Max Von EssenPhoto flash- The Baker's Wife Talkback.
Photo by Maryann Lopinto.
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).
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.
