The Stephen Schwartz musical The Baker’s Wife is based on the 1938 French film with the same name, written and directed by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono. Set in a quaint French provincial village in the 1930s, it is a gently comic and bittersweet fable about life, love, and bread. An affable older baker and his beautiful wife arrive in a town filled with petty feuds and comically rigid relationships. When the wife elopes with a charming young chauffeur, the village is forever transformed. Devastated by his wife’s departure, the baker falls into despair and stops baking, much to the dismay of the villagers. The community, realizing the importance of the baker and his bread to their lives, decides to put aside their differences and work together to bring Geneviève back.
The musical debuted on the West End in 1989 but only had a relatively short run of just over a month. This production was ill-fated due to financial constraints: though the reviews were strong and audience reactions positive, the production was steadily losing money. Despite this, the musical was still able to gain a large cult following and a Olivier nomination for Musical of the Year from the few performances the musical had throughout the UK and in America. The most recent production of the musical in the UK prior to this year was performed in 2017 at the Hull Truck Theatre, performed by the Hessle Theatre Company.
In May 2024, it was announced that the Menier Chocolate Factory in London would stage a new production of the musical from 6 July to 14 September, featuring Clive Rowe, Lucie Jones, Joaquin Pedro Valdes, and Josephine Gabrielle, marking the first West End revival of the musical ever.
But why have West End and Broadway revivals of musicals become so popular and what are the purposes of them? Through the history of the West End it has been a long standing tradition to revive older musicals to introduce them to a new audience. When producing revivals, many musicals choose to honour tradition and stay faithful to the original production. For example, in recent years we have seen classic revivals of musicals such as Crazy for You, Mary Poppins and Anything Goes. Musicals typically achieve these traditional revivals by using similar sets, costumes and sticking to the original script and soundtrack. Productions such as these are often impactful due to the way it creates nostalgia for the audience.
However, some revivals choose to adapt performances to make them more suited for a modern audience. The most common way this can be achieved is by shifting the setting of the musical to the present day or moving it to a different location. An example of where this was used was in Sondheim’s Company in 2018, where the male lead, Bobby was changed into a female lead with the same name. The production was also reworked to feature a same-sex couple to give the musical a brand new lease of life. The production ended up winning four Olivier Awards, including Best New Revival and Best Actress. Another example is Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma which was revived last year. The production involved a lot of lighting, sound effects and changes of tone to turn the protagonists into quite sinister figures, however, the script was kept the same. This production was an interesting example of how a musical can stick to the original script but can still be a unique performance.
For the most part Broadway and West End revivals are very successful and have been a key practice to keep the theatre scene alive and introduce old musicals to new audiences.
Words by Gemma McDonald
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