Not a Book: The Baker’s Wife

I know, I know, I try not to do theatre two weeks in a row, but both this and Hello, Dolly! are limited runs – and so I wanted to get this out as soon as possible.

This is a musical adaptation of a 1938 French movie of the same name, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz aka the man who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked. The plot is pretty simple: it’s set in a French village where there are a range of petty rivalries and disputes. It has been without a baker for some weeks, and the lack of bread is driving the locals mad. The new baker arrives – Amiable, a middle aged man and his much younger and very attractive wife Genevieve (and their cat, Pompom). The villagers are shocked at the age difference between the baker and his wife, and their prying causes Genevieve to run back into their house crying. The local Marquis’s chauffeur takes a fancy to Genevieve and starts flirting, and a chain of events is set in motion.

The Baker’s Wife is a bit of a cult classic – it’s never made it to Broadway, and has a history of being well reviewed, but not finding commercial success. This production is at the Menier Chocolate Factory, an off-West End venue which has a history of producing really good productions of hard to stage musicals – the revival of Merrily We Roll Along which has just won Tonys in New York (including for Daniel Radcliffe) started at the Menier more than a decade ago (and I saw it in the West End). And this is another one that works really well. As you can see from the photo, it’s a small space, set up as the village square and the actors are right there with you and around you and it’s really immersive.

The cast is excellent too – with Clive Rowe (fresh from his run in Sister Act) as Amiable and Lucie Jones – who is now building a really strong West End resume – as Genevieve, along with Josefina Gabriele (who was also in that production of Merrily) as Denise, who is the most developed of the village characters. I’m not going to say all of the songs are massively memorable once you’ve left the show – although Meadowlark is – but it’s generally a great show at a lovely venue.

The Baker’s Wife is on at the Menier for another six or so weeks – until the 14th of September. You can get tickets through all the usual sources. And I’m very excited because in the last ten days or so the Menier has announced that they’re staging a revival of The Producers next year, and I really want to see what they do with that one.

Have a great Sunday everyone – have a video of Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez singing some Sondheim to send you on your way.