'Waitress' to honor its late star, Nick Cordero

When the Broadway musical "Waitress" returns Thursday night, it will honor its late star Nick Cordero, one of the first high-profile casualties of COVID-19, with one of the show's signature, quirkily named pies.

The Tony Award-nominated show's social media last week had unveiled a photo of the stage set’s newly updated diner menu board, which already listed desserts with such metaphoric names as the Aren't You Sweet Potato Pie and the Upstream Without a Banana Cream Pie. An accompanying caption says Cordero's widow, fitness maven and "The Talk" co-host Amanda Kloots, "visited the diner as we unveiled the sign featuring 'Live Your Life Pie,' " based on her recently released memoir, "Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero."

"This special pie name, and moment in the show, will be a permanent part of every Waitress production in the world," the post went on. The original Broadway production, which had closed on Jan. 5, 2020, after 1,544 performances, is being revived through Jan. 9 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Cordero originated the Broadway production’s role as Earl, the scoundrel husband of protagonist Jenna.

"Heading to NYC for a very special opening night that will honor Nick!!" the 39-year-old Kloots, who lives in Los Angeles, wrote on Instagram Wednesday, reposting the photo. "Thank you to the whole @waitressmusical cast and crew for this special invite and tribute to the original Earl. I'm pretty confident that I will cry through the entire show but I can't wait to be there."

Cordero, who earned a Tony nomination for his role in Woody Allen's 2014 musical comedy "Bullets Over Broadway," played Earl beginning in previews in March 2016 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, continuing in the part through the show’s April opening and into September of that year. The actor died on July 5, 2020, at age 41, leaving behind Kloots and their infant son Elvis, now 2.