Review | The Baker's Wife' offers an underbaked performance amNewYork

"Half a century in the oven, still a bit underbaked It has taken nearly 50 years for The Baker's Wife, Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein's notoriously troubled 1976 musical, to receive a full professional New York staging. When Classic Stage Company first announced the Off-Broadway production, it generated mild curiosity among musical-theater diehards. But it became genuinely newsworthy only later, when Oscar winner Ariana DeBose and Scott Bakula signed on, suddenly giving this long-struggling show the kind of spotlight it has never enjoyed."

"Before the performance officially begins, villagers already populate the space gossiping, smoking, playing games a touch that reflects director Gordon Greenberg's long relationship with the musical, which he has shepherded through multiple revisions over two decades. He clearly believes it benefits from intimacy and atmosphere, and CSC's theater-in-the-round configuration, ringed by balconies, stonework, and cafe tables, proves an ideal canvas."

"After weeks without a baker, the quarrelsome residents of Concorde are thrilled when Aimable Castagnet (Bakula) arrives with Genevieve (DeBose), his much younger wife. Their marriage instantly becomes a subject of fascination. When Genevieve yields to the attentions of Dominique, a young and handsome driver (Kevin William Paul), she runs off with him, leaving Aimable too broken to bake. Deprived of their daily bread, the villagers must finally unite to bring her home."

The Baker's Wife waited nearly fifty years for a full New York staging. The 1976 Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein musical has a notoriously troubled history. Classic Stage Company's Off-Broadway production gained prominence when Ariana DeBose and Scott Bakula joined the cast. Gordon Greenberg, who has shepherded multiple revisions over two decades, stages the piece in an intimate, theater-in-the-round village square ringed by balconies, stonework, and cafe tables. Villagers populate the space before curtain, gossiping, smoking, and playing games. The plot, adapted from Marcel Pagnol's 1938 film, follows Aimable and his young wife Genevieve, her affair with Dominique, and the village's efforts to bring her home. The production reveals tender moments of longing and forgiveness alongside persistent structural weaknesses.

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