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Jenna
Jenna Hunterson
Played by: Keri Russell, Jessie Mueller (OBC)
A Southern waitress with a tremendous talent for piemaking. After she finds out that she is pregnant with her abusive husband's baby, she begins an affair with her gynecologist.
- Cope by Creating: Jenna uses her problems to inspire new recipes, a la “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” pie.Dawn: I don’t think we can write that on the menu board, hon.
- Imagine Spot: Jenna frequently imagines inventing hypothetical pies that relate to her current situation.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Jenna, who doesn't want and can't really afford a baby, and almost never sleeps with her abusive husband, has unprotected sex with him once and ends up pregnant.
- My Secret Pregnancy:
- Jenna tries to hide her pregnancy from her husband. It actually works for a while because he's such a thick-headed moron, but Jenna is forced to tell him to stop him from hurting her.
- Jenna waits to tell her boss at the right time. Truth is, he knew. "Nobody told me. Nobody needs to tell me. I mean, look at you. What'd you think; I thought you went and got fat? Truth be told, as long as you can carry a tray and fill a pie tin, I don't care if you give birth while doing it".
- Supreme Chef: Everyone has nothing but glowing reviews for Jenna's pies and encourage her to enter a nearby pie contest so she can start fresh with the prize money. She manages to win it in the film (but not the musical), but in both versions she is able to parlay her talent into her own successful pie shop.
- Sweet Baker: Supreme piemaker Jenna begins the story broken down by her abusive husband Earl, but she is a fundamentally good-natured person whom Dawn even calls the embodiment of kindness and goodness.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Despite her qualms about it, the narrative is on Jenna's side for her affair with Dr. Pomatter because her husband is abusive. Especially since she breaks it off after she realizes she doesn't want to ruin his marriage, though she's grateful for what he's given her.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Jenna tends to stare into space. Sometimes, it's Played for Laughs, but it's just as often used to show how much of a Broken Bird she is.
Dr. Pomatter
Jim Pomatter
Played by: Nathan Fillion (film), Drew Gehling (OBC)
Jenna's gynecologist throughout her pregnancy, who has recently moved from Connecticut.
- Compliment Backfire: Dr. Pomatter compares Jenna to a waitress he once knew, and brings up that said waitress is now well into her middle age, which of course comes out wrong. He quickly clarifies that he meant that she was always very sweet to him and gave him dessert even when he couldn't afford it, and Jenna reminds him of her.
- Endearingly Dorky: His mannerisms in the musical are much more anxious and awkward than his more subdued film counterpart, but Jenna is attracted to his "nice guy talky thing" all the same.
- Karma Houdini: Sweet and loving man that he is, Dr. Pomatter did cheat on his wife with no consequences other than eventually losing Jenna, who realizes she doesn't need him to be happy and does see that his wife is a perfectly nice woman who doesn't deserve to have her own life get wrecked.
- You Remind Me of X: At the bus stop, he tells Jenna that she reminds him of a waitress he was very fond of in his youth.
Becky
Played by: Cheryl Hines (film), Keala Settle (OBC)
One of the other waitresses at the diner.- Running Gag: Throughout both film and musical Becky is repeatedly worried that her boobs are not aligned.
- Sassy Black Woman: She is usually portrayed by a black woman in the musical and has increased sassiness to match.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Becky is stuck in a Sexless Marriage to an invalid old crank, so Jenna eventually comes around to her affair with Cal.
Dawn
Dawn Williams
Played by: Adrienne Shelly (film), Kimiko Glenn (OBC)
One of the other waitresses at the diner.- Beautiful All Along: Dawn states that she's "almost pretty" when Jenna does her makeup. But Jenna and Becky are having none of it and tell her she's always been pretty.
- Bespectacled Cutie: She wears large, unflattering glasses that highlight her youthfulness and role as the group's de facto little sister. They come off for Dawn's "almost pretty" makeover.
Earl
Earl Hunterson
Played by: Jeremy Sisto (film), Nick Cordero (OBC)
- Affectionate Nickname: Back when their marriage was in a better place, Jenna would call him "Early". He notes that she hasn't called him that in a while, but doesn't have the self-awareness to realize why.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Earl is very violently jealous, as Jenna warns Dr. Pomatter. He even tells Jenna not to love their baby more than him.
- Domestic Abuse: Jenna's husband Earl is a particularly nasty version because it's not physical (other than the scene where he smacks her when she tries to leave for the pie-baking contest in another state). All the damage is done through emotional put-downs, due to his misogyny and general ignorance of anything regarding her feelings, thoughts, or desires. The film does an excellent job portraying how difficult it is to extract oneself out of this sort of situation without being too heavy-handed.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Earl is a truly wretched piece of work with Jeremy Sisto's deep voice.
- Hate Sink: There's absolutely nothing redeeming about Earl. He's very controlling of his wife Jenna, and tellingly when she tells him she's pregnant to stop him from hitting her, his reaction is to ask her not to love the baby more than him.
- Honking Arriving Car: Earl blares his horn every time he arrives somewhere.
Cal
Cal
Played by: Lew Temple (film), Eric Anderson (OBC)
- Big Brother Instinct: Cal is shown to have this for Jenna and Dawn in the musical:
- He tries to protect Jenna during Dawn's wedding.
- It's shown he knows how to help Dawn during her anxiety attack. He watches Ogie closely during his grand gesture, and he also acts disgusted when she talks about her sexcapades with Ogie.
- Incompatible Orientation: In the musical, his reason for having an affair with Becky is stated to be because his wife is likely a lesbian, rather than simply awful like in the film.
- Shipper on Deck: In the musical, Cal ships Ogie and Dawn, and gives Ogie advice when the latter has anxiety attacks.
Ogie
Oklahoma "Ogie" Anhorn
Played by: Eddie Jemison (film), Christopher Fitzgerald (OBC)
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Ogie in the film comes off as a slightly manipulative creep that doesn't know how to take "no" for an answer, since Dawn just met him for five minutes. Here, he and Dawn actually have some things in common, and she does a Dramatic Drop on learning he does American Revolution reenactments and has the same opinion about whipped cream on pie.
- Dogged Nice Guy: As he admits himself, once he's set his sights on a woman he won't take no for an answer. He eventually marries Dawn, who initially agreed to date him after giving in to his persistence.
- Hopeless Suitor: Ogie appears to be one at first. Dawn isn't the only one underestimating his determination to win her over.
- Momma's Boy: He adores his mother to an almost uncomfortable extent.
- Sex God: Despite the others calling him an "elf", Dawn claims he is a dynamo in bed.
Joe
Joe
Played by: Andy Griffith (film), Dakin Matthews (OBC)
The elderly owner of the diner and several other local businesses.- Grumpy Old Man: Joe plays up this with his overly specific food orders and complaining but deep down he's really a sweet guy who encourages Jenna to see her own potential, even gifting her the diner when he passes.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He acts like a Grumpy Old Man but not-so-secretly cares about Jenna, even posthumously sponsoring her new life. Lampshaded by Jenna who tells him that he's not as mean as he pretends to be.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Joe's song to Jenna in the musical, "Take it From an Old Man", is essentially this.Joe: I believe that there’s something in you. Something good is tryin’ to break through.
