YORK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES MORE CASTING FOR
JOSEPH STEIN AND STEPHEN SCHWARTZ’S
THE BAKER’S WIFE
FINAL SHOW IN JOSEPH STEIN “MUSICALS IN MUFTI SERIES”
RENEÉ ELISE GOLDSBERRY JOINS
MAX VON ESSEN, LENNY WOLPE,
GAY MARSHALL, KEVIN CAHOON;
GORDON GREENBERG DIRECTS; OCTOBER 26-28
The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) announces more casting for The Baker’s Wife, the fourth and final show in the Fall 2007 Musicals in Mufti Series -- the York’s acclaimed series of musical theatre gems in staged concert performances. This Series celebrates the work of playwright Joseph Stein. The Baker’s Wife will play October 26, 27 and 28 at the Theatre at Saint Peters (54th Street, Just East of Lexington Ave). Tickets are $35. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call York’s Box Office at 212-935-5820.
The Baker’s Wife (book by Joseph Stein, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz) will feature: Reneé Elise Goldsberry (Nettie, original cast of The Color Purple, The Lion King) in the title role, Genevieve, as well Rick Crom (Urinetown) and Betsy DiLellio (The Light in the Piazza, National Tour) who join the previously announced: Lenny Wolpe (The Drowsy Chaperone) as Aimable, the Baker, Max Von Essen (Les Miserables, Dance of the Vampires) as Dominique, Kevin Cahoon (The Wedding Singer, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as the Priest, and Gay Marshall (Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris) as Denise. The cast also includes: Wendi Bergamini (The Light in the Piazza, National Tour), Jacque Carnahan (Pirates of Penzance, Goodspeed Opera), Joy Franz (Into the Woods, Pippin), Laurent Giroux (Pippin, The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Mitchell Greenberg (York’s Fermat’s Last Tango, Laughter on the 23rd Floor), Michael Medeiros (Violet, Playwrights Horizons), John O’Creagh (The Field, Irish Repertory Theatre), Richard Pruitt (Batboy the Musical, 42nd Street), Maureen Silliman (Shenandoah, Is There Life After High School?), and Clinton Zugel (The Goat, or who is Sylvia?, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis).
Final will be announced soon.
The Baker’s Wife will be directed by Gordon Greenberg who directed this show at The Paper Mill Playhouse in 2005. He also directed the recent Pirates! at The Paper Mill as well as Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris off Broadway. Mark Hartman (Avenue Q, York’s Bajour) is the Music Director.
The Baker’s Wife, with book by Joseph Stein and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, is based on the film “La Femme de Boulanger” by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono.
The Baker’s Wife is a love story set in the French town of Concorde, where the people have been without a baker for six weeks and are filled with anticipation at the arrival of master baker Aimable Castagnie. The baker and his wife arrive, but when Aimable’s wife runs off with a young villager, Aimable cannot accept the truth. At first the villagers make fun of the baker’s situation until his goodness forces them to open their hearts and try to help him.
The show has a long history. The musical theater rights of the 1932 film were originally optioned by producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, and the show was to be written by Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows. This production never happened, but the idea came up again in the 70’s when David Merrick brought on Schwartz and Stein to write it and Zero Mostel was set to star. The show began an out of town tryout on May 11, 1976 in Los Angeles but with Topol as Aimable. The show went through major changes, including the replacement of Topol with Paul Sorvino, but the Broadway booking was canceled. A cast recording helped make the show known and in 1985, a revised Baker’s Wife was presented in a full production at The York, starring Jack Weston, and directed by Stephen Schwartz. In 1989, director Trevor Nunn convinced the authors to present the show in London, where its score was a given a new two-disc recording.
The Baker’s Wife follows the York’s productions of Zorba, Enter Laughing: The Musical and The Body Beautiful. All shows play five performances: Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm & 8 pm, and Sunday at 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm. Audience discussions follow both matinees. Tickets are $35 and are now on sale. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call York’s Box Office at 212-935-5820. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 10-6.
York previously celebrated Joseph Stein in the Musicals in Mufti Fall 2006 Series (Take Me Along, Carmelina, Plain and Fancy). Stein won the Tony Award and Drama Critics Circle Award for Fiddler on the Roof. His other musicals include: Zorba (Tony nom., Drama Critics Circle Award), Rags (Tony nom.), The Baker's Wife (Laurence Olivier Award, London), Juno, Take Me Along, Irene; The King of Hearts and So Long, 174th Street. He also co-authored, with Alan Jay Lerner, the musical Carmelina and, with Will Glickman, Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.) and Plain and Fancy. His plays include Enter Laughing, Before the Dawn and Mrs. Gibbons' Boys. He began his career in TV and radio, writing for "Sid Caesar Show," "Your Show of Shows," "The Henry Morgan Show" and many others including Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason and Zero Mostel. He wrote the screenplays of Enter Laughing and Fiddler on the Roof, for which he won the Screen Writers Guild Award. He is currently working on All About Us, the musical version of The Skin of Our Teeth with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and another musical, yet to be announced. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and is married to Elisa Stein, a psychotherapist.
Following The Baker’s Wife, The York Theatre Company will honor playwright Joseph Stein with the 2007 Oscar Hammerstein Award on Monday, November 12, 2007 at Saint Peter’s Church. The Award culminates York’s yearlong celebration of Stein with the Fall 2006 and Fall 2007 Musicals in Mufti Series. The concert celebration of Stein’s career will be presented at Saint Peter’s Church, which is upstairs from the York Theatre space. For more info: www.yorktheatre.org or call 212-935-5820.
‘Mufti’ (pronounced MUFF’ tee) means “in street clothes; without the usual trappings” and shows are presented script-in-hand, with minimal staging. The Musical in Mufti Series has celebrated such writers as Richard Rodgers, George Abbott and Joseph Stein. York has presented over 60 concert revivals of musical theatre gems from the past – more than any other such series in the world. Notable shows include: It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman, I and Albert, The Day Before Spring, Take Me Along, Plain and Fancy, Beggar's Holiday, The Grass Harp, Wish You Were Here, Carmelina, Fanny, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Lucky Stiff, Darling of the Day, Mata Hari, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Carmen Jones, Weird Romance, Johnny Johnson, Rex, Billion Dollar Baby, Mirette and 70, Girls, 70. TIME Magazine listed York's Mufti version of Darling of the Day as one of the Top Ten Theatrical Events of 2005.
For ticket information visit www.yorktheatre.org or call 212-935-5820.
THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY in Saint Peter’s Theatre,
54th Street Just East of Lexington;
E train to Lexington Avenue or 6 train to 51st Street
