starring sara bareilles. >> i know. reporter: her name shining bright under those broadway lights. >> to be as cheesy as i can be, it's like childhood fantasy coming true in a way i would never have imagined. >> do you feel like a broadway star? >> oh, my god, no. no. crazy. stop. >> but you never felt like a pop star either. >> no. i'm just a schmoby from the sticks. >> reporter: all a piece of humble pie from the current lead actress in one of the hottest tickets on broadway, "waitress: the musical." ♪ sugar, butter, flour ♪ don't let me down in the showhe small town waitress full of big dreams and in search of a new life, a better life far from her abusive husband. this would mark her second role in what has become a passion project for the singer-songwriter who first left the world of pop to join the "waitress" production as the lead composer. >> i was getting fatigued of the cyclical nature of being a pop artist where you write a record, record a record, go on tour, promote, come home, do it all again. so i just wa

. >> reporter: hit singles like brave may have catapulted sara bareilles to the stop top of the chartsnominee, this is where her childhood dreams are coming true. >> there it is right there, starring sara bareilles. >> her name bright under the broadway lights. >> to be as cheesy as i can be. childhood fantasy coming true in a way i never would have imagined. >> reporter: do you feel like a broadway star? >> oh, my god, no, no. crazy, stop. >> reporter: you never felt like a. star either. >> i'm just a schmobie from the sticks. >> reporter: all a piece of humble pie from the current lead actress to one of the hottest tickets on broadway. waitress the musical. ♪ sugar, butter, flour, don't let me down ♪ >> she plays jenna, a small town waitress full of big dam search of a new life, better life far from her abusive husband. ♪ ♪ it's not easy to know >> reporter: for 3 1/2 years she worked tirelessly to bring the show to life. one song at a time. ♪ she used to be mine >> i rewrote the opening number, 40 times. >> wow. >> i wanted to absolutely tear my hair out. and throw people across the

sara bareilles' turn.row she's -- we'll show you one of the biggest bands in rock, bon jovi is going to be surprising one very lucky graduating class. >> can you imagine that you're graduating and bon jovi is going to pop up and perform. >> that is awesome. >> and jon bon jovi is joining us live right now. [ cheers and applause ] okay. wait a minute. do you always look this cool? i mean, it doesn't matter what time. it doesn't matter where you are. isn't he the coolest looking guy ever? wow. >> oh my goodness. good morning, y'all. yeah, i wear sunglasses to bed. >> i believe that. i believe that. >> you know, the thing was, jon, when you were back here in march you announced you would go from student -- you would give students around the country to have a chance to have you perform live at their commencement ceremony. we don't want to give too much away. but what do you have planned for the students? >> we had a nationwide contest to have bon jovi perform at your graduation and written a song for commencem

from "phantom of the opera" and "les miserables" and "waitress," a wonderful musical created by sara bareillesof the great things we have coming for next season is if you subscribe in '17-'18. you are guaranteed tickets -- >> wait! >> to "hamilton," the amazing broadway hit that we're excited to bring here in '18-'19 and we haven't announced the dates yet or the dates of the run and we had a tremendous respond, you are guaranteed your tickets to "hamilton". >> that's brilliant. >> we do what we can. it's a wonderful season of just what we learned from the philly audiences that they want to see the best of broadway as soon as possible, but they want to see it in their own backyard in theaters and center city. coming to the academy or the theater or the miriam, and seeing broadway at its best in philadelphia. >> we luck out as viewers to get to see this, but how is it that you think you're able to get so many great shows to come to philadelphia? >> the shows are upcoming here and we tend to sell a lot of tickets and also the audiences are great and the tours love spending time in center city and

grammy-nominated singer sara bareilles going from pop star to stage star with her hit musical "waitress

oh, sara bareilles and the cast of broadway's "waitress." >> i can't wait to see it. >> and tasted really in l.a. >> and not over because this morning we've got jon bon jovi, everybody, teamed up and surprised some very lucky graduates and crashed the fairleigh dickinson commencement in new jersey and i was lucky enough to be there. ♪ this is the biggest day of their lives, the 2600 students behind me, they're about to get the greatest graduation present you can ask for, a private bon jovi concert. you know, i spent a lot of time in the giants locker room but never, never for a surprise like this. >> right. >> these kids have no idea they won this contest so what can they expect? what can we expect to see? >> beautiful thing about this is i wrote a song specific to the graduation and what had happened was i was given an honorary doctorate at another university and instead of the usual commencement speech i thought how do i make my speech unique so i put it into a song. >> are you not busy enough you've been on tour. >> that's true? all around the world. >> i have two kids graduating this