on tour - they've always embraced me so beautifully. I'm hopeful that we made something that you all will respond to.

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Waitress the Musical's national touring production stars Desi Oakley as Jenna, a small-town waitress stuck in a loveless marriage. (Joan Marcus)

Q: (Main character) Jenna's claim to fame is her talent for pie-making. What's your favorite kind of pie and why?

A: My favorite kind of pie is blackberry pie. It's the one that I made with my mom growing up. We had these awesome blackberry bushes that grew wild outside the house. It doesn't get better than Mom's blackberry pie.

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"Waitress"

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, Sept. 18-21; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23

Where: Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.

Tickets: Start at $25, portland.broadway.com or 503-417-0573