The Stage

The Baker’s Wife

Published Monday 26 September 2011 at 09:09 by Mark Shenton

It’s becoming commonplace to declare that a show at the tiny fringe powerhouse of the Union Theatre is a musical miracle, but one has definitely occurred now with its turn-around of a legendary flop into something that is truly beautiful, tender and true.

Lisa Stokke and Matthew Goodgame in The Baker's Wife at the Union Theatre, London Photo: Roy Tan

The Baker’s Wife is Stephen Schwartz’s 1976 musical that followed his hits with Godspell and Pippin but died after six months on the road without ever reaching Broadway, and then died all over again when Trevor Nunn, no less, brought it to the West End in 1989.

But now director/choreographer Michael Strassen, who has previously done stunning work at the Union on Assassins (the best production of that show I’ve ever seen) and Company, reclaims The Baker’s Wife for ever as the affecting miniature masterpiece that has always been lurking inside it. By reducing the scale, Strassen amplifies the emotion, and I was in tears frequently throughout his gorgeously sung, superbly staged production.

Against a Chagall-like painted backdrop, a finely drawn portrait of small town French life emerges as a new baker arrives in a town that has been without bread for seven long weeks, after the previous one died suddenly. He brings his baking skills but also his pretty young wife, who soon catches the eye of the Mayor’s handyman, and she promptly elopes with him. And the baker stops baking. In this achingly bittersweet story, the town puts aside old animosities to reunite them, partly so the baker can start working again.

“What is so luscious/As a brioche is?” goes one line, and the answer is there’s nothing as lush with feeling and flavour as this show. Michael Matus brings heartbreaking strength to the baker, and sings Schwartz’s Brel-like songs for his character with thrilling power. Lisa Stokke is piercingly lovely as his wife Genevieve, and there’s dashing support from Matthew Goodgame as her handsome seducer.

In a superb ensemble cast, there are also stand-out performances from Ian Mowat and Ricky Butt as a fractious couple who run the local cafe, underpinned by the full-bodied support of Chris Mundy’s expert musical direction.