The Baker’s Wife Reviews – London Theatre

"Adultery, pétanque and gorgeous songs"

"Stephen Schwartz’s poetic musical has built a cult following — this smartly acted production at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London shows why"

"The first thing to say about the chamber production by Gordon Greenberg — who has previously staged the musical on the other side of the pond — is that it looks gorgeous."

"True, Joseph Stein’s book does have an odd, wife-shaped hole in it. Lucie Jones makes an undeniably alluring Geneviève, the young woman married to a genial but much older baker (nobly played by Clive Rowe)."

"The musical director Dustin Conrad leads a crisp nine-piece band that remains mostly out of sight. The large cast is crammed with talent. Michael Matus’s lubricious Marquis grabs most of the comic lines as he herds a trio of “nieces” around the streets. If Valde’s seducer remains a cipher, his passions run free on the emphatic Proud Lady. For a few moments, a gentle rural comedy suddenly acquires operatic intensity."

"This Stephen Schwartz curio comes to vivid life in a beautifully judged revival that’s equal parts goofy and yearning"

"In American director Gordon Greenberg’s charming production of Joseph Stein and Stephen Schwartz’s 1989 musical there’s a lot more to ‘The Baker’s Wife’ than ‘Meadowlark’, its best-known song. For one thing, there’s a whole village in 1930s Provence seemingly addicted to bread."

"Musical theatre veteran Rowe lives up to his character’s name, projecting an irresistible amount of naïve geniality, happily oblivious to the sniggering of the villagers."

"Jones also gives full weight to Genevieve’s watershed moment, the aforementioned ‘Meadowlark’, building up the poignancy of this gorgeous ode to choosing between duty and desire."

"This particular show also benefits from director-of-musicals extraordinaire Greenberg’s in-depth familiarity with it... Crucially, he understands that romance is only one strand of the story and that perhaps the most important ‘character’ is the village itself. That’s where this production truly rises to the occasion."

"Perfect balance of rustic charm and sexual tension"

"Charmingly staged production that breathes life into the characters and passion into the music"

"... it’s a knotty story about love, infidelity and forgiveness that embraces its Gallic roots rather than disguising them. There are also no big production numbers or a chorus line, but there are guts in Schwartz’s intimate score"

"This sense of community pervades beyond the acting space, thanks in no small part to Paul Farnsworth’s triumphant set design."

"Jones captures this dilemma beautifully in the number Meadowlark, her familiar assertive mezzo tempered as she struggles to make sense of her feelings. In all fairness, Valdes is a ridiculously confident suitor, arguing his passion with startling authority in the soaring Proud Lady. Rowe is a master at finding the emotional truth behind a musical number."

"Greenberg’s production, with sensitive musical direction from Dustin Conrad, delivers the perfect balance of rustic charm and sexual tension."

"Two star turns save this half-baked confection"

"The plot’s lightweight and the songs so-so, but this comedy about French marital infidelity here gets an undeniably spirited revival"

"... I wish tireless artistic director David Babani would sometimes be more constructively critical of his imports. When the material has an underlying strength, this intimate venue can incubate something fresh. When there’s room for improvement – as in the case of this comedy about French marital infidelity penned, after a 1938 Marcel Pagnol film, by Joseph Stein (of Fiddler on the Roof fame) and Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Wicked) – you crave a re-appraisal."

"While you might be able to affect a Gallic shrug at the show’s unproblematised attitude to its central age gap (endorsed at the sentimental close), it’s harder to dispel the impression that the musical augmentation drains the tale of rustic authenticity."

"Finty Williams is underused as the butcher’s disregarded wife Hortense while Norman Pace isn’t just unrecognisable as the ruddy café owner Claude but only fleetingly registers (though he can just about hold a tune). The big saving graces are Lucie Jones, strong-voiced and as radiant as a hot St Tropez sun as the gorgeous, agonised Genevieve, and Clive Rowe, obtaining rare notes of pathos as the sweetly disconsolate Baker."

"Fun for the summer, bien sur, but as things stand, a few loaves short of the full picnic; dommage."

"A story of kneading and needing"

"The Menier Chocolate Factory production starring Lucie Jones whisks the audience to a sleepy village in France"

"Audiences for The Baker’s Wife are seated around a village square, fringed with shuttered windows, ironwork balconies and pots of geraniums while bathed in a soft golden glow and a haze of Gauloises smoke."

"There’s plenty to like and Gordon Greenberg’s production bubbles with wit and mischief, but it never bites down hard enough on the darker issues it raises"

"There are some quiet moments of real pain where the show really lifts off. Rowe brings great pathos to the scene in which Aimable slowly lifts a brandy glass to his lips. Josefina Gabrielle crackles with energy as the smart, long-suffering waitress Denise, she and the other female cast members deliver an enjoyably tart girl-power number, “Romance”, and the departure of Finty Williams’ Hortense adds a welcome sharp note. But overall, droll and warm as it is, we could use a little more salt in the mix."

"Stephen Schwartz’s lip-smacking musical has a soggy derriere"

"Clive Rowe and Lucie Jones star in Schwartz and Joseph Stein’s tale of a French bakery, given a chamber setting"

"Gordon Greenberg’s affectionate production is soggy-bottomed in the weaker second half. Glazed in Paul Anderson’s yolk-gold lighting, the characterful ensemble includes Josefina Gabrielle’s knowing cafe owner and Finty Williams as a worm-turning wife: the musical’s unsatisfied women are far better company than their boorish menfolk, and cut loose in a tango."

"Clive Rowe is built for optimism – round eyes shining with merriment, voice rich with adoration. It’s horrible to see him reduced to misery – the light leaves his eyes like an oven turned cold."

"This nostalgic musical is no classic, but it too shows hearts and minds sweetened by steady affection and our daily bread."

"This whimsical Seventies chamber piece has not stood the test of time"

"A luxurious cast but this ‘lost’ musical is basic and meandering"

"There’s a reason ‘lost’ musicals get lost. This whimsical 1976 chamber piece by Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book), about infidelity in rural 1930s France, is sumptuously mounted here by director Gordon Greenberg. There’s a luxurious cast, including Clive Rowe and Lucie Jones in the leads. Yet it remains a basic, meandering, misogynistic piece, forgettably tuneful and stuffed with forced jollity."

"There’s a mechanical feel to the arc of betrayal, reflection and redemption that follows. None of it feels earned or heartfelt."

"The singing is strong, the choreography simple but effective. The ode to gluttony, Bread, is fun, and the baker’s uncomprehending duet with his rival, Serenade, is clever and beautiful. But too many numbers are unremarkable, and reliant on awkward rhymes and baking-related puns."

"A retro musical is dusted down with mixed results"

"... gets the sort of full-throttle revival that London’s Menier Chocolate Factory is famous for, without ever quite justifying itself."

"Gordon Greenberg’s production steers a straight path through the cheesy lyrics and cutesy French stereotypes."

"She [Lucie Jones] is a radiant foil to both Clive Rowe’s endearing baker and to Joachim Pedro Valdes, as a seducer whose virility pours forth the few times he gets a chance to sing. There is no faulting the ensemble, who surge in and out of focus in tableaux of marital dispute, moral outrage or rural idiocy. But this is a museum piece that doesn’t really deserve a place in a museum."