The Baker’s Wife. Book by Joseph Stein. Music & Lyrics by Stephen SDcwartz. The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London until 14 September 2024.

3✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“Rowe and Jones soar but show as flat as a pancake.”

Dazzlingly good performances from Clive Rowe and Lucie Jones as Aimable, the baker, and Genevieve, his beautiful young wife, who is unfaithful, just about save the day as far as this ancient Stephen Schwartz musical is concerned. They both sing and act splendidly. But the show itself, a problem when it was first staged in 1976 and despite subsequent tinkerings never has. It is most famous for not actually having reached Broadway in spite of a perfectly acceptable score with some charming songs and a couple of show piece arias for the two leads to belt to the rafters. But sing act their hearts out as they do, Rowe and Jones can do nothing to change that. Nor does the presence among the inhabitants of the Provencal village of Concorde, where all is discord with chauvinist husbands and put down wives, of some fine players like Josefina Gabrielle and Finty Williams. The village has lost its baker and what is a French village without bread, croissants and delicious tartes aux pommes or whatever fruit comes to mind? Then along comes Aimable and his beautiful young wife – they look at her askance but are ravished by his baking. Dominique, the village cad, Joaquin Pedro Valdes. ignores the baked goods and seduces at Genevieve . They elope, the teetotal baker takes to drink, the villagers set out to find her – but will she return and what will Aimable do then? One really does not care. The Menier has thrown lots of resources at the show both on and off stage – the auditorium has been transformed into the Concorde village square where the natives bicker at the cafe, play boules, abuse their wives and invade the bakery demanding bread. They should be folksy – lets say Whisky Galore style but there are plenty French films to choose from - but are about as unappealing a bunch as you could hope to meet, while the set is a plastic fake heaven with appalling entrances for the cast to navigate and some dodgy sight lines for the audience. Marcel Pagnol made a film of the original book in 1938 and maybe everyone concerned should have taken a closer look at that because he did create a village where Aimable’s arrival leads to transformations all round and the cad seducer, nicely done by Valdes, is a shepherd rather than a chauffeur to the local big shot. It should keep audiences happy enough – Schwartz has a fan club and the show has its own legend – but the yeast simply has failed to work and the whole thing remains as flat as a pancake. At the end the villagers remain as nasty a bunch as they are at the beginning, as for what happens to Aimable and Genevieve – one does not really care.

Cast

Mark Extance – Teacher.

Norman Pace – Claude.

Josefina Gabrielle – Denise.

Sutara Gayle – Therese.

Liam Tamne – Barnaby.

Finty Williams – Hortense.

David Seadon Young – Antoine.

Matthew Seadon Young – Priest.

Michael Matus – Marquis.

Jack Gardner – Philippe.

Joaquim Pedro Valdes – Dominique.

Bobbie Chambers – Nicole.

Hana Ichijo – Inez.

Robyn Rose – Simone.

Clive Rowe – Aimable.

Lucie Jones – Genevieve.

Bart Lambert, David Pendlebury, Annabelle Williams – Villagers.

Creatives

Director – Gordon Greenberg.

Choreographer – Matt Cole.

Set & Costume Designer – Paul Farnsworth.

Wig, hair and makeup designer – Sam Cox.

Lighting Designer – Paul Anderson.

Sound Designer – Yvonne Gilbert.

Musical Supervisor & Orchestrator – Stuart Morley.

Musical Director – Dustin Conrad.

Musical theatre – 18 July 2024.

Photo Credit – Tristram Kenton.