Waitress' Caitlin Houlahan on Her Pie Evolution and Looking Forward to Girl From the North Country

Caitlin Houlahan is currently in her third shift in Waitress, and will help close out the long-running show as it prepares to close on January 5. Originally joining the cast as the quirky waitress Dawn in 2016, Waitress marked Houlahan's Broadway debut, and she has since reprised her performance in two more stints. Houlahan stopped by Broadway.com's #LiveatFive to chat with Ryan Lee Gilbert about not liking pies, the upcoming Girl From the North Country and saying goodbye to Waitress.

Houlahan's relationship with Waitress extends beyond her joining the cast, which is why Dawn was a dream role for her to play. "I was on tour with Bridges of Madison County when cast recording came out, and I was obsessed with it," she said. "I was singing it in the shower, too. I went to see it in previews and completely fell in love with it and the role of Dawn. It was like seeing myself in something, and I had never seen a show that so completely had a character I felt close to. It's extremely special to me, having been one of my favorite shows before going into it. Now having been in and out of it for three years is pretty special."

With the announcement of the show closing on January 5, Houlahan has been savoring every moment on stage at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. "Waitress has been a staple on Broadway for the past almost four years, and for it not be there is going to be weird," she said. "The theater is full of love, especially having so many OG cast members back. It's always felt like a family in that sense. I thought that I would be relatively unemotional about it closing because I've been with it for a long time and all good things come to an end, but during 'Soft Place' the other day, my throat closed because I was so moved with emotion by thinking about how I'm not gonna ever be able to do this again. My hope over the next five weeks is that I really want to fully enjoy it. I know that I'm going to look back on this time and be very, so happy that it happened, but sad that I'll never be able to do it again."

Between engagements in Waitress, Houlahan appeared in The Girl From the North Country at the Public Theater and will reprise her role for the show's Broadway bow in early 2020. "I love that it's completely different from Waitress," she said. "It's all Bob Dylan music that already exists in the world and while the songs don't necessarily further the plot, they go seamlessly together. It really fills the artistic soul. One of the most exciting things was actually getting to revisit Dawn after doing Girl. It brought to much more out of me, and I was able to bounce off of that energy."

Shortly after taking her Broadway debut bow, Houlahan was featured as a Broadway.com Fresh Face where she said her dream pie would be "just crust with crust filling and salt sprinkled on top." Three years later and that sentiment hasn't changed. "If I were to sum up my experience in Waitress with a pie, it would probably be sweet potato pie," she said. "I wasn't really a pie person before Waitress. I don't like sweets, I'm more of a salty person, but I will always try any pie now thanks to Waitress."

See Houlahan in Waitress, playing through January 5.

Watch the full #LiveatFive interview below!