lots of power and passion in The Baker s Wife - Following his brash, bells and whistles scores for Godspell and Pippin, composer Stephen Schwartz surprised everyone with THE BAKER S WIFE, a musical built on delicate romantic themes, and full of rustic European charm. The original production - starring Patti LuPone - was a notorious flop which closed out-of-town, but numerous revivals have kept it in the public s awareness. This recording comes from a critically-acclaimed 1990 London production.Based on a movie (La Femme du Boulanger) by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono, THE BAKER S WIFE is the story of Genevieve (Sharon Lee Hill), married to an older man, Aimable (Alun Armstrong), the baker in their small French village. Into Genevieve s stable, simple life comes the handsome Dominic (Drue Williams), and Genevieve is tempted by his virile charms. Eventually she runs away with Dominic but later comes to realise just how much Aimable loves her.The score for THE BAKER S WIFE is quite amazing, with some superb compositions (Chanson, Gifts of Love, Proud Lady). Genevieve s Act One aria, Meadowlark, is the crowning jewel of the entire show - and almost a mini-musical in itself. Sharon Lee Hill invests the role of Genevieve with passion and power, her performance is utterly sublime (and I m a huge admirer of Patti LuPone s performance in this role!). Ms Lee Hill also stirs the soul with the gut-wrenching Where is the Warmth? (a song which explores Genevieve s emotional guilt at having left her husband for an affair which has since cooled in the harsh daylight of common sense). Gareth Valentine supervises and conducts orchestrations which vary greatly from the original Broadway album.Casual fans might want to first buy the Broadway cast album with Patti LuPone, those wanting to explore a richer slice are encouraged to pick up this spectacular new London recording. Highly-recommended.
Still Not Perfect - The Baker s Wife is Stephen Schwartz s Fidelio - despite years of work and many revisions, it just doesn t work. It s too bad, because the story (drawn from a 1938 Marcel Pagnol film) is delightful and the sensibility, though somewhat old-fashioned - and that may be the ultimate problem right there - I find quite satisfying. As one who has performed in one of the later incarnations of this show, I can only say that it is a favorite of mine and I wish Schwartz well in his ongoing attempts to improve it. This London cast recording, though it has some nice moments and some excellent music that was later cut from the show, is clearly very rough, containing many mistakes. Further, the actors have thick british accents and pepper their dialogue with anglicisms that one would never hear in Provence, the location of the story and something absolutely essential to it. Save your money and go see a live production of the show. It s still not perfect, but it is definitely better than this version of the Baker s Wife.
Still a great show - I saw the revised London production of THE BAKER S WIFE three times while I was living there when it opened, and I loved it more every time. The score, I believe, is one of Schwartz s best, and the cast is wonderful. Alun Armstrong is superb as the Baker. The tunes are memorable and will live in your head for a long time. It s worth the money.David Eggebrecht
The Baker s Wife - I bought this CD as my daughter was singing one of the songs - MeadowlarkThe music is wonderful and the performers are excellent. The only other Schwartz music I had heard was Godspell and Pocohontas. I look forward to hearing more.My only gripe was that a British production is only available as a US import which is very expensive and cost a star
it depends on why you want to buy this album - Everything depends on why you want to buy this album. If you ever heard the original with Patti LuPone and Paul Sorvino, you may be disappointed. Personally, I worked on a production with Stephen Schwartz in the early 80 s - when he added the song Bread and a few others. I recollect that it brought down the house. So, I thought I would track down a copy of the London cast to see what else was added to the production. Alas, even with new songs, this particular recording is thin in sound. LuPone and Sorvino had a real bell-like clarity in the original cast recording. Nonetheless, if you want all the songs, then the London cast is the way to go. Just pretend they are two different shows.